EVOLUTION OF MAN 241 



men found in later portions of the Pleistocene: Neanderthal man and 

 Homo sapiens of modern type. 



The two oldest of these remains come from Steinheim in Germany and 

 Swanscombe in England. The Steinheim skull is fairly complete. Its 

 cranial capacity is estimated at about 1 100 cc; it had heavy eyebrow ridges 

 but a higher forehead than Pithecanthropus had (Fig. 11.12). In most 

 respects it resembles the skull of Homo sapiens (Le Gros Clark, 1955). 

 The same is true for the Swanscombe "skull/' known only from three 

 bones forming the roof and back of the brain case. The bones are unusu- 

 ally thick. The cranial capac- 

 ity is estimated to have been 

 about 1320 cc. Thus we see 

 that living in the interval be- 

 tween the second and the 

 third of the four glaciations in 

 the Pleistocene (2nd Intergla- 

 cial) there were men resem- 

 bling Homo sapiens but of 

 such unspecialized nature that 

 they may well be representa- 

 tive of a varied population an- 

 cestral to both Homo sapiens 

 of modern type and to Nean- 

 derthal peoples. 



Moving along in time to the 

 interval between the third and 

 fourth glaciations (3rd Inter- 

 glacial) we find the Fontechevade skulls from southern France. Parts of 

 two skulls were found under a layer of stalagmite deposit in a cave. The 

 bones, like those of the Swanscombe fossil, are unusually thick. The cranial 

 capacity is estimated to have been greater than 1400 cc. The evidence is 

 that, unlike the Steinheim (and perhaps Swanscombe) skull, these skulls 

 lacked heavy eyebrow ridges. Interestingly enough, however, heavy eye- 

 brow ridges did characterize another skull known from this period: the 

 Ehringsdorf skull from Germany (Fig. 11.13). This skull had a fairly high 

 forehead, however. Thus it resembled Neanderthal man in brow ridges and 

 Homo sapiens in forehead. 



We have mentioned only four of the fossils known from the second and 

 third interglacial periods. Those we have mentioned suffice to indicate that 

 during these periods there lived a varied assemblage of people capable in 

 the aggregate of having been the ancestors of both Neanderthal man and 



FIG. 11.12. The Steinheim skull (partly re- 

 stored). Approximately one-third natural size. 

 (From Le Gros Clark, The Foss;7 Evidence for Hu- 

 man Evolution, University of Chicago Press, 1955, 

 p. 64; by courtesy of the British Museum [Natu- 

 ral History].) 



