Day George hooked a human jawbone
Fisherman recollects bronze age find in river mud
A Cornton pensioner last week recalled the day he found a 4000-year-old human jawbone while out fishing in the Forth 40 years ago.
It follows recent radiocarbon dating of bones discovered in Stirling in the late 19th century of a similar age of a man in his mid 20s who has been nicknamed ‘Torbrex Tam’ by archaeologists.
The jawbone – thought to be from a man in his twenties – was found by 73-year-old George Sutton, of Vorlich Place, in July 1977 has also recently been established from radiocarbon dating as being from the Bronze Age and is currently being kept in the Smith Museum and Art Gallery.
Mr Sutton told the Observer last week the location of his find was Kildean ford. He said: “I remember it clearly. I had just bought a brand new fly rod and reel and was desperate to try it out on the river.
“The Forth was so low that you could walk across it wearing a pair of wellies. It was very warm that summer. I have never seen it so low before.
“My attention was caught by a bird’s head sticking out of the mud. It was a starling. So I dug the bird out of the mud and cleaned its feathers before letting it go. Then I noticed something else. When I picked it up I immediately recognised it as a human jawbone. I got quite a fright.
“I never caught any fish that day. I came back up the road and said to a neighbour there look at what I’ve found.”
Mr Sutton had hoped to have the bones dated after the discovery. He said his late wife Winnie took the jawbone to Stirling University to be told that it would cost too much to carry out.
Meantime the jawbone was kept in a box. When watching an archaeology programme on TV he learned that discoveries of human remains had to be reported to the police.
After informing the police an officer visited Mr Sutton’s home and took photographs of the jawbone. It was later picked up from Mr Sutton’s home and taken to the Smith Museum.
Funded by Historic Environment Scotland, the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre carried out the radiocarbon dating on the Torbrex and Cornton finds.
Mr Sutton said: “I thought the bones would have been from the Battle of Stirling Bridge, perhaps a few hundred years old, but I didn’t think they would go back 4000 years.
“You could see that the teeth were in very good condition. Their diet would have been nothing like today’s. There was no sign of tooth decay.”
You could see that the teeth were in very good condition. There was no sign of toothdecay