Of the brain case there are four pieces (reconstructed from nine fragments) sufficiently well preserved to exhibit the shape and natural relations of a larger part of the vault and to justify the reconstruction of some other features. These bones are particularly noteworthy for their thickness, which reached 20 mm. at the internal occipital protuberance and 10 mm. along the greater part of the fractured edges of the frontal and parietals. The average thickness of modern European skulls, except in the locality of the various ridges and sutures, varies between 4 and 6 mm.... The reconstructed cranium (fig. 5) is evidently that of an adult, but not old, female. . . . ... The left temporal bone, which is excellently preserved, is "typically human in every detail," and corresponds closely with the same bone in a comparatively modern human skull. The mastoid is rather small. The capacity of the brain-case cannot, of course, be exactly determined; but measurements both by millet-seed and by water show that it must have been at least 1,070 cc., while a consideration of the missing parts suggests that it may have been a little more. It therefore agrees closely with the capacity of the brain-case of the Gibraltar skull, as determined by Prof. Keith, and equals that of some of the lowest skulls of the existing Australians. It is much below that of the Mousterian skulls from Spy and La Chapelle-aux-Saints. As regards the lower jaw and the teeth it will be best to quote again from Dr. Woodward. According to this observer: "While the skull, indeed, is evidently human, only approaching a lower grade in certain characters of the brain in the attachment for the neck, the extent of the temporal muscles and in the probably large size of the face, the mandible appears to be almost precisely that of an ape, with nothing human except the molar teeth. . . ." FOSSILS OF NEANDERTAL MAN The Skull of Gibraltar The history of the specimen is, regrettably, somewhat defective. The first mention of it occurs in Falconer's Paleontological Memoirs. Taking all the available data into consideration, it appears that the skull was discovered, accidentally, as early as 1848, therefore eight years before the Neandertal cranium made its appearance, in the "Forbes Quarry, situated on the north front of the Rock of Gibraltar." The skull was presented to the Gibraltar Scientific Society by its that time secretary, Lieut. Flint, but for many years received no scientific attention. In 1862 it came to England, with the collections from the Gibraltar caves, and was studied to some extent by Busk and Falconer. The latter, perceiving how much it differed from recent human skulls, proposed to refer it to a distinct variety of man, the Homo colpicus, after Calfé, the old name of Gibraltar. In 1868 finally Busk presented the cranium to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, where it is still preserved. The first descriptive account of the specimen was published, as mentioned above, by Broca, but the adhering stony matrix prevented at that time any attempts at accurate measurements. Subsequently it received attention from Huxley, Quatrefages, and Hamy, and later from Macnamara, Klaatsch, Schwalbe, Sollas, Sera, and Keith, as well as the writer. It is a very remarkable specimen which, even though the geo Fig. 6. The Gibraltar Skull. logical and paleontological evidence relating to its antiquity is imperfect, does not allow for one moment any doubt as to its representing an early form of the human being; and its characteristics are such that it is now universally regarded as a representative, possibly a very early one, of the Homo neandertalensis. The cranium (fig. 6) is dirty yellowish to whitish in color. It is considerably mineralized. The stony matrix has been so far removed that all important determinations and measurements which the defective state of the bone itself permits, can now be made. A fortunate circumstance is that the frontal and facial parts are relatively well preserved; the vault on the other hand is largely defective, but even here sufficient portions remain to permit of a number of valuable determinations, and a fairly correct reconstruction. . . . The vault, viewed from above, is ovoid in shape and decidedly low. The forehead is low and sloping. The cranial bones are thick, exceeding any in this line that can be found in normal modern Europeans. The external dimensions of the skull are fairly large, but the brain was small. The cranial capacity is estimated by Keith as having been under 1,100 c.c.-that in an adult white woman of the present time averaging about 1,325 c.c. The Neandertal Skull and Bones The most famous of the skeletal remains representing early man are unquestionably the imperfect but highly characteristic specimens known as the Neandertal skull and bones. This important find more than any other has aroused scientific men to intense realization of the earlier phases of human evolution. The skull and to some extent also the other parts of the skeleton stand morphologically far below those of any existing type of man, being correspondingly nearer to the ancient primates; and their name has been deservedly taken to designate the entire early phase of mankind of which the skeleton is, as now well known, a prototype. ... The skull, with other parts of the skeleton, were found in August, 1856. They were dug out accidentally by two laborers from a small cave, located at the entrance of the Neandertal gorge, in Westphalia, western Germany. The bones were given but little attention by the workmen, but fortunately news of the find reached an Elberfeld physician, Dr. Fuhlrott, and he was still able to save the skull cap (fig. 7), the femora, humeri, ulnae, right radius, portion of the left pelvic bone, portion of the right scapula, piece of the right clavicle, and five pieces of ribs. The principal details of Dr. Fuhlrott's report were as follows: A small cave or grotto, high enough to admit a man and about 15 feet deep from the entrance, which is 7 or 8 feet wide, exists in the southern wall of the gorge of the Neandertal, as it is termed, at a distance of about 100 feet from the Dussel and about 60 feet above the bottom of the valley (fig. 8). In its earlier and uninjured condition this cavern opened upon a narrow plateau lying in front of it and from which the rocky wall descended almost perpendicularly to the river. It could be reached, though with difficulty, from above. The uneven floor was covered to a thickness of 4 or 5 feet with a deposit of mud, sparingly intermixed with rounded fragments of chert. In the removing of this deposit the bones were discovered. The skull was first noticed, placed nearest to the entrance of the cavern; and further in were the other bones lying in the same horizontal plane. Of this I was assured in the most positive terms by two laborers who were employed to clear out the grotto, and who were questioned by me on the spot. At first no idea was entertained of the bones being human; and it was not till several weeks after their discovery that they were recognized as such by me and placed in security. But, as the importance of the discovery was not at the time perceived, the laborers were very careless in the collecting and secured chiefly only the larger bones; and to this circumstance it may be attributed that fragments merely of the probably perfect skeleton came into my possession. Following the early notices concerning the Neandertal cranium, and before other specimens of similar nature, such as the Spy, Gibraltar and others became known, an extensive controversy arose as to the real significance of the find. Virchow, and after him others, were at first inclined to look upon the skull as pathological; to Barnard Davis its sutures appeared to show premature synostosis; while Blake and his followers regarded the specimen as probably proceeding from an idiot. But there were also those, such as Schaaffhausen, Broca, and others, who from the beginning saw in the cranium (the other bones received at first but little attention) not any pathological or accidental monstrosity, but a peculiar, thereto unknown type of ancient humanity. Then gradually new examples of this same early type appeared in different parts of Europe, under Fig. 7. The Neandertal skull. eircumstances which steadily strengthened the claim of the whole class to geological antiquity; and when eventually a thorough comparative study of the Neandertal remains was carried out by modern methods and in view of new knowledge, the cranium and bones were definitely recognized as representing, in a normal and most characteristic way, a most interesting earlier phase or variety of mankind, our mid-quarternary predecessor or close relative Homo neanderthalensis. The credit for deserving work in this field is due especially to Prof. G. Schwalbe, of Strassburg, whose numerous publications on the early forms of human remains in Europe are well known to every anthropologist. . . The skull is gray in color, with large mud-brownish patches on the outside, and whitish gray to whitish brown on the inside. It is decidedly heavy and mineralized. It is plainly non-pathological. ... The facial and basal parts are lacking. The vault shows very good dimensions in length and breadth, but is strikingly low, and the bones are considerably thicker than in the white man of to-day, so that the brain cavity was only moderate. Besides its lowness the vault is characterized by a very decided protrusion of the whole supra-orbital region. The supra-orbital fore-structure or arch formed through this protrusion is heavier than in any other known example of the Homo neandertalensis. . . . The forehead is very low and also slopes markedly backward, nevertheless it presents a moderately well-defined convexity. The thickness of the frontal bone at the eminences is 8.5 mm.; of the left parietal, along and 1 cm. above the squamous suture, 6 to 8 mm.; these measurements are about one-third greater than those of the skull of an average modern European. . . . Fig. 8. Section of the Neandertal Cave, near Düsseldorf. (After Lyell.) a. Cavern 60 feet above the Düssell, and 100 feet below the surface of the country at c. b. Loam covering the floor of the cave, near the bottom of which the human skeleton was found. The internal capacity of the skull has been estimated by Schaaffhausen at 1,033 c.c., by Huxley at 1,230 c.c., and by Schwalbe at 1,234 c.c. The brain which filled the skull was lower and narrower and slightly more pointed than the human brain of to-day, approaching in these features more the anthropoid form. The right frontal lobe was slightly larger and longer than the left, and the whole right hemisphere was slightly longer than that of the opposite side. In the present man it is generally the left hemisphere which is the longer, but this exception in the Neandertal man is not necessarily of any special significance. The long and other bones of the skeleton, so far as preserved, show many features of anthropological inferiority, demonstrating plainly that not merely the skull, but the whole body of the Neandertal man occupied a lower evolutionary stage than that of any normal human being of the historic times. However, many of the details on these points are technical |