10 



togetlier, showing great power of resistance to outside pres- 

 sure. The glenoid fossae are very large, even for the present 

 skull ; the indivitlual must have had a jDowerful lower jaw 

 which is absent. Some years before death three left upper 

 molars have been lost. 



From the extremely i^erfect ossification of the skull, I 

 should estimate the age of tlie individual to be not less than 

 fifty years. 



Tlie slig'htlj' water-worn appearance, the sharpness of the 

 sand grains, and the pieces of the common sphagnum moss 

 turned into peat, found in the alveoli of the up]3er jaw and 

 foramen at the base of the skull, prove that the skull had not 

 been carried any great distance, most probably deposited 

 where found. This skull Avas found at a depth of 2 7ft. Gin. 

 from the general surface, 12ft. Gin. below tlie surface of the 

 stratum of peat in which it was embedded ; above the peal 

 Avere alluvial deposits. In the peat were found oak trees in 

 ,niu, and in some cases overlying peat. 



From a careful examination of the skull, and the depth at 

 Avhich it was found, I believe it to be a prehistoric skidl, 

 belonging to a man of the Pleistocene Epoch I am fully 

 aware of the scarcity and almost total absence of human 

 remains belonging to this period, which I think increases the 

 value of the discovery. Like other events in geological 

 history, we have no means of assigning to it a definite date in 

 years, or centuries ; we arc only able to say that it V)elongs to 

 that period in which the bone-breccias, the cave deposits, the 

 lake dwellings, and the jieats were formed. 



Many years ago a dug-out canoe was found at a depth of 

 27ft. from the surface which contained a thigh bone of a man, 

 and a portion of the skeleton of a dog. 



During the making of a drain in Durham Street, a similar 

 skull was unearthed a few years ago, and given into my care. 

 The thinnerbone and less pronunced muscle insertion markings, 

 together M'ith its smaller size, indicate a skidl of the gentler 

 sex 



Dr. Knott, (jf iS'^orth Ormesby, received from Mr. Lee, 

 mining engineer, an ancient skull, which he has kindly 

 handed to our .Museum. It is a very fine example of the 

 brachycephalic type of skull, whose owner 'was probably a 



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