l66 NOTES ON A HUMAN SKELETON.
alternating beds of sand and loam. There is very little soil, and
what there is consists of brown stained loam or brick-earth
containing fragments of land shells. In no case is it more than
18 inches thick, except where there are several small pipes or
patches of loam. In other places the glacial gravel and sand
comes to the surface.
The surface of the land above the pit is about 165 feet O.D.,
on the southern flank of the valley overlooking the River Stour,
from which it is distant about 400 yards, and is about 50 feet
above the floor of the main valley. As the pit is practically all
Glacial-drift, it immediately occurred to me that a skull found
in such a formation might be of remote antiquity, or even of
Glacial or Post-glacial origin.
FIG. 2.—SECTION OF FOXEARTH GRAVEL FIT,
1. Glacial Gravel and Sand.
2. Surface-soil, about 4 to 6 inches.
3. Pipe of Loam and Gravel mixed; also Brick Earth.
4. Grovei soil 1 and 2 mixed.
I submitted the skull to the late Prof. Charles Stewart,
F.R.S., of the College of Surgeons, who pronounced it to be a fine
specimen, probably very old. Later, he wrote expressing the
opinion that it was "Ancient British," whatever that phrase
may mean. He appeared to base that opinion on the assumption
that the cranium came from a shallow depth beneath the surface,
as indicated by the loam and fibre adhering to it. Several other
anthropologists to whom I have shown it are of opinion that the
skull is of an early type.
Later, I visited the pit again, making a further search for
pottery or other objects, quite unsuccessfully. But on examining
the cliff face I found imbedded in the formation, at about 17