G. Slater — Human Skeleton in Glacial Deposits. 167 



excavation is interesting. He at once went down to the pit where 

 the discovery had been made, and found that a portion of a human 

 skull attached to an almost complete cranial cast, had been recovered. 

 The workmen pointed out that two bones were protruding from the 

 spot where the skull had been derived, and said it was arranged for 

 the rem,ainder of the skeleton to he dug up on the following day. 

 Recognizing the importance of having the disinterment properly and 

 carefully observed, three gentlemen — Messrs. Woolnough, Canton, 

 and Snell — accompanied him, and they afterwards drew up a short 

 report of their observations. In this report of the digging out on 

 Octoher 7, they say: — "We all most carefully examined the section 

 of decalcified Boulder-clay, under which the bones lay, before any 

 digging commenced, and we are absolutely convinced that no grave 

 had ever been dug on the spot before. This opinion was confirmed 

 (1) by the extreme hardness of the Boulder-clay, which necessitated 

 the continued use of picks in getting it up. (2) There was not the 

 slightest sign of any mixing of the soils (such as would occur in an 

 old grave), the Boulder-clay resting normally on the underlying glacial 

 sand as it does in all sections known to us where the succession of the 

 beds is the same. (3) That in the event of a grave having been dug 

 in the past on this spot, it is hardly conceivable that we should have 

 dug down in exactly the same place as the original diggers, and that 

 therefore one side at least of their digging would be visible in the 

 remaining section of Boulder-clay.'^ (4) The extraordinary cast of 

 decalcified Boulder-clay, which completely filled the inside of the skull, 

 we consider points to the conclusion that the clay was in a semi-fluid 

 state at or since the time when the remains were embedded in it. 

 We think it most unlikely that the clay in its present hard condition 

 (a condition which has apparently been present since the last great 

 extension of the glaciers) could work its way into any skull buried 

 in it. (5) The hones were lying partly embedded in glacial sand and 

 partly in decalcified clay. This, sand showed most plainly the lines of 

 stratification, and was quite conformable with that underlying it." 



The report of these gentlemen says : ' ' We all most carefully 

 examined the section of decalcified Boulder- clay, under which the hones 

 lay . . ." And yet in (5) "the bones were Ijin^ partly embedded in 

 glacial sand and partly in decalcified clay ". 



During the lecture Professor Keith also referred to the same point. 

 The right side of the skeleton, which lay in contact with the glacial 

 sands, was much better preserved than the left, which was uppermost, 

 and embedded in the Boulder-clay, and thus most subjected to the 

 destructive effects of the roots of plants and the eroding action of 

 the clay. The roots reached deeply in the glacial sands, and their 

 effects were absolutely manifest on the skull and pelvis. The 

 Boulder-clay (sandy, chalky loam) had also eaten into the bones, 

 and all the soft spongy bone (feet, spine, etc.) was represented by 

 dense clay in which minute fragments of the original bone could 

 be detected. Thus, there was not a single complete bone recovered 

 with the exception of the small bones of the right hand. By great 



^ See letter by Professor T. McKenny Hughes, F.E.S., on "Obliteration of 

 Traces of Interment" {infra, p. 187). 



