(6) _The Man of La Naulette_: In 1866, André Dupont found in the
cavern of La Naulette, valley of the Lesse, Belgium, a fossil lower
jaw, or rather, the fragment of a lower jaw, associated with remains
of the mammoth and rhinoceros. The fragment was sufficient to show the
dentition, and to indicate the absence of a chin. “Its kinship with the
man of Neanderthal,” remarks Professor MacCurdy very naïvely, “whose
lower jaw could not be found, was evident. It tended to legitimatize
the latter, which hitherto had failed of general recognition.”
(Smithson. Inst. Rpt. for 1909, p. 572.)
(7) _The Men of Spy_: In June of 1886 two nearly complete skeletons,
probably of a woman and a man, were discovered by Messrs. Marcel
de Puydt and Maximin Lohest in a terrace fronting a cave at Spy in
the Province of Namur, Belgium, 47½ feet above the shallow bed of
the stream Orneau. The bones were found at a depth of 13 feet below
the surface of the terrace. The remains were associated with bones
of the rhinoceros (_Rhinoceros tichorhinus_), the mammoth (_Elephas
primigenius_), and the great bear (_Ursus spelaeus_). There were also
stone implements indicating Mousterian industry, and the position of
one of the skeletons shows that the bodies were buried by friends.
The present valley of the Orneau was almost completely formed at the
time of the burial. The exact age of the bones cannot be determined
nor can these cave deposits be correlated with the river drift and the
loess. The cultural evidences are said to be Mousterian, and Mousterian
culture is assigned by Obermaier to the Fourth, or last, Glacial period.
Prof. Julien Fraipont of the University of Liége announced the
discovery of these palæolithic skeletons Aug. 16, 1886. Skeleton No.
1 has weaker bones and is thought to be that of a woman; No. 2 shows
signs of strong musculature and is evidently that of a man. Of No. 1
we have the cranial vault, two portions of the upper jaw (with five
molars and four other teeth), a nearly complete mandible with all the
teeth, a left clavicle, a right humerus, the shaft of the left humerus,
a left radius, the heads of two ulnæ, a nearly complete right femur,
a complete left tibia, and the right os calcis. Of No. 2 we have the
vault of the skull, two portions of the maxilla with teeth, loose teeth
belonging to lower jaw, fragments of the scapulæ, the left clavicle,
imperfect humeri, the shaft of the right radius, a left femur, the
left os calcis, and the left astragalus. The separation of the bones,
however, is not yet satisfactory. The jaw of No. 1 is well-preserved,
except in the region of the coronoids and condyles, which makes any
position we may give it more or less arbitrary. The skull of this
specimen is almost the replica of the Neanderthal skull, except that
the forehead is lower and more sloping. But No. 1 has a trace of chin
prominence and in this it resembles modern skulls. No. 2 has a higher
forehead and the cranial vault is higher and more spacious.
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