PROBLEM OF THE RHODESIAN FOSSIL MAN 577 



observe that the extent of the elongation (or deepening) of 

 the face in these animals invariably depends on the length (or 

 depth) of the bones between the orbits and the nasal opening, 

 not on the length of the premaxillae, which are always short. 



If, then, the bony face of Rhodesian Man be compared with 

 that of Neanderthal Man as known in skulls from the Forbes 

 Cave, Gibraltar,^ and the cave named La Chapelle-aux-Saints 

 in the Correze, France,^ it will be noted that the form and 

 proportions of the nasal region are almost the same. The 

 nasal opening in the Rhodesian skull only differs from that in 

 the Neanderthal skull in lacking the sharp edge which, in man, 

 usually separates the floor of the nasal cavity from the subnasal 

 region of the face. The essential differences between the two 

 types of skull are in the periphery of the face, where the 

 Rhodesian is much the larger. In the latter the brow-ridges 

 are especially overgrown, and extend much further at the 

 external lateral angles than in the Neanderthal skull. 

 They are thus more gorilla-like. Now, there is not much 

 doubt, both on one general principle already quoted, and on 

 account of the characters of the very ancient Piltdown skull, 

 that when the skulls of the early ancestral apes are discovered 

 they will prove to have no brow-ridges, only a tendency to 

 their development. Most of the existing apes, through succes- 

 sive ancestors, have acquired increasingly massive brows ; and 

 at least some of the extinct races of men may be assumed to 

 have shown the same development. In that case, the weaker 

 brow-ridges of Neanderthal Man are nearer the condition in 

 the ape-ancestor than the stronger brow-ridges of Rhodesian 

 Man. From this point of view Rhodesian Man is a later 

 development than Neanderthal Man, and it is interesting to 

 consider the astonishing length (or depth) of his face. Measure- 

 ment shows that this is entirely due to the great length (or 

 depth) of the premaxillo-maxillary region below the nose : the 

 length (or depth) from the upper end of the nasal bones to the 

 lower border of the nasal opening is the same in the two forms 

 of skull. On general grounds already stated, therefore, the 

 bony face of Pvhodesian Man is secondarily enlarged, and much 

 further from that of the ape-ancestor than the bony face of 

 Neanderthal Man. In other words, the Rhodesian is the later 

 of the two races. 



This conclusion is supported by a study of the palate, 

 which is absolutely human — may indeed be described as ultra- 



1 W. J. So lias, " On the Cranial and Facial Characters of the Neanderthal 

 Race," Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc, vol. 199B (1908), pp. 281-339, pi. xxix. 

 A. Keith, The Antiquity of Man (London, 1915). 



2 M. Boule, " L' Homme fossile de La Chapelle-aux-Saints," Annates de 

 PaUontologie, vols, vi-viii (1911-13). 



