Geological Society. 337 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEAllNED SOCIETIES. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



December 2ncl, 1914.— Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., President, 

 in the Chair. 



Tlie following communication was read : — 



* On a Bone Implement from Piltdown (Sussex).' By- 

 Charles Dawson, F.S.A., F.G.S., and A. Smith Woodward, LL.D., 

 F.E.S., Pres.G.S. 



During the past season the Authors have continued excavations 

 in the Piltdown gravel round the edge of the area previously 

 explored. Rolled fragments of highly mineralized teeth of Rhino- 

 ceros and Mastodon were again found, but no human remains were 

 met with. The most important discovery was a large bone imple- 

 ment, which is now described. This specimen w^as found in dark 

 vegetable soil beneath the hedge which bounds the gi-avel-pit, not 

 far from the spoil-heap whence the right parietal bone of the Pilt- 

 down skull was obtained two years ago. On being washed away 

 the soil left no stain on the bone, which was covered with firmly- 

 adherent 3'ellow clay, closely similar to that of the flint-bearing 

 layer at the bottom of the gravel. The bone itself is highly 

 mineralized, and agrees exactly in appearance with some small 

 fragments of bone which the Authors discovered actually in place 

 in the clay just mentioned. There can be no doubt, therefore, that 

 the implement was found by the workmen when they were digging 

 gravel from the adjacent hole, and was thrown away by them with 

 the other useless debris. It is a stout and nearly straight narrow 

 flake of bone, 41 cm. long, and varying from 9 to 10 cm. in 

 width, with the thicker end artificially pointed, the thinner end 

 artificially rounded. It appears to be a longitudinal strip flaked 

 from a limb-bone by a blow at the thicker end, in the same w^ay as 

 flint implements were flaked from their original cores. Direct 

 comparison suggests that it was taken from a Proboscidean femur 

 as large as that of Elejjlias meridionalis. In microscopic structure 

 it agrees with Proboscidean bone. The two ends of the implement 

 are shaped entirely by cutting, and bear no marks of grinding or 

 rubbing. Most of the cut facettes are small, and many of them 

 suggest that they were made by some prunitive tool, presumably a 

 flint. The rounded end seems to have been trimmed for comfort- 

 able handling. The thick pointed (or, rather, keeled) end does not 

 show any signs of battering or scratching by use. Just above the 

 pointed end one lateral edge of the bone is marked by a large 

 smooth groove running across from the inner to the outer face of 

 the bone. It seems to have been originall}^ a perforation from 

 which the outer wall has been accidentally broken away. Within 

 it on the inner face is the beginning of a second similar perforation, 

 as if an attempt had been made to repair the damage. The 

 Authors conclude that the implement is uniqvie, and are unable to 

 explain its specific use. 



