468 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— H. 



fluviatile terrace gravels and solifluxion deposits of the definitely cold period 

 represented by Coombe Rock descended into the valleys lying across the 

 truncated gravels. 



The skull-bearing gravels belong, therefore, to the temperate interglacial 

 between the Great Eastern glaciation of East Anglia and the cold period 

 represented by the Main Coombe Rock of the Thames Valley. 



Mr. M. A. C. HiNTON, F.R.S. — The fauna! evidence (10.50). 



Mr. C. F. C. Hawkes. — The archceological associations of the 

 Swanscombe skull (11. 10). 



Whereas the Lower Gravel and Lower Loam of the loo-ft. Thames 

 Terrace at Swanscombe yielded in Barnfield Pit industries of the Clactonian 

 series, the Middle Gravel was characterised mainly by an Early-Middle 

 Acheulean comparable to the Acheulean III of Breuil. This industry 

 extended through the Lower and Upper Middle Gravels including the 

 channel in which the two bones of the Swanscombe skull were found : 

 the comparatively rare occurrences of a Clactonian III (High Lodge) 

 industry being unrepresented in their vicinity, and typical Acheulean 

 implements being abundant both in close proximity to them and elsewhere, 

 it may safely be inferred that this Early-Middle Acheulean industry is that 

 to be associated with the individual represented by the skull ; furthermore, 

 the stratigraphy precludes any admixture of later material. Such an 

 association of a human fossil with a hand-axe industry does not appear to 

 have been recorded previously in Europe. 



Sir Arthur Keith, F.R.S. — The Swanscombe fossil (11.20). 



The bones unearthed at Swanscombe are very important because they give 

 authentic information of the only mid-Pleistocene European known to us. 

 It has been calculated that the original length of the skull was 185 mm. 

 (quite as long as the skull of many living Englishmen) and the width 144 mm. 

 The roof of the skull was low, but no lower than in some modern skulls. 

 The capacity of the brain chamber has been estimated at 1,350 cc, which 

 places Swanscombe man in the upper limit of the smaller-brained races of 

 humanity. 



The convolutions of the brain have left a sharp impression on the interior 

 of the skull bones, and from casts made from the bones it is clearly seen that 

 the convolutions form a complex pattern in which there are striking resem- 

 blances to that of the modern human brain. But there are points of difference 

 which indicate an evolving organ which has not yet reached the modern 

 level, particularly in those regions which are believed to sustain the higher 

 functions of the brain. In the occipital region, as in Piltdown man, there is 

 an extreme degree of asymmetry which is usually regarded as an indication 

 of specialisation. 



Even the oldest of the Neanderthal skulls are marked and moulded in 

 quite a different way from the bones of the Swanscombe skull. The only 

 fossil skull which possesses comparable markings is that of Piltdown man — 

 a much older English skull. Prolonged investigation has convinced the 

 author that there is a relationship between the Piltdown and Swanscombe" 

 men, the Piltdown bones being by far the more primitive in their 

 characterisation . 



