Research Items

Abstract

KENT'S CAVEBN.—In the Proceedings of the Torquay Natural History Society for 1926-27, Sir Arthur Keith describes the fragment of a human jaw which was found at a depth of 10J feet in the cave earth in the vestibule of Kent's Cavern. It represents part of the right half of the upper jaw, and includes the alveolar process from the middle of the socket of the canine to almost the hinder or distal margin of the socket of the second molar. Three teeth are in place—the right canine, the second right premolar, and the first right molar. The sockets for the first premolar and the second molar are empty, their teeth having fallen from the sockets after death. A small area of the lower wall of the sinus maxillaris and the basal part of the zygomatic ridge of the upper jaw are preserved, as well as a small part of the palatal process on the inner margin of the alveolar process. There is no sign of disease, but the crowns are worn flat and smooth so that a border of enamel encloses the exposed dentine. The state of the canine indicates an edgeto-edge bite. The condition of the fractured surface of the bone suggests that it was broken away before the animal matter had entirely disappeared. The bone is coloured a pinkish red, the colour of all fossil specimens from the cave earth, and there can be no doubt that it is as old as the date of the deposition of the cave earth. The teeth and jaws may very well have belonged to the same people whose remains have previously been found in the cavern, that is, the palate found in the stalagmite by Mr. Pengelly and the fragment described in the last report. It belongs to the type of modern man which includes the late palaeolithic peoples of Europe.