864 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



the enormous projection of the super-ciliary region, and to the de- 

 pressed forehead. Prof. Schaaff 'hausen sums up his conclusions as 

 follows : 



" First. That the extraordinary form of the skull was due to a nat- 

 ural conformation hitherto not known to exist, even in the most bar- 

 barous races. 



" Secondly, That these remarkable human remains belonged to a 

 period antecedent to the time of the Celts and Germans, and were, 

 in all probability, derived from one of the wild races of north-west- 

 ern Europe, spoken of by Latin writers ; and which were encountered 

 as autochthones by the German immigrants. And, 



" Thirdly. That it was beyond doubt that these human relics were 

 traceable to a period at which the latest animals of the diluvian still 

 existed ; but that no proof in support of this assumption, nor, conse- 

 quently, of their so-termed fossil condition, was afforded by the cir- 

 cumstances under which the bones were discovered." 



Mr. Busk observes that these remains " were discovered under 

 circumstances which, though ..not altogether demonstrative of their 

 real geological position, leave no doubt of their enormous antiquity, 

 and of the probability of their having belonged to w r hat has been 

 termed the quaternary period. The conformation of the cranium, 

 moreover, in this instance is so remarkable as justly to excite the 

 utmost interest, approaching as it does, in one respect, that of some 

 of the higher apes." 



Although the skull above described exceeds all others yet known 

 in approximation to that of apes, many skulls have been found which 

 occupy a position between this one and existing forms. 



"In a bone cavern in Brazil, Lieud discovered human crania 

 mixed with the bones of extinct animals, in which the forehead re- 

 ceded on a level with the face ; a formation which is also represented 

 in ancient Mexican pictures. In the rocky caverns of the Peru- 

 vian Andes, Casteluan discovered, under the same conditions, human 

 crania of a similar, strongly retrocedent, elongated form 



"In the Transactions of the Imperial Russian Mineralogical Soci- 

 ety of the year 1842, an account was given, by Dr. S. Kutorga, of two 

 human skulls from the government of Minsk. . . . One of the 

 skulls there figured presented a great similarity with that found in the 

 Neanderthal. ... A human skeleton, in a squatting, or almost 

 kneeling posture, together with implements made of bone, a battle- 

 axe of stag's horn, two boar's tusks, which had been cut off, and three 

 incisor teeth of a stag, perforated at the root, were found near Place, 

 in silicious sand, six feet below the surface. A very high antiquity 

 was assigned to this grave, as it was wholly unprotected by any ma- 

 sonry, and afforded no trace of cremation having been practised, nor 

 any implements of stone, clay, or metal. Dr. Lisch, who had been 

 struck with the unusual prominence of the supra-orbital border, the 

 wide root of the nose, and the strongly retrocedent frontal, accom- 

 panied the account of the finding with this remark : ' The formation 

 of the skull indicates a very remotely distant period, at which men 

 presented a much lower degree of development. Probably this grave 

 belongs to the autochthonous population.' ' 



Accounts of many other primitive skulls are given in the very in- 



