Guide to the Fossil Remains of Man 
That he cannot be later than early Pleistocene is proved, if it 
be admitted that the bone implement shown in fig. 2 (p. 11) was 
made by Piltdown man ; for this implement is fashioned from the 
middle of the thigh-bone of one of the gigantic elephants (such as 
Elephas meridionalis and E. antiquus) which lived in Europe in 
the latter part of the Pliocene and the early part of the Pleistocene 
period. It certainly represents an animal larger than the mammoth 
or any elephant of later date, and it must have been made from the 
fresh bone. It was found in the yellow mud at the base of the gravel 
near the human skull ; and, as it is not waterworn, it is almost 
.certainly of the same geological age. The implement (fig. 2) is a 
narrow flake of bone 16 inches long, 4 inches wide, and from 1 to 
.2 inches thick, with one face (A) slightly concave and showing 
the spongy wall of the marrow cavity, while the other flattened or 
slightly convex face (B) and the outer edge (C) retain the smooth- 
ness of the original outer surface of the thigh-bone, only marked 
by longitudinal grooves of decay. The thinner end (lower in fig. 2) 
is trimmed by three transverse rows of small cut facettes into the 
shape of the lower end of a cricket bat ; and it does not show any 
marks of wear or battering. At c in the figure the bone was 
broken across by natural pressure in the deposit in which it was 
buried. The thicker end (which was slightly broken at b during 
excavation) has been cut with much difficulty into the shape of a 
wedge. On the inner edge and on the outer face of the bone, 
where the cut facettes are more or less in the direction of the 
structural fibres, they are comparatively large and long ; but on the 
outer edge (C) where the cuts are across the fibres, they are very 
small, numerous, and irregular. Here again there are no clear 
marks of battering or wear, only a slight abrasion of the terminal 
keel which may be natural decay. Just below the end cut into a 
wedge, the outer edge is marked by an oblique groove (p), which 
seems to have been worn smooth by the rubbing of a thong ; and 
appearances round this groove suggest that it was originally the 
inner wall of a perforation which was destroyed by the accidental 
breaking away of its outer wall. A pit just within on the inner 
face of the bone (A, x) suggests that a second perforation was 
begun when the first failed, though it was left unfinished. The 
implement is unique, and its use is unknown. 
All the human remains are well mineralised with oxide of iron, 
but they bear no signs of having been distorted or otherwise 
damaged during fossilisation. They also show no traces of disease. 
Of the brain-case there are four pieces, two uniting to represent 
