748 



GENETICS AND EVOLUTION 



Figure 36.9. An artist's reconstruction of a Neanderthal family living in a cave 

 in the Rock of Gibraltar. (Courtesy of the Chicago Natural History Museum. Frederick 

 Blaschke, sculptor; Charles A. Corwin, artist.) 



(Homo neanderthalensis) lived in Europe for thousands of years during 

 and after the third interglacial period, about 150,000 years ago, and 

 became extinct only about 25,000 years ago. A typical Neanderthal man 

 was short, stocky, and powerfully built, about five feet tall, with stooped 

 shoulders, and bent knees (Fig. 36.9). The head jutted forward from a 

 short thick neck and massive shoulders. The massive skull had a thick 

 bony ridge over the eyes and a receding forehead. The nose was broad 

 and short and the jaws were large and strong with very little chin. De- 

 spite these primitive features. Neanderthal man's cranial capacity was 

 as large as or larger than modern man's, averaging 1550 ml., and he 

 was probably quite intelligent. He lived primarily in caves, used fire, 

 made beautiful chipped stone tools and weapons, and buried his dead 

 reverently with food and ornaments. 



Human fossils found in caves in Mount Carmel in Galilee include 

 some that are typically Neanderthaloid and others that have characters 

 more like those of modern man— greater height, smaller face, less re- 

 ceding forehead, and so on. It is clear that these were all contemporane- 

 ous, but whether they represent the emergence of Homo sapiens from 

 Neanderthal man, or hybridization between two separate stocks, is un- 

 known. 



Remains of another primitive man, quite similar to the Neander- 

 thalers, have been found on the banks of the Solo River in Java, only 

 a few miles from the spot where Java man was found. Eleven skulls of 

 Solo man have been found since 1936, all with their bases bashed in, 

 suggesting that Solo man inherited a taste for human brains along with 

 other traits from his ancestral Javan man. These Solo skulls resemble 

 the Neanderthal ones in general characteristics, with heavy brow ridges 

 and a sloping forehead, but the head is somewhat rounder and more like 



