1 68 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 
Before discussing the value of the Dartford skull ^ as a 
historical document, let us see what kind of man it 
represents — for there can be no doubt as to the sex, 
so strongly are the male characters developed. The 
skull, from which all the face is missing, is of unusual 
dimensions. The brain capacity is 1 740 c.c. — fully 2 50 c.c. 
above the modern average. The great size of the brain 
need not make us sceptical of the antiquity of the skull. 
Even in the Neanderthal race, with all its ape-like 
characters, we have seen that some individuals, as at 
La Chapelle, went far beyond the modern average in 
mass of brain. Indeed, when we have become familiar 
with the implements of Acheulean man, we are prepared 
to find that the brain that conceived and executed such 
works of art must have been one of a high order. 
The great dimensions of the Dartford skull are equally 
apparent when it is measured within the conventional 
frame (fig. 58). The maximum length is 207 mm. — 17 
mm. above the average for modern English skulls ; the 
width, 150 mm., is 10 mm. above the average. The 
width is almost 73 per cent, of the length : it is a 
dolichocephalic skull. The height of the vault is equally 
remarkable ; it rises 129 mm. above the ear-passages — 
13 mm. beyond the modern average. The supra-orbital 
ridges are prominent, but moulded as in modern man. 
The width of~"the" forehead at the level of the supra- 
orbital ridges is remarkable — 120 mm. The face must 
have been large and strongly developed. The forehead 
is wide, measuring 112 mm. between the temporal lines. 
The neck was thick, and the skull strongly implanted on 
it. The mastoid processes are massive, their apices reach- 
ing 35 mm. below the level of the upper border of the 
ear-holes. The width of the skull taken over the mastoid 
processes is 140 mm. The bones of the vault vary from 
7 to 8 mm. in thickness. 
If the question is put to a modern anthropologist : Does 
1 Mr Newton presented the skull to the museum of the Royal College 
of Surgeons in igii, where it is now preserved. I am indebted to Mr 
A. S. Kennard for the first knowledge of Mr Newton's discovery. 
