The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 4, April, 1864 — John Shaqi
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 4, April, 1864Various
Religion
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 4, April, 1864
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
In chapter fifth we have a minute and interesting account of such fossil
human skulls and skeletons as have been found in caves and ancient
tumuli, and a careful endeavor made to estimate their approximate age.
In 1857, in a cave situated in that part of the valley of the Duessel,
near Duesseldorf, which is called the Neanderthal, a skull and skeleton
were found, buried beneath five feet of loam, which were pronounced by
Professor Huxley and others to be clearly human, though indicating small
cerebral development and uncommon strength of corporeal frame. In the
Engis caves, near Liege, portions of six or seven human skeletons were
found, imbedded in the same matrix with the remains of the elephant,
rhinoceros, bear, hyena, and other extinct quadrupeds. In an ancient
tumulus near Borrely, in Denmark, a human skull was discovered which was
adjudged by its surroundings to belong to the 'stone period' of Denmark,
or the era of the Scotch fir. The careful anatomical examination and
comparison to which these skulls have been subjected, have led to
important discussions, not only as to their age, but also as to their
relation to existing races.
Next comes an extended account of the flint implements and other works
of art, found so abundantly in juxtaposition with the bones of extinct
mammalia, in various localities--in a cave at Brixham, near Torquay, in
Devonshire; in the alluvium of the Thames valley; in the gravel of the
valley of the Ouse, near Bedford; in a fresh-water deposit at Hoxne in
Suffolk; in the valley of the Lach at Icklingham; in a cavern in
Somersetshire; in the caves of Gomer in Glamorganshire, in South Wales;
and especially in the gravel beds of Abbeville and Amiens, in France,
and various localities of the valley of the Somme. As to these flint
implements, they are chiefly knives, hatchets, and instruments of that
sort, and they have been found in such large numbers, and such diverse
localities, and so uniformly in close proximity with the remains of the
same species of extinct mammalia, that the evidence derived from them
is, to say the least, of a very weighty character, and in the opinion of
Sir Charles Lyell clearly establishes the fact that _Elephas
primigenius_, _Elephas antiquus_, _Rhinoceros tichorrhinus_, _Ursus
speloeus_, and other extinct species of the post-pliocene alluvium,
_coexisted with man_.
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