OLD WORLD PREHISTORY — MacCURDY 501 



Pere Teilhtird tie Chardin iiiul Dr. C. C. Young, just i.ssui'd fioni 

 the press. Further it should be added that up to the present time, 

 though thousands of cubic meters of material have been examined, 

 no artifacts of any nature have been encountered nor lias any trace 

 of the usage of (ire been observed. 



The greater part of the left lateral surface and the fore part of 

 the base of this unique skull of /Sinanthropus is still imbedded in a 

 block of very hard travertine.- The vault of the skull, from its 

 massive brow ridges to the occiput, and the whole right side of the 

 specimen was, however, supported within a relatively soft matrix 

 which has now been removed. In the present stage of its prepara- 

 tion it thus becomes apparent that the brain case has been almost 

 completely i)reserved while most of the facial region is lacking. 

 Black says the cranium is that of a young adult female. 



The skull of Sinanthropus is approximately similar in length to 

 that of Pithecaiithropiu^ and like the latter form is provided with 

 massive brow ridges, a feature to be correlated with a powerful jaw 

 mechanism. ILnvevcr, Shianthropus characteristically differs from 

 the Java type in the following important features: Kelatively well- 

 developed frontal eminences, well-localized parietal eminences and 

 greater height of skull vault, all these characters pointing to a rela- 

 tively greater brain capacity in /Sinunthrojm-s.^ The mastoid proc- 

 CS.SCS of Sinunthropus are small. The sockets in which the lower jaw 

 articulated are well preserved on both sides, a circumstance which 

 will be of great value in the restoration of the lower jaw fragments 

 recovered in 1928. 



In July, 1930, Dr. Davidson Black announced the discovery at 

 Chou Kou Tien (Locus D) of the greater part of the vault and a por- 

 tion of the base of a second Sinanthropus cranium (pi. 4). He be- 

 lieves it to be that of a young though fully adult individual, probably 

 a male. The new specimen has been pieced together from fragments, 

 the broken edges of which fit one another; no other restoration being 

 resorted to in order to produce the results as seen in Plate 4. 



This cranium, the second to be found at Chou Kou Tien, yields 

 valuable information concerning certain parts not represented in the 

 first more perfectly preserved specimen. Compared with the latter, 

 according to Black, the new cranium also presents certain slight 

 differences which may be due to a difference in sex. While the new 

 cranium has about the same maxinunn transverse diameter as the 

 lirst, its length is greater than the latter by some two centimeters. 

 On the other hand the frontal eminences are not so prominent, nor 

 is the average thickness of the skull vault so great in the second as 



'The skull lins since Itocn c-onipl''!' l.V discnvaKi'l- (Sep i)Is. 1 .'!.) 



•This 1b not true berause of the groat thickncBS of the cranium in Sinanthropus. 



28005—31 S3 



