THE DAWN MAN OF PILTDOWN 



191 



related. None of the experts who have 

 scrutinized the specimens and the gravel- 

 pit and its surroundings has doubted 

 the genuineness of the discovery. All 

 agree that the Dawn Man dates at the 

 very latest from the Old Stone Age, 

 and for the following reasons: 



1 — The dark stratum which yielded 

 the human remains also contained a 

 number of mammalian fossils, repre- 

 senting a primitive elephant (Stegodon), 

 a mastodon (Mastodon arvernensis), a 

 rhinoceros, a hippopotamus, a horse 

 and a beaver. The mastodon and the 

 stegodon belonged to species which were 

 characteristic of the Pliocene epoch and 

 on that account Professor Keith at first 

 regarded the human remains as equally 

 old ; but Dr. Smith Woodward and Mr. 

 Dawson maintained that the mastodon 

 and rhinoceros teeth had been washed 

 into the gravel bed from an older forma- 

 tion, because they had been rolled and 

 were water-worn. The hippopotamus 

 and the beaver may be of either Upper 

 Pliocene or Pleistocene age. A frag- 

 mentary fossil antler of a red deer was 

 found near by, but its association with 

 the other remains is doubted. 



2 — "Eoliths," or irregularly fractured 

 flints, were also found in and around 

 the gravel-pit. 



3 — One flint implement of Old Stone 

 Age type was discovered in situ in the 

 bed which lies immediately above the 

 Dawn Man stratum. (See also Fig. 11.) 



In brief, the discoverers of the Dawn 

 Man finally refer his remains to the 

 Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age),^ but the 

 more precise date is not settled. 



Dr. Smith Woodward's reconstruc- 

 tion OF THE SKULL AND JAW 



The broken pieces of the Piltdown 



1 Supplementary Note on the Discovery of a 

 Palseolitliic Human Skull and Mandible at Pilt- 

 down (Sussex). Proc. Geol. Soc, London, vol. 

 Ixx, 1914, pp. 82-93. 



skull were compared by Dr. Smith 

 Woodward with various human types 

 both prehistoric and modern, and under 

 his direction the pieces were assembled 

 as far as possible in their natural posi- 

 tions and the missing parts were hypo- 

 thetically restored in clay. As shown 

 in this reconstruction (Page 189) these 

 missing parts (indicated by the white 

 areas) include the front part of the lower 

 jaw, the lower incisors, canines and 

 premolars, all the upper teeth and the 

 face. Since that time the nasal bones 

 and one canine tooth have been found. 

 The most extraordinary, unexpected 

 feature of the Piltdown man, as thus 

 reconstructed, is that an essentially 

 human brain case, with a well-rounded 

 forehead and with thoroughly human 

 temporal and occipital regions, is com- 

 bined with an essentially apelike lower 

 jaw, with apelike teeth and with an 

 apelike face (the latter hypothetical). 



Did the apelike jaw belong with the 



HUMAN brain-case? 



Doubts and criticisms were raised at 

 once. Doubt as to the association of 

 the lower jaw with the skull was ex- 

 pressed by several authorities (Sir Ray 

 Lankester, Professor Waterson and Pro- 

 fessor Schwalbe) and is still entertained 

 by many conservative anatomists. Did 

 this ape jaw really belong with the 

 human brain-case? Could an ape jaw 

 articulate with a human jaw-socket? 



Briefly summarized the principal items 

 of evidence bearing on this question are 

 as follows: 



1 — The jaw was found in the same 

 stratum which had yielded the skull, 

 and within a yard of the exact spot 

 where a piece of the occipital bone was 

 found. Subsequently the nasal bones 

 and a canine tooth were found in the 

 same place. 



