MEN OF THE loo-FOOT TERRACE [69 
the Dartford skull show any feature which at once 
distinguishes it from skulls of the modern type ? he 
must return the answer : No, not one ! But it must 
also be remembered that the same may be said of every 
skull found in deposits which are later than the Mousterian 
period — the Combe Capelle, Cromagnon, BrQnn, Grimaldi 
crania, not one of these shows any features which we 
are not familiar with in modern skulls. Indeed, in many 
of its characters the Dartford cranium agrees with the 
Cromagnon type (see figs. 23, 62). In some minor 
characters it resembles the Piltdown skull. We thus 
obtain little or no aid from the skull itself in fixing its 
(veRTHxJ 
DARTFORD (pROFILe) t"^' 
Fig. 58. — Profile drawing of the Darlford cranium and its outline from 
above, at right angles to the view given in prohle. 
degree of antiquity. That must be determined on the 
evidence attending its discovery in the pit at Dartford. 
We have to admit at once that the evidence of the 
Dartford skull being Acheulean in date is purely pre- 
sumptive ; the cranium was found apparently at a depth 
of 8 feet below the surface, in a gravel pit yielding 
abundance of Acheulean implements. It is believed to 
have been embedded at the level of the " black band," 
which may represent an old land surface. The pot-hole 
signifies a local subsidence of the gravel. To carry con- 
viction, the cranium should have been seen and examined 
while still embedded in a stratum known to be Acheulean 
in date. We must also be certain that the stratum con- 
taining the skull, and all the more superficial strata, 
