The skull is that of a low, perhaps, degenerate, type of humanity. The
facial and basal parts of the skull are missing. Hence we are not sure
of the prognathism shown in McGregor’s reconstruction. The skull has,
however, a retreating forehead, prominent brow ridges and a sloping
occiput. Yet, in spite of the fact that it is of a very low type, it
is indubitably human. “In no sense,” says Huxley, “can the Neanderthal
bones be regarded as the remains of a human being intermediate between
men and apes.” (“Evidence of Man’s Place in Nature,” Humb. ed., p.
253.) D. Schaaffhausen makes the same confession—“In making this
discovery,” he owns, “we have not found the missing link.” (“Der
Neanderthaler Fund,” p. 49.) The cranial capacity of the Neanderthal
skull, as we have seen, is 1,236 c.cm., which is practically the same
as that of the average European woman of today. In size it exceeds,
but in shape it resembles, the dolichocephalic skull of the modern
Australian, being itself a dolichocephalic cranium. Huxley called
attention to this resemblance, and Macnamara, after comparing it with
a large number of such skulls, reaches this conclusion: “The average
cranial capacity of these selected 36 skulls (namely, of Australian
and Tasmanian blacks) is even less than that of the Neanderthal group,
but in shape some of these two groups are closely related.” (_Archiv.
für Anthropologie_, XXVIII, 1903, p. 358.) Schwalbe’s opinion that the
Neanderthal Man constitutes a distinct species, though its author has
since abandoned it (cf. Wasmann’s “Modern Biology,” Eng. ed., 1910, p.
506), will be considered later, viz. after we have discussed the Men of
Spy, Krapina and Le Moustier, all of whom have been assigned to the
Neanderthal group.
(5) _Neanderthal Man_ (No. 2): This specimen is said to be more recent
than No. 1. Its discoverers were Rautert, Klaatsch, and Koenen. It
consists of a human skeleton without a skull. It was found buried in
the loess at a depth of 50 centimeters. This loess had been washed
into the ruined cave, where the relics were found, subsequently to its
deposition on the plateau above. The bones were most probably washed
into the cave along with the loess, which fills the remnant of the
destroyed cave. The upper plateau of the region is covered with the
same loess. The site of the second discovery was 200 meters to the west
of the Neanderthal Cave (_i.e._ the Feldhofer Grotte). The bones were
either washed into the broken cave, or buried there later. We have no
indication whatever of their age.
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