Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-02-10
A MISSING LINK FOUND.
Importance Of Recent Discovery
Sussex of PalaeoIithic Skull.

4
the human race was announced at the
! Geological Society, when Mr. Charles
4 Dawson of Lewes, and Or. A. Smith
| Woodward, the keeper of the geological
| department of the British Museum, dis
/ played to an eager audience part of
the jaw and portion of the skull of the
most ancient inhabitant of England il
not in Europe.
| The first of the remains We're discovered
more than. year ago by Mr.. Dawson, in
"a gravel deposit near Pilt Down Com
| mon. close to UckfieId, Sussex Mr.,
| Dawson. who is a Keen student of pa
Technology soon made his great find
| known to DR.. Smith Woodward and the
| two worked together, during the past
| summer, in a strenuous endeavor to re-
| cover, if possible, yet other parts of the
skeleton, and especially the rest of the
skull. But their efforts have only re-
suited in obtaining more parts of the
skull. and half of the mandible.
Nevertheless, the remains thus far re-
| covered leave no possible doubt but that
| they represent not merely fossil man,
but a man who must be regarded as af-
| fordins us link with our remote ances-
tors, the apes. and hence their surprising
| interest.
The evidence for the Interpretation
which has been placed on them is incon-
trovertible. In the first place, the lower
Jaw is Enthusiastically ape-like, while pre-
senting other features Individually hui
| man. 1t is ape-like in its massiveness,
in the absence of chin, and in the alb
senee of a peculiar ridge along the inner
surface which in the typical human jaw
| is extremely well-marked, and serves for
the attachment of muscles concerned with
| the act of swallowing. Another simian
feature is the shortness and great breadth
of the upper branch whereby the paw is
hinged to the skull. As TO the teeth of
this ancient Briton. it viii suffice to re-
| mark that they resemble those of the
celebrated Heidelberg jaw, and in so far
are of the human type; but they are ape
like In the greater length of their grind
iing-surfaces. But there is reason to sus-
poet that the canine or eye teeth pro-
jected. at any rate, slightly above the
level of the rest-an ape-like character
met with in savage races today, though
never to the same extent as in apes.
Another ape-likc character is afforded
by the trend of the grinders, which shows
that the teeth in the complete jaw must
have run in a straight, parallel series,
not in a horseshoe curve as in modern
men
The fragments of the Uranium reveal no
less interesting features. Fortunately
the hinge for the lower jaw is preserved,
and this is emphatically human in type,
since it forms a deep cavity, and not a
shallow depression. Again. this region of
the skull displays what among anato-
inists is known as a "mastoid process"
large. rounded, or cone-shaped boss oil
bone to which is attached q large band
shaped muscle, serving to draw the head
downwards upon the chest. or sideways
toward the shoulder IN the apes this
''mastoid process is wanting.
Happily, enough of the skull has been
found to allow of the restoration of the
whole of the cranial portion, which en-
closes the brain. And TINS shows us that
the 6eetling brows so excessively de-
yeloped in the celebrated fossil man OK
Java discovered some years ago were in
the Sussex man far less developed while
the brain capacity OF this ancient man
had just under two pints, which is nearly
twice as much as that of the highest
apes, though considerably less than that
of the average European, which is,
roughly, about two pints and a half
OF the fore-part of the face--that is to
say. of the eye-sockets. nose, and upper
jaw-we as yet know nothing. nor have
even traces been found of the trunk ana
limbs. and We fear that these have been
lost beyond recall.
And now it will be asked how long ago
did this man live. and what did he look
like when alive? As to the first question,
no definite answer can be given; we can
only say, several hundred thousand
years ago." perhaps a million But this
much is certain; he lived during the early
part of what is known as the Pleistocene
age, and near enough to the period known
as the Pliocene to make it certain that
his immediate forbears must have lived
during that period; thus iustifying the
forecasts of Pliocene man which authari-
ties from time to time have made. In
deed, the celebrated Heidelberg jaw is
regarded by some as belonging to the
Pliocene; and the jaw of the Sussex man
now under discussion is of a still more
primitive character. 1t is enough, for
the present. at any rate, TO say that the
gravel in which he has so long rested is
of nearly the same age as the Norfolk
/ Forest bed. And now word or two as
to his probable appearance and mode of
! life, and the creatures. which he chased,
and was occasionally, in turn, chased by
/ As to his personal appearance one would
not like to dogmatise, but, with the help
of Mr.. Forester, / have been enabled to
| make what is probably a near approxi-
nation to the truth. He was man of
low stature. very muscular, and had not
| yet attained that graceful poise of the
| body which is so characteristic of the hui
man race today. But he was by no
| means lacking in intelligence. Living in a
genial climate amid a luxurious vegeta-
! ton, and surrounded by an abundance of
game, he may be said to have led a life
| of comparative ease. OF clothing he had
no need; nor was there any reason to
| bother much about housing accommola-
| ton; though; for safety's sake, he may
| have been forced to devise some kind of
lshelter by night. Elephants and rhinoc-
| crosses Of cnecieg long since extinct