CHAPTER X 
A MAN OF THE CHELLEAN PERIOD 
In this chapter we again return to the valley of the 
Thames to take up the story of early man in England. 
The period now entered — the Chellean — is one of greater 
duration than even the Acheulean, which has just been 
surveyed. The site of our first inquiry is at Galley Hill, 
a few hundred yards to the west, and rather nearer the 
river than the Barnfield pit at Swanscombe (fig. s^)- The 
school and schoolhouse at Galley Hill stand on the brow 
of the lOO-foot terrace, overlooking the river. The 
London road passes behind the school as it threads its 
way eastwards, along the brink of the lOO-foot level. 
In 1888 the cement workers had quarried into the chalk 
bluffs both to the north and to the west of the school, 
until they had almost reached the London road. Work- 
men were then — in 1888 — busy removing the gravel of 
the 100-foot terrace in order to expose the underlying 
chalk. The stratum of gravel — as they approached the 
road — was between 10 and 11 feet in thickness. It was 
while this area was being worked near the London road, 
a little to the west of the school, that the skeleton of the 
Galley Hill man came to light — the only representative so 
far discovered of the generations who lived during the 
period of Chellean culture. Our conception of the antiquity 
of man, especially of man of the modern type — for un- 
doubtedly the Galley Hill man is formed in the same mould 
as we are — turns on the authenticity of this discovery. 
It is therefore of the greatest importance to examine with 
care every fact relating to the find at Galley Hill. 
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