Front:
REMARKABLE DISCOVERY IN
GOUGH'S CAVES.
Mr. H. St. George Gray. curator of Taunton Museum,
formerly assistant of the late General Pitt-Rivers, the
celebrated Archaeologist, has just examined, at the re-
quest of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural His-
tory Society, a remarkable human skeleton which has
been discovered in Gough's Caves, Cheddar. The remains
are those of a cave dweller who lived in the Paleolithic
Age, 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. The skull was in many
fragments and encrusted in loam. The man had very
prominent brows. The forehead is of the usual width,
but, on the other hand, it is very receding. The lower
jaw is powerfully formed, and far beyond the width of
those of the present age. The skull is also very thick.
The thickest part of frontal bone is nine milli-
metres, while the average at the present day is only
seven millimetres. There are projections of bone on back
of ears which we do not possess today. These were seats
for powerful muscles for the development of the lower
jaw, The skeleton was found between two layers of
stalagmite. The height of the man was 5 feet 3 inches.
In the Stone Age the average height of a man was only
about 5 feet 3 or 4 inches. The shin bone is flat, which
is never the case at the present day. Flint implements
were found near the skeleton as used by the Cave Man.
ON VIEW AT COUCH'S CAVES, CHEDDAR, SOMERSET.
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