﻿Vol. 6 1.] ELEPHAS MEBIDIONALIS AT DeWUSH. 35 



4. 0)1 the Occubrence of Elephas meridionalis at Dewlish 

 (Dorset). Second Communication : Human Agency sug- 

 gested. By the Rev. Osmond Fisher, M.A., F.G.S. (Read 

 November 9th, 1904.) 



[Plates III & IV.] 



In June 1888 I read a paper before the Society on the occurrence 

 of Elephas meridionalis at Dewlish in Dorset. 1 Subsequent exca- 

 vations were made by the late Mr. J. C. Mansel-Pleydell, of which 

 he gave accounts in two articles in the Proceedings of the Dorset 

 Natural History & Antiquarian Field-Club, vol. x (1889) pp. 12 

 et seqq. & vol. xiv (1893) pp. 139-4.1, the second of these being 

 illustrated by photographs of the deposit. Mr. Clement Reid also, 

 in the latter part of 1888, spent four days in investigating the 

 locality, and described it in the Geological Survey Memoir on the 

 geology of the country around Dorchester, 1899. This memoir 

 contains a drawing (p. 35) copied from one of Mr. PleydelPs 

 photographs. The photographs themselves are now reproduced 

 (Pis. Ill & IV). It is not necessary to describe the locality afresh, 

 as that has been done already by Mr. Pleydell and by myself, and 

 subsequently very clearly by Mr. Reid. The distant fence shown in 

 PI. Ill is on the brow of the hill, and the early finds were made 

 just beyond it. The deposit was then opened on the opposite side 

 of it, where the pelvic bone lies, the fence being left intact. The 

 trench was afterwards followed for about 103 feet, until it suddenly 

 terminated in a smooth ' apse-like ' end. 2 The photograph showing 

 the pelvic bone (PI. Ill) was taken from the farther end, looking 

 about due north-west towards the brow of the hill. Both the 

 views seem to show a quantity of straw lying about, which, with 

 the hurdles, had probably been used to protect the bones. 



The site in which the elephant-remains were found has some 

 very remarkable features. It was a deep and narrow trench, with 

 nearly-vertical sides of undisturbed Chalk. Mr. Reid says : 



' The fissure (or rather trough) ended abruptly [PI. IV], without any trace 

 of a continuing joint ; it was not a fault, for the lines of flint-nodules cor- 

 responded on each side. As deep as the excavation was carried it was still in 

 dust-like sand.' 3 



This description agrees with what I saw at my last visit in 

 September 1889. The pelvic bone shown in the photograph 

 (PI. Ill) was then lying where it is represented. 



When the trench was dug out by Mr. Mansel-Pleydell, it does 

 not appear to have been bottomed, the examination having been 

 carried down to about 10 feet. But in my memorandum of 1887, 

 when I investigated the section on the hillside, I noted that the 



1 Q.uart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xliv (1888) pp. 818-23. 



2 Teste Mr. Keid. 



:! 'Geology of the Country around Dorchester' Mem. Geol. Surv. (1899) 

 p. 34. 



d2 



