Abstract
DURING the recent meeting of the British Association at Norwich, Mr. Alvan T. Marston exhibited to Section H (Anthropology) a complete human occipital bone which he had found in the middle gravels of the 100-ft. terrace of the Thames at Swanscombe, Kent. The bone was associated with Acheuleah flint implements, and is mineralised in the same way as the bones of the Pleistocene mammals occurring with it. The fossil was submitted to the Geological Survey, and Mr. Henry Dewey confirmed the determination of its geological age. Mr. Marston now writes that he has made an endocranial cast of the specimen and has consulted Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith, who expresses the opinion that “the exceptional size and form of the visual territories upon the two hemispheres of the endocranial cast, even if they suggest left-handedness, are definitely Simian and point to a much more primitive stage than Eoanthropus”. The bone differs considerably from the occipital of Eoanthropus, and further discoveries to reveal the characters of the skull to which it belongs will be eagerly awaited.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fossil Human Occipital Bone from Thames Gravels. Nature 136, 637–638 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136637e0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136637e0