HUMAN ORGANIC EVOLUTION: FACT OR FANCY? 



still the low dome, the absence of a forehead, the height of 

 the occiput which suggests powerful neck muscles, the absence 

 of a chin. But there are also significant differences: the cranial 

 capacity is much larger ranging from 1300 to 1600 cc, which 

 brings it well into the range of Homo sapiens; the massive, 

 but uninterrupted shelf-like torus over the eyes, the slight 

 backward position of the attachment to the spinal column on 

 the skull which is reminiscent of a more ape-like feature. The 

 limb skeleton too is relatively coarse, and the femur is curved 

 more than in some fossils already discussed. When to these 

 characters, some simian features of the cervival region of the 

 spine are added, the emerging posture seems to be halfway 

 between man and apes. In metrical dimensions too, Neander- 

 thal Man is generally outside the range of those recorded for 

 Homo sapiens. 



There are some important considerations which are not 

 directly related to the shape of the fossils themselves. First, 

 they are restricted to Europe. Secondly, they seem to have 

 been relatively short lived. This means, that climactic con- 

 ditions during the first and most severe phase of the last 

 glaciation could have contributed to this unusual development 

 because selection would have been severe, chance for genetic 

 drift maximized, and migration reduced. Thus, the interpreta- 

 tion given to Neanderthal Man is that he represents a radiation 

 from some more ancient fossil which is ancestral both to 

 Homo sapiens and to Homo Neanderthalensis, There is some 

 evidence for this proposition which will be discussed next. 



Mention should first be made of the fact that Neanderthal 

 man was associated with a distinct cultural tool tradition 

 generally referred to as the Mousterian. Since this defines a 

 time period, it is convenient to use it also as a time marker 

 in prehistory. Now, the evidence for a more humanlike 

 development prior to Mousterian times comes from a long 

 series of fossils referred to by Clark as Premousterian and 

 early Mousterian Homo sapiens. This group of fossils, which 

 comes from about eight sites in Europe including Eastern 

 Europe and one from Mt. Carmel in Palestine, have sometimes 

 been included with the Neanderthal group, primarily because 

 they have a similar torus over the eyes as does the classic 

 Neanderthaler. However, even in this feature differences 



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