< Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu
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FOSSIL MAN (BRITAIN AND BELGIUM)
being called to it. The evidence, however, of the undisturbed character of the beds seemed fairly strong, though, so far as he had understood the paper, one witness described the bones as having been found in gravel and the other in loam. Perhaps, however, both might mean the same deposit. The fact that the remains were found not at the base of the gravels, like other bones from the same locality, but some few feet above the chalk, was noteworthy ; but what weighed most with him, and led him to doubt whether the bones were of the same age as the gravels, was the fact that nearly the whole skeleton, including the lower jaw and clavicle, had been preserved. Although occasionally in brick-earth the bones of a limb might have been found together, it might be regarded as almost if not quite universally the case that in gravels isolated bones only were found. The occurrence of a nearly perfect skeleton was suggestive of an interment; and the accumulation of surface-soil above the gravel might give the grave in which the body was deposited an appearance of having been of greater depth than it actually was. On the whole, he ventured to maintain an attitude of doubt, and would await further evidence before absolutely accepting these human remains, however ancient, as being of necessity contemporaneous with the beds in which they were found."

The general features presented by the portions of the skeleton which came into Mr Newton's hands are thus described :—

"All the bones are much decayed and denuded, while their outer surfaces are marked all over by vermiform depressions, such as are generally thought to be the result of close contact with the rootlets of growing plants. When first exhumed the bones were exceedingly soft and fragile, and in spite of the care with which they were handled, were all much broken in the process of extraction from the matrix ; it was necessary, therefore, to treat them with gelatine and allow them to dry and harden before they could be joined together and rendered fit for study. The presence of the last true molar, or wisdom tooth, with the crown somewhat worn, shows that the skeleton belonged to a fully grown adult, though probably not an aged individual."

From these remarks it is manifest that the human remains in question are of great antiquity, and although their contemporaneity with the natural deposition of the gravels in which they were found remains sub judice, they are not for this reason to be tossed aside as having no anthropological value. If it can be shown that the anatomical characters of this skeleton are not actually inconsistent with those of one or other of Palæolithic races already known to us, we really establish a prima facie argument in favour of the opinion that it belonged to the same chronological horizon. Bearing in mind the views advanced elsewhere in regard to the morphological changes incidental to the erect posture, it will only be necessary here to

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