150 THE HUMAN SKULL, ETC. FEOM PILTDOWN. [March I913, 



however, that the low plateau of the Weald, on which the Piltdown 

 deposit probably lies, must belong to a period later than that of 

 maximum depression, for otherwise these lowlands of the "Weald 

 would be covered by marine deposits, as is the coastal plain. It was 

 impossible to speak with confidence, but the whole of the evidence 

 suggested that the Piltdown deposit and the plateau on which it 

 rests belong to a base-level plain, which originated about the period 

 of the Brighton raised beach. The deposits are not pre-Glacial or 

 even early Pleistocene — they belong to an epoch long after the first 

 cold period had passed away ; but they occur at the very base of 

 the great implement-bearing succession of Palaeolithic deposits in 

 the South-East of England. 



Prof. Wateeston pointed out that, if the reconstruction of the 

 cranium and mandible were accepted, it was quite clear that the 

 former was human in practically all its essential characters ; while 

 the latter with equal clearness resembled, in all its details, the 

 mandible of the chimpanzee. It was, therefore, very difficult to 

 believe that the two specimens could have come from the same 

 individual. One of the temporal bones, including the glenoid fossa, 

 was complete, and Dr. Smith Woodward had pointed out how 

 closely this bone and the fossa resembled the corresponding parts 

 in modern man. It must be borne in mind that the configuration 

 of the glenoid fossae in man was such as to adapt them for 

 articulation with a human jaw, and not with the mandible as 

 found in the chimpanzee ; and, if the jaw had formed part of the 

 skull, it was precisely in the temporal bone that one would 

 have anticipated some variation in structure from the present-day 

 condition. 



Mr. A. S. Kennaed was of opinion that the gravel-spread in which 

 the remains were found should be correlated with the High Terrace 

 of the Lower Thames Valley : the height above the present stream- 

 level was practically the same, and the flint-implements were 

 identical. With regard to the Pliocene age of some of the fossils 

 from Sussex, it must be remembered that the High Terrace of the 

 Thames has yielded several characteristic Pliocene forms. The true 

 succession of the Pleistocene had yet to be worked out, and it must 

 be based on palaeontological evidence. 



Mr. Ueginald Smith remarked that the flint-implements re- 

 covered were of mixed character, and the only course was to date 

 the gravel by the latest specimen. Those exhibited were of the 

 Chelles stage, if not earlier ; and, to judge from the photographs 

 shown on the screen, there were hand-axes of the St. Acheul stage 

 in an unrolled condition. While it required a developed brain to 

 manufacture such implements, it was surprising to find so simian a 

 jaw in the later part of the river-gravel period, and the dilemma 

 still remained. It was a misfortune that the Geological Surve^ had 

 not visited that area of the Weald in recent years, as it would be 

 interesting to know the relation of the present deposit to the 

 Limpsfield gravel with its homogeneous and well-made implements, 



