EVOLUTION OF MAN 



245 



men of a very different type: Cro-Magnon man. What happened to the 

 Neanderthal people? Were they conquered and exterminated? Or did they 

 intermarry with the Cro-Magnon people and thus disappear as a separate 

 type? Both possibilities have been suggested, but actually our ignorance on 

 the subject is complete, for as Howell (1957) stated: "there is no clear-cut 

 evidence which would indicate that the classic Neanderthals either (1) 

 lived contemporaneously with the earliest of the Cro-Magnon people . . . 

 or (2) that they interbred with the latter people." 



Cro-Magnon Man 



The successors in Europe of Neanderthal man were so like modern Eu- 

 ropeans that the skeletons are indistinguishable. Thus they represent typi- 

 cal Homo sapiens; all the charac- 

 teristics of this species listed pre- 

 viously (p. 232) apply to them. 

 They differed from Neanderthal 

 man in stature: males averaged 

 over 6 feet in height, females about 

 5 feet and 5 inches. In contrast to 

 neanderthalian structure, the lower 

 or shin segment of the leg was 

 long, indicating swift-footedness. 

 The skull was of modern type, 

 with high forehead, no heavy eye- 

 brow ridges, and a distinctly jutting 

 chin (Fig. 11.15). Unlike the 

 faces of all his predecessors, the 

 face of Cro-Magnon man was or- 

 thognathous. Teeth and jaws were 

 like those of modern man. Comparison of the skull of Neanderthal man 

 (Fig. 11.14) with that of Cro-Magnon man (Fig. 11.15) will make these 

 differences clear. 



The Cro-Magnon people were characterized by a rather high type of 

 Old Stone Age culture known as Aurignacian. In addition to stone, bone 

 was used as material for manufacture of implements. These people buried 

 their dead with elaborateness. But the Aurignacians are best known for the 

 expertly drawn, colored pictures of contemporary mammals found on 

 cave walls in France and Spain. These marvelous examples of primitive 

 art are located in regions of the caves that are perpetually dark: the artists 

 must have employed artificial illumination. 



FIG. 11.15. Skull of Cro-Magnon man. 

 (After McGregor; from Romer, Veriebraie 

 Paleonfology, University of Chicago Press, 

 1945, p. 357.) 



