568 



The Earth and Its Inhabitants Change unit x 



do speak of a Rhode simi man {Hovio 

 rhodesiensis), known from a well-pre- 

 served skull found in South Africa. This 

 skull is interesting because it shows that 

 this man suffered from decayed teeth. 

 Some parts of the skull seem to indicate 

 that he was primitive; other parts are so 

 much like modern skulls that he is classi- 

 fied in the genus Homo. We cannot date 

 him. 



One unusual fossil uncovered near 

 Heidelberg in Germany is known as 

 Heidelberg man {Hovio heidelbergeii- 

 sis). A single jaw bone is all that has 

 been found, and no tools of any kind. 

 But this jaw bone tells the expert a good 

 deal. It is a thick, massive jaw like those 

 of primitive forms ^vith sixteen solidly 

 rooted teeth. These resemble our teeth 

 closely; they are without doubt human 

 teeth. Judging from the animal fossils 

 found in the same deposits, Heidelberg 

 man may have lived as much as three 

 quarters of a million years ago (at three 

 o'clock). But so modern are the teeth 

 that he is placed in the genus Homo, 

 though not in the species Homo sapiens. 

 Thus we find a form belonging to the 

 genus Homo living, it seems, about three 

 quarters of a million years ago, long be- 

 fore the Java ape men and Peking men. 



Neandertal men. Much later than the 

 primitive Java ape men and Peking men 

 came Neandertal (nee-an'der-tall) men 

 {Homo nemiderthalensis) . The earliest of 

 these men appeared about 150,000 years 

 ago (roughly at about nine o'clock on 

 the face of the clock shown in Figure 

 518. These men are well known to sci- 

 entists, for more than one hundred skulls 

 or other bones have been found. Even 

 complete skeletons have been discovered. 



Enter Homo sapiens Heidelberg mar> 

 may have 



Neandertal man 

 appears 



appeared 

 at this time 



Peking man '^ ^Java man 



Fig. 518 If the first TiiavUke for?}7s appeared at 

 12 noon on the clock, /,ooo,uoo years ago, what 

 happened at 5, at 6, at 9, and at nearly niid- 

 night? Only the hour hand is show?!. 



Neandertal men were widely spread 

 through Europe and western Asia. Bones 

 have been found in Germany, Belgium, 

 Yugoslavia, Erance, Gibraltar, and Pales- 

 tine. These men rarely reached a height 

 of more than five and a half feet and 

 they had broad frames with large mus- 

 cles, big heads, and short arms and legs. 

 Their knees were bent a little so that it 

 is believed they must have walked with 

 a shuffling gait; and they evidently 

 stooped at the shoulders. Their low fore- 

 heads, projecting eye ridges, heavy jaws, 

 and prominent noses separating deep 

 sunk eyes must have given them a very 

 different appearance from that of Homo 

 sapiens. Their brains were large in pro- 

 portion to their size, somewhat larger 

 than our brains. But the small front por- 

 tion makes us think they were less intel- 

 liofent than modern men. Yet there is 

 evidence that Neandertal men were far 

 superior in intelligence to Peking men 

 and the Java ape men. They seem to have 

 met the conditions of their environment 

 successfully for long ages. 



