THE EARLIEST MAN.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1386, 12 March 1912, Page 5

THE EARLIEST MAN.

T SKELETON POSSIBLY 100,000 YEARS OLD. A correspondent of the "London Times" describes an important discovery made near Ipswich by Mr. ,f. licit) Molr. Mr. Moir excavated a human skeleton which, 1 if all the evidence holds good, represents not only the earliest remains of man yet found in England, but, with the exception ' of tho Heidelberg jaw, the earliest, yet ■ found in Europe. Tho remains may be . 100.000 yea is- old. i The skeleton was excavated Inst October from beneath an undisturbed layer of chalky boulder elay, which for antedates the period of Neaiidort.il man, whose re- > mains have lately lven found so abundant-. t ly in Tlranw. The writer is of the opinion : thiit the remains belonpr to -,i race of men • Who lived in East Anglin before the most i severe of the various episodes of (he . Glacial period. ; The skeleton resled on tho right side, , with tho legs folded up on the body, and ■ was apparently that of a nun of aVjjnt . .-ft. lOin. in height. The skull was small. I Tho thigh bones and the bones of Iho i 'forearms and Lands wcjo absolutely the > scino as in modern Englishmen. Tlio ' bones were so fragile that it was found i impossible to remove them. The stratum , containing them was cut out in blocks i and forwarded to Professor Keith. He ■ imiwegnateil thorn with Rclatino and {lion i cleaned aw-iy the surrounding matrix, leaving each bone embedded on tho surface of its block. Growing evidence supports the opinions of those anthropologists who have supposed that tho modern typo of man was evolved at an extremely early date, mid that lo:ijf after his apiipa.inncc a much wore primitive mnu also persisted in Knropc—the typo we now name Neandertal. The modern type of man was apparently evolved before the commencement of ihe Glacial period.