494 



THE CHANGING GENERATIONS 



when fossil man is found together with the remains of his cultures. We 

 shall have to concern ourselves chiefly with the evolution of the human 

 body. Even from this standpoint, however, we cannot wholly ignore 

 culture, for culture has had important genetic consequences upon man as 

 a species. 



Fossil men can be divided into two broad groups — paleanthropic or 

 old-type men, and neanthropic or new-type men. The first group includes 

 the earliest known fossil men and the Neanderthaloids. They had an out- 

 thrust head buried in heavy shoulders, a snouted face, heavy brow ridges, 



forehead 



brow-ridges 



nose 



nath 



rognarmsm 



size of 

 canine teeth 



>chin 



position of 

 foramen magnum 



neck muscle 



attachments" 



Fig. 30.4. Skull of gorilla showing generalized anthropoid characters contrasted with skull 

 of man showing specialized characters. (Redrawn from Howells, Mankind So Far, by permis- 

 sion Doubleday & Company, Inc.) 



a massive jaw with receding chin, large teeth, a low vaulted skull, and 

 less erect posture than modern man. Neanthropic or new-type men are 

 those of our own species, Homo sapiens, characterized by erect head and 

 slender neck, pushed-in face, weak brow ridges, a small jaw with promi- 

 nent chin, small teeth, a larger and more domed brain case, and fully erect 

 posture. 



The earliest men. The most primitive men we know lived in Asia 

 some 3^2 million years ago. Java man, discovered in 1891, is now repre- 

 sented by four skulls, four jaws, and some odd teeth and leg bones, all 

 dug from river terraces near Trinil in Java. Peking man was found in 1927 

 in a cave at Choukoutien near Peking, China; many skulls and other 

 bones have since been recovered from this cave. These two ancient types 

 of man are much alike, and although they were originally assigned to 



