Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.) 188?-1971, 1913-02-14

'the high plateau gravels," as much as 700 feet
above sea level The oldest Of all these graveis
is very possibly of Pliocene age and is not re-
lated to the Thames valley other existing
river valleys, which are of later date than they
are The gravel at Uckield (Piltdown), in when
the human jaw was found, Is only 12O feet ABOVE
sea level and not far from the River Ouse,
which flows past Lewes. Probably high pa-
teau gravel existed on the top of the chalk
which once stretched across the Sussex Weald,
and the grayels deposited much later at low
levels after the wearing away of the great mass
of chalk lying over the Wealden beds contain
some material derived from these Oldest and
highest gravels, and also some Of the gravel de-
posted in every successive age as the erosion
continued. So that this bottom gravel on the
Sussex plain, only 100 feet above sea level, Is
likely to contain a mixture and assortment OF all
the preceding gravels.
Hence 1t y very difficult to assign the bones
and the worked hnts shaped by mani found
in it to definite age Any fragment we pick
I'D may be as old as the plateau gravels which
lay on the top Of the chalk in the very early
Pleistocene or late Pliocene age or may belong
to as late a period as that of the actual deposit
Of the gravel bed in which we now find 1t i'm
bedded.
me gravel about Piltdown is so thin layer
that it escaped attention from the officers Of the
Geological Survey. It became known to Mr.
Dawson by the fact that local farmers were dig
ging it and sitting it for mending roads. It
only exists on slightly raised parts Of the valley
Of the Ouse, and its makeup Is very peculiar.
It contains ronstone and deeply stained iron-sand
from the Wealden strata on which it rests, and
peculiar ruddy-brown broken fints, not very
numerous which are nearly all bits OF tabu-
lar" flint recalling those of the high plateau
gravel at Ightham. In Kent. 2
MANY OF the hints In this Piltdown gravel have
been worked by early man into rough imple-
ments They are Of fiat shape, often triangular
in area, and show a coarse but unmistakable
"Aaking" of human workmanship | and my COM
panions picked up four from the surface OF
pIcwed field when Twisted Piltdown. They are
rougher in workmanship than the Acheuillian, or
even Chellean, implements Of our better known
river terrace gravels. 1t is impossible to asso-
ciate them with those from any other locality
known to me; and should merely say to them
that they seem to be earlier than any flint i'm
Elements which can be rightly called Chellean.
Later and more finely worked flint implements
have not been found in this gravel.
But the most remarkable thing about this
gravel is the discovery in it, by DR.. Smith Wood
ward and Mr. Dawson Of a fragment of tooth
of a mastodon and of fragments of teeth Of the
Elephas meridionalis- specimens which were ex
hibited to the Geological society.
These two animals are known to occur in PHO
Gene strata--and are not found as late as the
Pleistocene Gin this part of the world). The
teeth of the elephant in question are very differ
emit from those of the mammoth. They are found
also in the Norfolk forestbed and In one or two
4fssurese In the South Downs filed in by an
Gent sands The remains of this elephan
abound in the Pliocene of France and Italy.
few fragmentary teeth Of hippopotamus, !
HEAVIER. and a horse bit of large deers antler
and the human jaw and skull fragment eomplet'
the list Of animal remains. 1t Is owing . ta'