Vol. 69.] DISCOVERY OF A PALAEOLITHIC HUMAN SKULL IN SUSSEX. 121 



fragments of iron-stained flint, 6 feet and more beneath the 

 surface. 



Considering the amount of material excavated and sifted by us, 

 the specimens discovered were numerically small and localized. 



•Apparently the whole or greater portion of the human skull had 

 been shattered by the workmen, who had thrown away the pieces 

 unnoticed. Of these we recovered, from the spoil-heaps, as many 

 fragments as possible. In a somewhat deeper depression of the 

 undisturbed gravel I found the right half of a human mandible. 

 So far as I could judge, guiding myself by the position of a tree 

 3 or 4 yards away, the spot was identical with that upon which 

 the men were at work when the first portion of the cranium was 

 found several years ago. Dr. Woodward also dug up a small 

 portion of the occipital bone of the skull from within a yard of 

 the point where the jaw was discovered, and at precisely the 

 same level. The jaw appeared to have been broken at the 

 symphysis and abraded, perhaps when it lay fixed in the gravel, 

 and before its complete deposition. The fragments of cranium 

 show little or no sign of rolling or other abrasion, save an incision 

 at the back of the parietal, probably caused by a workman's pick. 



A small fragment of the skull has been weighed and tested by 

 Mr. S. A. Woodhead, M.Sc, E.I.C., Public Analyst for East Sussex 

 & Hove, and Agricultural Analyst for East Sussex. He reports 

 that the specific gravity of the bone (powdered) is 2*115 (water at 

 5° C. as standard). No gelatine or organic matter is present. 

 There is a large proportion of phosphates (originally present in the 

 bone) and a considerable proportion of iron. Silica is absent. 



Besides the human remains, we found two small broken pieces of 

 a molar tooth of a rather early Pliocene type of elephant, 1 also a 

 much-rolled cusp of a molar of Mastodon, portions of two teeth of 

 Hippopotamus, and two molar teeth of a Pleistocene beaver. In 

 the adjacent field to the west, on the surface close to the hedge 

 dividing it from the gravel-bed, we found portions of a red deer's 

 antler and the tooth of a Pleistocene horse. These may have been 

 thrown away by the workmen, or may have been turned up by a 

 plough which traversed the upper strata of the continuation of 

 this gravel-bed. Among the fragments of bone found in the 

 spoil-heaps occurred part of a deer's metatarsal, split longitudinally. 

 This bone bears upon its surface certain small cuts and scratches, 

 which appear to have been made by man. All the specimens are 

 highly mineralized with iron oxide. 



i It is stated by E. A. C. Godwin-Austen (Q. J. G. S. vol. vii, 1851, p. 288) 

 and E. Dixon (' Geology of Sussex' 2nd ed. 1878, p. 110, n.) that remains 

 of ' the large mammalia,' including teeth of elephants, were found in the 

 gravels at iiarcombe, 6 or 7 miles south of Piltdown. It is not known to what 

 genera or species these belonged; but, as they are referred to as 'the Asiatic- 

 Elephant,' they were probably the true form of JElephas and not Mastodon, 

 though it is possible that some may have belonged to the species akin to 

 E. meridionals. Specimens from this bed are not known to have been 

 preserved, but they probably belonged to the Pleistocene age. 



