1 52 EVOLUTION, GENETICS, AND EUGENICS 



Heidelberg man. — Homo heidelbergensis, the Heidelberg man, 

 represents the oldest recorded European race, geologically speaking. 

 The type was discovered in 1907 in river sands, 79 feet below the 

 surface, at Mauer, near Heidelberg, South Germany. The relic 

 consists of a perfect lower jaw with the dentition (Fig. 36, C). The 

 description by the discoverer, Doctor Schoetensack, follows (from 

 Osborn) : 



"The mandible shows a combination of features never before 

 found in any fossil or recent man. The protrusion of the lower jaw 

 just below the front teeth (the chin prominence) which gives shape to 

 the human chin is entirely lacking. Had the teeth been absent it 

 would have been impossible to diagnose it as human. From a fragment 

 of the symphysis of the jaw it might well have been classed as some 

 gorilla-like anthropoid, while the ascending ramus resembles that of 

 some large variety of gibbon. The absolute certainty that these 

 remains are human is based on the form of the teeth — molars, pre- 

 molars, canines, and incisors are all essentially human and although 

 somewhat primitive in form, show no trace of being intermediate 

 between man and the anthropoid apes but rather of being derived from 

 some older common ancestor. The teeth, however, are small for the 

 jaw; the size of the border would allow for the development of much 

 larger teeth. We can only conclude that no great strain was put on 

 the teeth, and therefore the powerful development of the bones 

 of the jaw was not designed for their benefit. The conclusion is that 

 the jaw, regarded as unquestionably human from the nature of the 

 teeth, ranks not far from the point of separation between man and the 

 anthropoid apes. In comparison with the jaws of the Neanderthal 

 races .... we may consider the Heidelberg jaw as pre-Neander- 

 thaloid; it is, in fact, a generalized type." 



Associated with the Heidelberg jaw is an extensive warm-climate 

 fauna: straight-tusked elephant (E. antiqims), Etruscan rhinoceros, 

 primitive horse, bison, wild cattle {urus), bear, lion, and so on, all of 

 which aid in establishing the date of the jaw as Second Interglacial 

 and its age, conservatively estimated, at from 300,000 to 375,000 years. 

 The cultural evolution of Heidelberg man is indicated by the presence 

 of eoliths, flint implements of the crudest workmanship, if indeed their 

 apparent fashioning is not merely the result of use. 



Neanderthal man. — The original specimen of the Neanderthal 

 man, Homo neanderthalensis or primigenius (Figs.37, 38,39) was dis- 

 covered in 1856 not far from Dusseldorf in Rhenish Prussia. Here 

 the valley of the Dtissel forms the deep Neanderthal ravine, whose 



