The Swanscombe Skull^*

Abstract

IN view of the importance of the discovery in 1935 and 1936 by Mr. Alvan T. Marston of two bones of a human skull, associated with implements of Acheulean type, in Pleistocene gravels of the Barnfield pit, near Swanscombe, Kent (see NATUBE of October 19, 1935, p. 637, and August 1, 1936, p. 200), a research committee was appointed by the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1937 to examine and report on the discovery in all its aspects. Further excavation was carried out on behalf of the Committee by Dr. M. Aylwin Cotton of the Institute of Archaeology, the cost being borne by a grant of £50 made by the Council of the Royal Society. Publication of the report has been assisted by the Trustees of the British Museum.