Evolution (Biology); Glacial epoch; Human beings -- Origin; Human evolution
"There can be no doubt that, as Professor Schaaffhausen and Mr. Busk
have stated, this skull is the most brutal of all known human skulls,
resembling those of the 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 brain-case, in the
straightness of the squamosal suture, and in the complete retreat of the
occiput forwards and upward, from the superior occipital ridges.
[Illustration: Figure 4. Skull of Chimpanzee]
(FIGURE 4. OUTLINE OF THE SKULL OF AN ADULT CHIMPANZEE, OF THAT
FROM THE NEANDERTHAL, AND OF THAT OF A EUROPEAN, DRAWN TO THE SAME
ABSOLUTE SIZE, IN ORDER BETTER TO EXHIBIT THEIR RELATIVE
DIFFERENCES.
The superciliary region of the Neanderthal skull
appears less prominent than in Figure 3, as the contours are all
taken along the middle line where the superciliary projection of
the Neanderthal skull is least marked. a. The glabella. b. The
occipital protuberance, or the point on the exterior of each skull
which corresponds roughly with the attachment of the tentorium, or
with the inferior boundary of the posterior cerebral lobes.)
"But the cranium, in its present condition, is stated by Professor
Schaaffhausen to contain 1033.24 cubic centimetres of water, or, in
other words, about 63 English cubic inches. As the entire skull could
hardly have held less than 12 cubic inches more, its minimum capacity
may be 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
about 46 cubic inches (27 ounces of water). The largest cranium of
any Gorilla yet measured contained 34.5 cubic inches. The Neanderthal
cranium stands, therefore, in capacity, very nearly on a level with
the mean of the two human extremes, and very far above the pithecoid
maximum.
[Illustration: Figure 5. Skull]
(FIGURE 5. SKULL ASSOCIATED WITH GROUND FLINT IMPLEMENTS,
FROM A TUMULUS AT BORREBY IN DENMARK, AFTER A CAMERA LUCIDA
DRAWING BY MR. G. BUSK, F.R.S.
The thick dark line indicates so much of the skull as
corresponds with the fragment from the Neanderthal.
a. Superciliary ridge.
b. Coronal suture.
c. The apex of the lamboidal suture.
d. The occipital protuberance.
e. The auditory foramen.)
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