The Occurrence of a Human Skeleton in a Glacial Deposit at Ipswich

Extract

On Friday, October 6th, 1911, I received a message from Mr. Laughlin, of Messrs. Bolton & Laughlin, brickmakers, Ipswich, to the effect that one of his workmen, while removing some surface clay to get at the underlying glacial gravel, had turned out some human bones. I at once went down to the pit where the discovery had been made and found that a portion of a human skull attached to an almost complete cranial cast had been recovered. The workmen pointed out that two bones were protruding from the spot whence the skull had been derived, and so it was arranged for the remainder of the skeleton to be dug up on the following day. Messrs. Woolnough, Canton, and Snell accompanied me, and we afterwards drew up a short report of our observations. This report is as follows:—

“We, the undersigned, were present at, and superintended, the digging out of the human remains found at Messrs. Bolton & Laughlin's pit, Ipswich, on Saturday, October 7th, 1911. We all most carefully examined the section of decalcified Boulder Clay, under which the bones lay, before any digging commenced, and were absolutely convinced that no grave had ever been dug on the spot before.