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.

    49/126 page 515
    515 The principal measurements which the writer secured on the specimen, and which differ slightly from those previously reported, especially as to the breadth of the skull, are as follows: Length maximum (glabello-occlpital) 19.3 Breadth maximum, near ® Cephalic index 76 to 77 Height between a point corresponding about to the bregma and a point on the basilar process just back of the vomer 10. 8 Diameter frontal minimum 9-9 Upper alveolar point to nasion, approximately 7. 9 Nose height (mean of the two sides) 6. 8 Breadth maximum 3. 4 Palate length (Turner’s method), about 7.0 Breadth, about 6, 8 Hm. Thickness of right parietal, 1 cm. above and along the squamous suture— 6. 9 Right. Left. Cm. Cm, Orbi ts, height 4 3. 8 Breadth 4 4.0 Maximum length of the brain 16. 4 The majority of these measurements show well the low type of the skull. There are numerous other details and dimensions about the speci- men which are of interest to the anthropologist, but which can not well be dealt with in this paper. It will suffice to say that both the visual and the instrumental examination of the specimen lead to the conclusion that the Gibraltar skull represents a highly valuable re- mains of an early human being and that its principal characteris- tics justify the classification of this ancient form with the Homo neanderthalensis.'^ THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL AND BONES. The most famous of the skeletal remains representing early man are unquestionably the imperfect but highly characteristic speci- mens known as the Neanderthal skull and bones. This important find more than any other has aroused scientific men to intense reali- zation 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 with the entire early phase of mankind of which the skeleton is, as now well known, a prototype. ^ ADDITIONAL REFERENCES. Seba, G. L. Nuove osservazioni ed induzioni sul cranio de Gibraltar. Arch. p. I’Antropol. and Etnol., vol. 39, Firenze, 1910, pp. 1-66, pis. 3-5. SoLLAs W. G On the cranial and facial features of the Neanderthal race. (Philosophical Transactions, Roy. Soc. London, 1907, vol. 199B, p. 281-339.)
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