LECTURES IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 



differed from us in having smaller brains and larger jaws. These 

 hominids were sufficiently like modern man in their skeletal 

 morphology that some students assign them to an extinct species 

 within the genus Homo. 



Pithecanthropus had a wide distribution in the Old World. 

 Two forms, Djetis and Trinil, are from Java, and one form, 

 Choukoutien or Peiping, is from northeastern China. Peiping 

 man is known from the skeletal parts of more than thirty indi- 

 viduals and Java man from those of several individuals. Many 

 students assign the three lower jaws and the parietal bone of 

 Ternifine man, from a site southeast of Oran in Algeria, to 

 Pithecanthropus. All the specimens of Pithecanthropus are of 

 Middle Pleistocene age. 



5. Homo 



By the second half of the Middle Pleistocene, we have the 

 earliest known members of the genus Homo represented by 

 such forms as Steinheim and Fontechevade. During the Upper 

 Pleistocene, representatives of Homo were widespread in Europe, 

 Africa, and Asia. The Neanderthals, Solo, Boskop, and Cro- 

 Magnon peoples may be mentioned as examples. These popu- 

 lations were rather similar to our own in general morphology, 

 and, judging from their implements for hunting and domestic 

 use, their way of life was rather similar to that of some of the 

 hunting and gathering peoples who survived into historic times. 

 Everyone agrees that some, if not all, members of the genus 

 Homo have culture. 



SEVEN BIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS 



This sequence of four known genera gives us an outline for 

 discussion of seven biological topics which indicate some of the 

 general preconditions for the beginning of culture (Spuhler, 

 1959). They are: 



1. Accommodative vision 



2,. Bipedal locomotion 



.H. Manipulation 



70 



