THE " 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE 



NEW SERIES. DECADE V. VOL. X. 



No. X.— OCTOBER, 1913. 



I. — Note on the Piltdown Man {Eoantbropus Dawsoni). 



By A. Smith Woodward, LL.D., F.E.S., Keeper, Geological Department, 

 British Museum (Natural History).' 



(PLATE XV.) 



IN a communication to the International Medical Cqngress recently- 

 reported in some of the English newspapers, Professor Arthur 

 Keith expressed complete disapproval of my reconstruction of the 

 skull and mandible of JSoanthropus Datvsoni} I concluded that the 

 brain capacity of this skull was comparable only with that of some 

 of the lowest existing savages, while the mandible must have been 

 provided in front with teeth of the ape pattern. Professor Keith, on 

 the other hand, has restored the skull in such a manner as to have 

 a brain capacity of 1,500 cubic centimetres, thus exceeding that of the 

 average modern European. By distorting the curve of the front 

 of the mandible he has also furnished it with completely human teeth. 

 These two views, therefore, need careful examination before any 

 definite conclusions can be drawn from this i-emarkable fossil. 



Fortunately, Mr. Dawson has continued his diggings at Piltdown 

 during the past summer, and on August 30 Father P. Teilhard, who 

 was working with him, picked up the canine tooth which obviously 

 belongs to the half of the mandible originally discovered. In shape 

 it corresponds exactly with that of an ape, and its worn face shows 

 that it worked upon the upper canine in the true ape fashion. It 

 only differs from the canine of my published restoration in being 

 slightly smaller, more pointed, and a little more upright in the mouth. 

 Hence we have now definite proof that the front teeth of Eoanthropus 

 resembled those of an ape, and my original determination is justified. 



It may next be questioned whether this ape-like mandible belongs 

 to the skull. We can only state that its molar teeth are typically 

 human, its muscle-markings are such as might be expected, and 

 it was found in the gravel near to the skull. The probabilities are 



' Abridged from a lecture delivered to the British Association, Birmingham, 

 September 16, 1913. 



^ C. Dawson & A. S. Woodward, " On the Discovery of a Paleeolithic Skull 

 and Mandible in a Flint-bearing Gravel overlying the Wealden (Hastings 

 Beds) at Piltdown, Fletching (Sussex)," Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. Ixix, 

 pp. 124-39, pis. xviii-xx, 1913. 



DECADE v. — VOL. X. — NO. X. 28 



