72 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 
natural terrace, at a depth of 6 feet (i'8 m.), that a 
human skeleton was found — the skeleton of the Hailing 
man. The evidence, we shall see, leads us to the 
conclusion that this man belongs to one of the later 
periods of Palaeolithic culture. His horizon in time 
lies in that phase of the earth's history which geologists 
term the Pleistocene epoch. 
The discovery of the skeleton came about in this way. 
In 19 12, Hailing required a new drainage system, and in 
August of that year, the terrace of brick earth on the 
edge of the marsh was excavated to form a large sewage 
tank. The working face of the trench was 1 1 feet in 
depth (3-4 m.), exposing nine strata, all laid down 
in running water, the various superimposed layers being 
clearly differentiated. As the men worked, a slip of 
earth occurred from the side of the trench, exposing parts 
of a human skeleton embedded in the fifth stratum from 
the top, and lying 6 feet (rS m.) from beneath the 
surface of the terrace. As the fall of earth occurred a 
labourer caught the skull in his hands. The brain space 
was filled with a firm cast of fine loam or brick earth, 
similar to the deposit in which the skeleton lay. By a 
happy chance, part of the skeleton remained embedded 
in its place on the bank. It was also a fortunate cir- 
cumstance that the scientific study of early man finds a 
home in the valley of the Medway, The engineers in 
charge of the works were alive to the importance of the 
discovery, and called in Dr Spencer Edwards and Mr 
W. H. Cook, active members of the Medway Valley 
Scientific Research Society, of which Mr F. J. Bennett, 
F.G.S., was then president. They proceeded at once 
to investigate and to record all the circumstances con- 
nected with the discovery. They examined the strata 
(fig. 29) overlying the skeleton, and found they were 
unbroken and undisturbed. No one could assert that 
the skeleton had been buried from the present surface 
of the terrace, for the demarcating lines between the strata 
were sharp and unbroken. Dr Edwards observed, from 
the position of the bones which still remained in the 
