part 1] SECOND SKULL FROM THE PILTDOWjST GEAVEL. 3 



not to any original intentional shaping. All the edges are re- 

 markably sharp, and the black facets bear scarcely any patina. 



The wide distribution of the Piltdown gravel, as determined by 

 its characteristic brown flints, was shown by Mr. Dawson in his 

 map of 1912.1 It could easily be traced in the ploughed fields of 

 the district ; but, notwithstanding the most careful and persistent 

 rsearch, it yielded no fossils, except at the original locality, until the 

 winter of 1914-15. /^One large field, about 2 miles from the Pilt- 

 down pit, had especially attracted Mr. Dawson's attention, and he 

 and I examined it several times without success during the spring 

 and autumn of 1914. When, however, in the course of farming, 

 the stones had been raked of£ the ground and brought together into 

 heaps, Mr. Dawson was able to search the material more satisfac- 

 toril}'' ; and early in 1915 he was so fortunate as to find here two 

 well-fossilized pieces of human skull and a molar tooth, which he 

 immediately recognized as belonging to at least one more individual 

 of JEoanthropus dawsoniy Shortly afterwards, in the same gmvel, 

 a friend met with part of the lower molar of an indeterminable 

 species of rhinoceros, as highly mineralized as the specimens pre- 

 Tiously found at Piltdown itself. 



The most important fragment of human skull is part of the supra- 

 oi-bital region of a right frontal bone adjacent to the middle line 

 (PI. I, figs. 1 a-\ d). It is in exactly the same mineralized condition 

 as the original skull of Eoauthropus, and deepl}^ stained Avith iron- 

 oxide. It is also similarly thickened, exhibiting the characteristic 

 very fine diploe with comparatively thin outer and inner tables oi 

 dense bone. It provides a portion that was absent in the first 

 specimen, its upper end approaching Avithin a few^ millimetres the 

 level of the anterior broken edge of the left frontal in the latter, 

 while its lower portion now leaves only about 2 cm. of the supra- 

 orbital border unknown. Its gently upivard and backward curva- 

 l;ure (figs. 1 c & 1 <:/) is that already assumed in restorations, and its 

 outer face is marked only by a small and low supraciliary ridge (s.), 

 which is well above the orbital border, fades aAvay medially at the 

 beginning of the glabella, and only extends laterally just be^^ond 

 the supraorbital notch {n.). On the inner face of the bone (fig. Ih) 

 the median border bears an unusually stout sagittal crest (c). Avhich 

 is slightly marked by a groove for the longitudinal sinus. The im- 

 pressions of the convolutions of the frontal lobe of the brain are 

 feeble, but show some features of interest, as described by Prof. 

 Elliot Smith in the Appendix (p. 7). The orbital plate, as might 

 be expected, is broken away, and the rather tumid glabellar region 

 is imperfect below, exposing small air-sinuses, which do not appear 

 i>o extend along the supraorbital boi-der beyond the supraorbital 

 notch. This notch (figs, la &\h, n.) is especially conspicuous (per- 

 haps enlarged by abrasion in the fossil), and the supraorbital border 

 to the right of it forms a comparatively sharp edge (figs, la, 1 h, 

 ^Id). The median plane of fracture (fig. 1 c) follows closely the 



1 Q. J. G. S. vol. Ixix (1913) p. 118. 



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