The Geological Evidence of The Antiquity of Man

NGIS

found in Cave n

l Position an

and ape-lik

ll of the Engis

y's Description

, with extreme Var

alian

y in the Human a

Borreby i

s of Profe

liar Characters of

thesis of T

N OF THE NEANDERTHAL

its peculiar conformation, has excited no small sensation in the last few years. I allude to the skull found in 1857 in a cave situated in that part of the valley of the Dussel, near Dusseldorf, which is called the Neanderthal. The spot is a deep and narrow ravine about 70 English miles north-east of the region of the Liege caverns treated of in th

d the kindness to come expressly from Elberfeld to be my guide, and who brought with him the original fossil skull, and a cast of the same, which he presented to me. In the interval of three years, between 1857 and 1860, the ledge

OF THE NEANDERTHAL

bove the Dussel, an

f the cou

floor of the cave nea

skeleton

g the cave with the

un

ficial s

nian li

, or ledge

rface of the country. Through this passage the loam, and possibly the human body to which the bones belonged, may have been washed into the cave below. The loam, which covere

tusk of a bear had been met with in some mud in a lateral embranchment of the cave, in a situation precisely similar to b, Figure 1, and on a level corresponding with that of the human ske

was first noticed near the entrance, and, further in, the other bones lying in the same horizontal plane. It is supposed that the sk

er to Professor S

Review" Number 2

ischer Verei

hey have been observed on Roman bones. Nevertheless, they are more common in bones that have been long embedded in the earth. The skull and bones, moreover, of the Neanderthal skeleton had lost so much of their animal matter as to adhere strongly to the tongue, agreeing in this respect with the ordinary condition of fossil remains of t

th parietals, part of the squamous, and the upper third of the occipital, was of unusual size and thickness, the forehead narrow and very low, and the projection of the supra-orbital ridges enormously great. He also stated that the absolute and relative length of the thigh bone, humerus, radius, and ulna, agreed well with the dimensions of a European in

fhausen's "Memoir"

eview" Ap

as is practised in various modes by barbarous nations in the Old and New World, the skull being quite symmetrical, and showing no indication of coun

tory Review" Nu

o whom the Neanderthal skull belonged must have been distinguished by

ike skull he had ever beheld. Mr. Busk, after giving a translation of Professor Schaaffhausen's memoir in the "Natural History Re

ad not previously been observed, that it was quite as abnormal in the shape of its occipital as in that of its frontal or superciliary region. Before ci

F THE ENGIS CA

affinities, but not confidently, observing truly that it would require many more specimens to enable an anatomist to arrive at sound conclusions on such a point. M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire and other osteologists, who examined the specimen, denied that it resembled a negro's skull. When I saw the original in the museum at Liege, I invited Dr. Spring, one of the professors of the university, to whom we are indebted for a valuable memoir on the human bones found in the cavern of Chauvaux, near Namur, to have a cast made of this Engis skull. He not only had the kindness to comply with my request, but rendered a service to the scientific world by adding to the ori

UXLEY ON THE HUMAN SKULLS O

ons are based (Figure 2) exhibits the frontal, parietal, and occipital regions, as far as the middle of the occipital foramen, with the squamous and mastoid portions of the right temporal bone entire, or nea

al spine of the frontal bone to the occipital protuberance (d) measures about 13 3/4 inches. The transverse arc from one auditory foramen to the other across the middle of the sagittal suture measures about 13 inches. The sagittal suture (b c) is 5 1/2 inches in length. The superciliary prominences are well, but not excessively, developed, and are separated by a median depression in the region of t

W OF THE CAST OF PA

RLING EMBEDDED AMO

IN THE CAVE OF

iary ridge

onal s

of the lambo

ipital pro

but was probably about the same, and certainly exceeded 10 1/4 inches. The horizontal circumference is 23 inches. This great circumference arises largely from the vast development of the superciliary ridges, which are occupied by great frontal sinuses whose inferior apertures are displayed exceedingly well in one of Dr. Fuhlrott's photographs, and form a continuous transverse prominence, somewhat excavated in the middle line, across the lower part of the brows. In consequence of this structure, the forehead appears still lower and more retreating than it really is. To an anatomica

W OF THE CAST OF A

HE NEANDERTHAL,

iary ridge

coronal

of the lambo

ipital pro

ulty in believing that a human brain could have its posterior lobes so flattened and diminished as must have been the case in the Neanderthal man, supposing the ordinary relation to obtain between the superior occipital ridges and the tentorium; but on my application, through Sir Charles Lyell,

he apes not only in the prodigious development of the superciliary prominences and the forward extension of the orbits, but still more in the depressed form of

THE SKULL OF AN ADUL

AND OF THAT OF A EUROP

ORDER BETTER TO EX

EREN

region of the N

t than in Figure 3, a

e line where the supe

l is least marked. a

, or the point on the

hly with the attachmen

undary of the poster

estimated at 75 cubic inches. The most capacious healthy European skull yet measured had a capacity of 114 cubic inches, the smallest (as estimated by weight of brain) about 55 cubic inches, while, according to Professor Schaaffhausen, some Hindoo skulls have as small a capacity as

SOCIATED WITH GROUN

ORREBY IN DENMARK,

MR. G. BU

ne indicates so m

the fragment from

rciliar

onal s

of the lambo

ipital pro

uditory

ter than ordinary human bones, there could be no reason for ascribing this cranium to anything but a man; while the strength and development of the muscular ridges of the li

who adopt the hypothesis. Idiotcy is compatible with very various forms and capacities of the cranium, but I know of none which present the least resemblance to the Neanderthal skull; and

arkably projecting superciliary ridges, a retreating forehead, a low flattened vertex, and an occiput which shelves upward and forward. But the skull is relatively higher and broader, or more brachycephalic, the sagittal suture longer, and the superciliary ridges less projecting, than in the

ith, or later than, the makers of the 'refuse-heaps' of that country. In other words, they were subsequent to the last great physical cha

was as modern as they, it would be separated by as great a distance of time as of anatomical character from the Engis skul

is to be found in a pure race at the present day; and as the natives of Southern and Western Australia are probably as pure and homogeneous in blood, customs

uld very nearly resemble the Engis skull, while the other should somewhat less closely approximate the Neanderthal cranium in form, size,

er, is shown by the accompanying diagram (Figure 6), which gives the contours of the two

COLUMN 1: T

nce in the plane of a line joining the

he nasal depression along the middle line

tal line on each side, across the middle of the sag

ical height from the g

extreme longitud

e extreme transv

e glabello-occipit

simply because it

ther fragments or e

nce of the English

that of the glabell

to 22

3 3/4: 12 1/2: 4

tra

: 13 : 12 : 4 3/

tra

2 1/2: 10 3/4: 3

: 12 : 10 : 3

ted, but the following measurements of an English skull, noted in the catalogue of the Hunterian museum as typically Caucasian (se

3/4: 12 1/2: 4 4

far as race is measured by language, colour of skin, or character of hair. Against the conclusion that they are of the same race as the Australians various minor anatomical differences of the ancient skulls, such as the great development of the

aces of men can be proved to differ from one another in the same characters, though perhaps not quite to the same extent, as the Engis a

S OF THE SKULL FRO

SKULL FROM PORT A

E OF ENGIS, DRAWN

E BETTER TO CONTRAS

e gla

otuberance, or the

corresponds roughl

or with the inferi

r cerebr

he auditory foramen

savage; that the former turns the bones of the kangaroo and of the emu to the same account as the latter did the bones of the deer and the urus; that the Australian heaps up the shells of devoured shellfish in mounds which represent the "

ier demonstrated of the animals of the Nile valley is no less true of men; circumstances remaining similar, the savage varies little more, it would seem, than the ibis or the crocodile,

together with the very fair development of the Engis skull, clearly indicate that the first traces of the primordial stock whence Man has proceeded need no longer be sought, by those who entertain

st or Caucasian type; that of the Neanderthal, because, having no such decided claims to antiquity, it departs so widely from the normal standard of humanity. Professor Huxley's observation regarding the wide range of variation, both as to shape

portion of the mammalian fauna agrees specifically with that of our own period, so that we are scarcely entitled to feel surprised if we find human races of the Pleistocene epoch undistinguishable from some living ones. It would merely tend to show that Man has been as constant in his osteological characters as many other mammalia now his contemporaries. The expectation of always m

at of the lowest,* though less in degree, are of the same order as those which separate the

istory Review

verage in the lower races of mankind, its convolutions rather less complicated, and those of the two hemispheres more symmetrical, in all which points an approach is made to the simian type. It will also be seen, by reference to the late Dr. Morton's works, and by the foregoing statements of Professor Huxley, that

e Negro, for instance, the stature is less than in the European. The cranium, as is well known, bears a small proportion to the face. Of the extremities the upper are proportionately longer, and there is, in both upper and lower, a less marked preponderance of the proximal over the distal segments. For instance, in the Negro, the thigh and arm are rather shorter than in the European; the leg is actually of equal length in both races, and is therefore, relatively, a little longer in the Negro; the fore-arm in the latter is actually, as well as relatively, a little longer; the foot is an eighth, and

hat of a chimpanzee than had ever been observed before in any human cranium; and Professor Huxley's description of the

random direction, but just what might have been anticipated if the laws of variation were such as the transmutationists require. For if we conceive the cranium to be very ancient, it exemplifies a less advanced stage of progressive development and improvement. If it be a comparatively modern race, owing its peculiarities of conformation t