The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1913-02-27
MISSING LINK FOUND
DYLONDON SCIENTISTS
Skull Is Discovered That Com
meets Man and Monkey
Neither Ape Nor Human.

GeOlog1cal society," Wnen CnarleS DAWSON,
of Lewes. and DR.. A.. Smith woodward,
the keeper of the geological department
OF the British museum. displayed to an
lager audience a part OF the jaw and q
portion of the skull OF the most ancient
inhabitant OF England. IL not in Europe.
The first of the remains were discovered.
more nan a year ago by Mr.. Dawson, In
a gravel deposit near Pitt Down Common,
close to Uckfleld,t Sussex. Mr.. Dawson
who is a keen student of paleontoIogy
soon made his great find known to DIR.
Smith Woodward, and the two worked to-
gether, during the past summer, In a
strenuous endeavor to recover, II possible,
yet other parts of the skeleton, and es-
pecially the rest of the skull. But their
efforts ave only resulted in obtaining
more parts Of the skull, and half Of the
mandible. . :.
Nevertheless, the remains thus far re-
covered cav no possible doubt but that
they represent not merely a fossil man.
but a man who must be regarded as af-
fording us a link with our remote ances-
tors, the apes, and hence their SURPRISING
interest. aMu."f ~ .. ~" AZ
The evidence for the Interpretation
which has been placed on them Is incon-g
trovertible. In the first place, the lower
jaw is Enthusiastically ape-like, while pre-
senting other features Individually human.
1t is ape-like in its massiveness, In the
absence OF n CElu, ana IA the absence OF
a peculiar ridge along the inner surface
which In the typical human jaw is ex-
tremely we'll marked. and serves for the
attachment of muscles concerned with the
act of swallowing. Another simian fea-
ture is the shortness and great breadth
of the upper branch whereby the jaw 10
hinged to the skull. AS to the teeth of
this ancient Briton, II will suffice to re-
mark that they resemble those Of the rele-
brated Heidelberg Jaw, and in so far are
of the human type; but they are ape-like
in the greater length OF their grinding
surfaces. But there Is reason to suspect
that the canine or EYE" teeth projected,
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-like character ts afforded
by the trend OF the grinders, which shows
that the teeth In the complete Jaw must
v 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
1t forms a deep cavity, and not a shallow
depression. Again, his region Of the skull
displays what among anatomists is known
as a "mastoid process, q large, rounded,
ore c~one-shaped boss OF bone to which Is
attached a large Handicapped muscle,
serving to draw the head downwards upon
the chest, or sideways toward the shout
der. In the apes this "mastoid process
is wanting. '.h. .. F.
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 this shows US that
the beetling brows so excessively devel-
oped In the celebrated fossil man of Java
dfarnNyara6 anna NraaHso - CNn MO o.. AHA
Sussex man far less developed while the
brain-capacity OF this ancient man had
just under two pints, which II nearly
twice as much as that OF the highest
apes. though considerably less than that
OF the average European, which Is, rough
ly, about two pints and a half.
OF the fore-part of the face-that is to.
say of the eye-sockets. nose, and upper
taw-we as yet know nothing, nor have
even traces been ound of the trunk m
limbs, and we fear that these have been
lost beyond recall. IT.
And now II will be asked how long ago
did this man live. and what did he look
nke when aliveT AS to the first question.
no definite answer can be given; we can
only say. several hundred thousand
years ago." perhaps q million. But this
much Is certain: he lived during the early
part of what isi known as the pleistocene
age, and near enough to the period known
as the pliocene to make II certain that his
immediate forbears must w lived dur
ing that period; thus Justifying the fore
casts of pliocene men which authorities
from time to time have made. Indeed, the
celebrated Heidelberg Jaw is regarded by
some as belonging to the pliocene; and
the jaw of the Sussex man nuw under dis
cussion Ia of q still more primitive char
acter. 1t is enough, for h present at
any rate, to say that the gravel In which
- L. - A.
same age as the Norfolk % And now
a word or two as to his probable appear
ance and mode of life, and the creatures
which he chased. and was occasionally, in
turn, chased by 70 to his personal APP
pearance one would not like to doRmatize,
but, with the help of Mr.. Forester, / have
been enabled to make what Is probably q
near approximation to the truth. He was
a man of low stature. very muscular, and
had not yet attained that graceful poise
| Of the body which Is 30 characteristic OF
the human race today. But he was by
no means lacking In intelligence. Living
In a genial climate amid a luxurious
| tation, and surrounded by an abundance
| of game, he may be sad to q led q life
| of comparative ease. or clothing he had
no need; nor was there any reason to
bother much about housing aocommoda-
ton: though. for safety's sake, he may
lave been forced to devise some kind OF
shelter by night. Elephants and rhinoc-
crosses of species long since extinct
roamed IL herds all round him. These N
the h~ippopotamus no doubt he killed for
food, and, besides, he must have hunted
a species of horse long extinct, while the
Ion, bear, and sabre-toothed tiger af-
forded him plenty Of opportunities for
hairbreadth escapes. He had probably In
herited the use of fire from his forbears,
and this useful ally served to harden the
ends of his wooden spears, and perhaps
to cook his food. His only other tools
were furnished by flint stones Clipped to
the rough semblance of an ak, but used
in the hand, no welded by a shaft. From
the peculiar character in which It was
faxed from the rough nodule selected,
his implement Is known as the 'Ehel-
lean type, and though one OF the more
primitive types of palaeolithic weapons, 1t
showed better workmanship than Is dis
played by the still earlier "strepyan' and
'mesvinian" types, and a great advance
on the much-discussed "eoliths." These
earlier weapons, II may be remarked, are
the only evidence we have OF the existence
of men oldder than the makers Of the
"chellean" implements, but they speak
as surely as did the footprints found by
Robinson Crusoe.
Finally, these fragments of man from
4 kha S,,aaax 1rayel tell us that already at