The natural fracture of flint and its bearing upon rudimentary flint implements / by J. Reid Moir. The occurence of a human skeleton in a glacial deposit at Ipswich / by J. Reid Moir. Description of the Ipswich skeleton / by Arthur Keith.

  • Moir, J. Reid (James Reid), 1879-1944.
Date:
[1912]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The natural fracture of flint and its bearing upon rudimentary flint implements / by J. Reid Moir. The occurence of a human skeleton in a glacial deposit at Ipswich / by J. Reid Moir. Description of the Ipswich skeleton / by Arthur Keith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    21/32 (page 5)
    section now exposed, this portion of the pit varies in no way from other parts of the section, and shows a clear and undisturbed section of weathered boulder clay over the calcareous sands in which the remains were found. There is no reason to doubt that the sands and gravels are derived from glacial material, containing as they do derived Jurassic material, and the boulder clay is part of the large sheet exposed so well in the neighbouring pit, further to the East of Henley Road. George Slater, October 21st, 1911. Professor Keith also having examined the bones sent on a most able and detailed report of their characteristics. It will, I think, be seen from these carefully-compiled reports that in all its aspects this matter has been gone into in as thorough and scientific a manner as possible. Now it appears that the main points of this discovery for consideration are:—(1) Was a grave ever dug through the boulder clay? (2) Is the boulder clay in situ or re-deposited ? Regarding the first, the following facts have been accumula- ted :—A most careful examination of the section before the disinterment took place showed clearly that no signs of any previous digging were visible, the clay above the skeleton appeared to be in every way the same as that which extended for some distance on each side of it. There was not the slightest mixing of the soils apparent, such as is now to be seen, where the hole dug has been filled in. No grave furniture was found with the body, such as usually occurs in burials of many subsequent periods. Immediately underneath the bones a pronounced cal- careous band was present. This deposit, which is often found in sand underlying boulder clay, and which gives a marked effervescence with hydrochloric acid, is much in evidence in this pit, and extends more or less continuously on either side of the spot where the remains were found. If a grave had been dug through the boulder clay, the rain-water, percolating through the loose material filling the grave, would have dissolved away this calcareous deposit. The skeleton was lying partly embedded in glacial sand and partly in boulder clay. This sand showed clearly lines of strati- fication, and was conformable with that underlying it. This could not be the case if a grave had been dug down through the clay and into the sand. The extraordinary cranial cast, formed of the sandy loam in which the bones rested, and which was so perfect that the part of the frontal lobe of the brain connected with speech is clearly marked on it, appears to point to the fact that the material com- posing it must have been introduced while in a semi-fluid state, and it is difficult to believe that the clay and sand have been in such a condition since the time when a grave would have been dug.