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Description

The subject of the present paper was discovered during the excavation of docks now in progress at Tilbury Fort, Essex, at a depth of 32 feet from the present surface. It consists of a considerable proportion of a human skeleton, the parts of which are determined and described. The inferences deduced are that the remains were of a somewhat aged male of great muscular strength; and such inferences as to food, as might be drawn from the worn crowns of the teeth in use at his demise, are given. A chemical analysis of the bones is added by Walter Flight, of the laboratory Department in the British Museum. A section of the several strata dug through before arriving at the bed is appended.

Includes five plates of drawings of the human bones and a diagram showing the depth at which the remains were found.

Subject: Bioarchaeology

Received 26 November 1883. Read 6 December 1883.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 36 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'Description of parts of a human skeleton from a pleistocene (palæolithic) bed, Tilbury, Essex'.

Reference number
AP/62/6
Earliest possible date
1883
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
21 pages
Format
Manuscript
Printed

Creator name

Richard Owen

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Citation

Richard Owen, Unpublished paper, 'Description of parts of a human skeleton from Pleistocene (Paleolithic) bed, Tilbury, Essex [England]' by Richard Owen, 1883, AP/62/6, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_62_6/unpublished-paper-description-of-parts-of-a-human-skeleton-from-pleistocene-paleolithic-bed-tilbury-essex-england-by-richard-owen, accessed on 12 September 2024

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  • Archived Papers

    Dates: 1768-1989

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

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