Is this the set of ears we have been looking for?

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Unlike muscles, cartilage does not undergo rigor mortis, so the ear doesn’t stiffen like limbs or jaw muscles might. The Auricle and Helix are made mostly of cartilage and skin, with minimal muscle.

After death, dehydration and gravity cause the ear to lose firmness and go floppy or droopy. So when Paul Lawson started his plaster work he had to mould the head structure and the ears separately, as the ears couldn’t maintain their stability due to the physical drag of gravity, and the forces needed to hold the plaster in place whilst trying to maintain the original shape.

In the picture comparison (below) you can see how the helix on the right (plaster cast) was unable to hold the original shape due to the need to have enough plaster applied, so that the cast would not collapse with such a thin deposit.

So, to the owner of this ear, and a matching one on the other side:-

The ear cast on the right (above) was created supposedly from the body of a deceased male lying on a table at the Adelaide Mortuary. Is the trail strong enough to say he was the “Somerton Man”?

The owner of the ear on the left was of the appropriate age, sex and stature of the body used to mould the ears by Paul Lawson.

He was a serving Australian Military Lieutenant Colonel and had higher than average “Intelligence” or at least the word “Intelligence” was written on his record, usually along-side the letter “X”. His family had members involved in Military and Legal activities for many generations. Well, at least the paternal side of his family did.

The maternal side of his family was of strong German progeny and hierarchy.

He frequented the Melbourne Office of Special Branch along with “DOSS” (yes I meant to say “DOSS”), Charles Webb (Webber) and also Gerald Keane and his band of supporters.

And who was this lady? Why was she watching Gerald Keane when he opened his toolbox? (Our Glad!)

I wouldn’t think she had a key to the pointy roofed Special Branch Office (below).

🚀 But, in the appropriate words of Jack Swigert, “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.”

At the start of this post I posed the question:- Is this the set of ears we have been looking for?

And the answer is:- Possibly not!

Why? Because the owner of the ear on the left is reported to have survived his career and life until the 22nd of November 1993. Unless he supplemented his Military career with that of a “Life Model” back in 1948/49.

Sorry, I think.

^{To contact the author, email onsomertonbeach@onsomertonbeach.com}

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