CHAPTER XXVII 
THE FACE OF FOSSIL MAN 
The picture we form of a human being is chiefly based 
on the appearance of the face. It is therefore natural 
that we should try to restore the facial outlines of our 
fossil ancestors. At the most it is only the bare skeletal 
outline we can rebuild ; we cannot hope to restore the 
living countenance. Imperfect as the picture must be, it 
is well worth our pains to see how far it is possible to 
reconstruct the face of so ancient and interesting a human 
form as that found at Piltdown. Fig. 176 shows the 
materials on which our picture has to be framed. There 
is, in the first place, half of the lower jaw ; that forms a 
large part of the outline of the face. In the second place, 
there is the left corner of the forehead and left temple. 
In the third place, the nasal bones, which form the bridge 
of the nose. In the fourth, there is the root of the 
zygomatic process, which guides us to the width of the 
face and prominence of the cheeks. From such materials 
we ought to be able to build up an outline of the face, 
at least in its more general aspects. 
In a former chapter an account was given of an 
experiment in the reconstruction of skulls. As regards 
the contour of the forehead, when seen in profile, that 
experiment was a failure. On the other hand, as is 
shown in fig. 177, the width and height of the frontal 
region were correctly reproduced. The skull thus re- 
constructed, that of an Egyptian woman, had a forehead 
of average human dimensions. The temporal lines, as 
they ascend on each side of it, cross within the 50-mm. 
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