The most ancient skeletal remains of man / by A. Hrdlička.

  • Alex Hrdlicka
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The most ancient skeletal remains of man / by A. Hrdlička. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the cranium presented in a high degree certain primitive character- istics in which it approaches those of the Neanderthal type. A little later in the year Dr. Martin made a somewhat more exten- sive report on the find before the Prehistoric Society of France,^ and in 1912 he published four other accounts relating to the dis- covery.2 From these publications it appears that archeological ex- plorations at La Quina by Dr. Martin and others had been carried on intermittently for seven years before the human skeleton came to light, yielding many examples of paleolithic stone industries refer- able in tlie main to the upper or younger division of the Mousterian epoch. In addition a nmnber of human teeth and various fragments of human bones, belonging to the upper Mousterian, were encountered during this time, but none, barring perhaps a larger portion of one lower jaw, are of special importance.® The sandy layer which contained the La Quina skeleton yielded some worked stones representing lance points, knives, and scrapers, but all of inferior workmanship. Evidence was also found in traces of fire and calcined bones, that man of the period represented by the skeleton lived or took refuge in the caverns or holes of the cliff above. The animals on which the La Quina man lived were the reindeer, bison, horse, and rarely also the mammoth. The total Mousterian deposits at La Quina indicate a long duration of the epoch, and one during which man advanced considerably in the way of manufacture of his stone utensils. The bones of the skeleton were taken to Paris, partly still in the sediments with which they were surrounded, and were then most carefully worked out from the matrix (pi. 38). The different parts of the skuU, it was found, besides being disjointed, were forced to- gether so as to overlap, while the facial parts were broken and to a large extent deficient. With what was left of the jaws were 14 of the teeth. The remains were seen at first sight to present a number of impor- tant primitive characteristics. The frontal bone showed a very pro- nounced supraorbital arch, with low and sloping forehead; the vault, it could readily be determined,' had been low; the temporal fossae were spacious, for the accommodation of powerful temporal muscles; 1 Martin, Henri. Presentation d’un crftne humaln trouvd avec le squelette a la base du Moust^rien de La Quina (Charente). (Bulletin de la Society Prehistorlque Frangalse, Stance du 26 Oct., 1911, pp. 1-12, 3 pis.) ^ A propos de la dficouverte de i’homme fosslle de La Quina. (Annales de la Faculty des Lettres de Bordeaux, etc., 4th series, vol. 14, 1912, pp. 61-64.) Le Crftne de I’homme fosslle Moust4rlen de La Quina. (C. R. A. F. A. S., 1912, pp. 637-538.) L’homme fosslle Moustftrlen de La Quina (Bull. Soc. Prfihlstorlque Frangalse, 1912, pp. 1-36, 4 pis.), and Position stratigraphlque des Ossements humalns recueillls dans le Moustftrlen de La Quina de 1908 ft 1912. (Bull. Soc. Prdhlst. Franqaise, 1912, pp. 1-8, 1 Pl.) • Pictured in the publication last named In footnote 2. 44863°—SM 1913 35