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that a man could just pass along it. It is not on the line of any natural fracture, and the beds of flint on each side correspond. The bottom was of undisturbed chalk, and one end, like the sides, was vertical. At the other end it opened diagonally on to the steep side of a valley. It has yielded substantial remains of Elephas meridionalis, but no other fossils. . . . This trench, in my opinion, was excavated by man in the later Pliocene age as a pitfall to catch elephants; and if so, it proves that he was already an intelligent and social being.” Elephas meridionalis, or “southern elephant,” was in existence in Europe from 1.2 to 3.5 million years ago (Maglio 1973, p. 79). Thus, while the bones found in the trench at Dewlish could conceivably be Early Pleistocene in age, they might also date to the Late Pliocene.

In Fisher’s original reports in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, we find the following more detailed description: “The trench was . . . followed for about 103 feet, until it suddenly terminated in a smooth ‘apse-like’ end. . . . It was a deep, narrow trench, with nearly vertical sides of undisturbed chalk. Mr. [Clement] Reid says: ‘The fissure (or rather trough) ended abruptly, without any trace of a continuing join; it was not a fault, for the lines of flint-nodules corresponded on each side’” (O. Fisher 1905, p. 35). The base of the trench was reported to be a smooth surface of chalk, twelve feet down (O. Fisher 1905, p. 36). Photographs accompanying the report show the vertical walls of the trench, carefully chipped as if with a large chisel.

In response to suggestions that flowing water might have excavated the trench, Fisher (1905, p. 36) stated: “A stream in such a locality would be unlikely to excavate a deep and narrow channel, much less, if it did so, would it come to an abrupt ending. And, even if we could account for the natural formation of such a trench, how came it that the remains of so many elephants were found in it, and (so far as appears) no other animals?”

Fisher (1905, p. 36) referred to reports showing that primitive hunters of modern times made use of similar trenches: “Sir Samuel Baker describes this method of taking elephants by natives of Africa. He says that an elephant cannot cross a ditch with hard perpendicular sides, which will not crumble nor yield to pressure. Pitfalls 12 to 14 feet deep are dug in the animals’ routes towards drinking-places, and covered with boughs and grass. The pits are made of different shapes, according to the individual opinions of the trappers. When caught, the animals are attacked with spears while in their helpless position, until they at last succumb through loss of blood. . . . If the stream which now runs at the bottom of the hill, despite subsequent changes in the contour of the country already existed, then this trench would have been made in a position suitable to intercept the route to the drinking place.”

Some critics pointed out that the trench appeared too narrow to accommodate a fully grown elephant, but evidently the deep trench was simply meant to incapacitate an adult animal by injuring its legs or to capture a young animal. Also, further excavation of the trench by the Dorset Field Club, as reported in a brief note in Nature (October 16, 1914; p. 511), revealed that “instead of ending below in a definite floor it divides downward into a chain of deep narrow pipes in the chalk.” But it is not unlikely that ancient humans might have made use of small fissures to open a larger trench in the chalk. It would be worthwhile to examine the elephant bones found in the trench for signs of cut marks or selective preservation.

2.18 More on implements From Below the Red Crag (Pliocene to Eocene)

Ten years after his first report (Section 2.16), J. Reid Moir (1927, pp. 31–32) again described fossilized bone implements taken from below the Red Crag formation (Figure 2.7): “In the sub-Red Crag Bone Bed where these flint implements are found, there are a number of bones comprising, chiefly, pieces of whale rib, very highly