Evolution (Biology); Glacial epoch; Human beings -- Origin; Human evolution
"The Neanderthal skull, with which also I am acquainted only by means
of Professor Schaaffhausen's drawings of an excellent cast and of
photographs, is so extremely different in appearance from the Engis
cranium, that it might well be supposed to belong to a distinct race
of mankind. It is 8 inches in extreme length and 5.75 inches in extreme
breadth, but only measures 3.4 inches from the glabello-occipital line
to the vertex. The longitudinal arc, measured as above, 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. 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 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.
[Illustration: Figure 3. Cast of Human Skull]
(FIGURE 3. SIDE VIEW OF THE CAST OF A PART OF A HUMAN SKULL
FROM A CAVE IN THE NEANDERTHAL, NEAR DUSSELDORF.
a. Superciliary ridge and glabella.
b. The coronal suture.
c. The apex of the lamboidal suture.
d. The occipital protuberance.)
"In human skulls, the superior curved ridge of the occipital bone and
the occipital protuberance correspond, approximatively, with the level
of the tentorium and with the lateral sinuses, and consequently with the
inferior limit of the posterior lobes of the brain. At first, I found
some difficulty 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, Dr. Fuhlrott, the possessor of the skull, was
good enough not only to ascertain the existence of the lateral sinuses
in their ordinary position, but to send convincing proofs of the fact,
in excellent photographic views of the interior of the skull, exhibiting
clear indications of these sinuses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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