Dr. Fuhlrott replied with a courtesy and readiness for which I am
infinitely indebted to him, to my inquiries, and furthermore sent three
excellent photographs. One of these gives a side view of the skull,
and from it Figure 24, A. has been shaded. The second (Figure 25, A.)
exhibits the wide openings of the frontal sinuses upon the inferior
surface of the frontal part of the skull, into which, Dr. Fuhlrott
writes, "a probe may be introduced to the depth of an inch," and
demonstrates the great extension of the thickened supraciliary ridges
beyond the cerebral cavity. The third, lastly (Figure 25, B.) exhibits
the edge and the interior of the posterior, or occipital, part of
the skull, and shows very clearly the two depressions for the lateral
sinuses, sweeping inwards towards the middle line of the roof of the
skull, to form the longitudinal sinus. It was clear, therefore, that I
had not erred in my interpretation, and that the posterior lobe of
the brain of the Neanderthal man must have been as much flattened as I
suspected it to be.
In truth, the Neanderthal cranium has most extraordinary characters.
It has an extreme length of 8 inches, while its breadth is only 5.75
inches, or, in other words, its length is to its breadth as 100:72.
It is exceedingly depressed, measuring only about 3.4 inches from the
glabello-occipital line to the vertex. The longitudinal arc, measured
in the same way as in the Engis skull, is 12 inches; the transverse
arc cannot be exactly ascertained, in consequence of the absence of the
temporal bones, but was probably about the same, and certainly exceeded
10 1/4 inches. The horizontal circumference is 23 inches. But this
great circumference arises largely from the vast development of the
supraciliary ridges, though the perimeter of the brain case itself is
not small. The large supraciliary ridges give the forehead a far more
retreating appearance than its internal contour would bear out.
To an anatomical eye the posterior part of the skull is even more
striking than the anterior. The occipital protuberance occupies the
extreme posterior end of the skull, when the glabello-occipital line
is made horizontal, and so far from any part of the occipital region
extending beyond it, this region of the skull slopes obliquely upward
and forward, so that the lambdoidal suture is situated well upon the
upper surface of the cranium. At the same time, notwithstanding the
great length of the skull, the sagittal suture is remarkably short (4
1/2 inches), and the squamosal suture is very straight.
(FIGURE 25.--Drawings from Dr. Fuhlrott's photographs of parts of the
interior of the Neanderthal cranium. A. view of the under and inner
surface of the frontal region, showing the inferior apertures of the
frontal sinuses ('a'). B. corresponding view of the occipital region of
the skull, showing the impressions of the lateral sinuses ('a a').)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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