THE HUMAN BACKGROUND 433 



the human brain variation. It far exceeds that of a very large male 

 gorilla. The skull was supported by powerful muscles and ligaments 

 as in the great apes, and not nicely poised as in man, thus indicating 

 a stooping posture. The straight femur probably belongs to a more 

 erect and advanced type of Pleistocene man. 



From several standpoints, Pithecanthropus affords an interest- 

 ing link, with the past, but one that is based on somewhat confused 

 evidence. Indeed the importance of this Java man is hardly com- 

 mensurate with the fame which he has acquired, and he is now 

 overshadowed by the more 

 recent discoveries in regard to 

 Peking man, who actually 

 preceded him. 



2. The Peking Man 



At various times during the 

 past thirty-five years frag- 

 ments of fossil man have been 

 found near Peiping, China, in 

 deposits of Early Pleistocene 

 age, perhaps a million years FlG - 27T - - Peking Man, Sinanthro- 



old From the fragments dis- pus ' The face and jaws are mainly re " 

 Old. rrom tne iragments ais stored (p rom Romer, after Weinert.) 



covered — skulls, jaws, teeth, 



etc. — it appears that the Peking man, Sinanthropus pekinensis, 

 had very thick cranial walls but surprisingly large cranial ca- 

 pacity. The brain was loftier but narrower than in the Java 

 man, and the mastoid region of the temporal bone is sug- 

 gestive of that in the adult anthropoid apes and the human in- 

 fant. The teeth are somewhat primitive although essentially 

 human. The Peking man obviously represents a very primitive 

 type in the general line of advance, which probably is fairly 

 closely, but not directly related to the Java man. Moreover, 

 there is some evidence of the dawn of culture with this early man. 

 Abundance of carbonized material indicates the use of fire, and 

 pieces of crudely chipped stones suggest the use of tools. (Fig. 277.) 



3. The Piltdown Man 



Significant discoveries were made near Piltdown Common in 

 Sussex, England, from 1911 to 1913, that included parts of two 

 crania and a lower jaw, nasal bones, and several teeth. The enor- 



