THE BRAIN OF PREHISTORIC MAN 895 



head must have been sup]:)()i"tc'd by a thick powcrlul mxk, cjiiite similar to 

 the gorilhi. 



E\'en more ennspieiiotis is thi' heavy ridge ot bone aboxe the orbits, the 

 supraorbital torus, whieh prochiees tlie laeial aspect lamihar m l\]v "hght- 

 iiig mask" of the great apes (cliimpanzee and gorilhi). The orbits themselves 

 were larger than in modern man and separated by an anterior narial open- 

 ing which indicates the presence ot a broad Hat nose. The lower jaw was 

 heavier and broader than in 1 lomo sapiens, although the teeth as a whole 

 were strikingly human, ha\ing none ol the taiig-hke specialization ol the 

 great anthropoids. On the mandible in the region ol the chin there is no men- 

 tal t'lnineiice. All of these cranial characters must have given tlie Neanderthal 

 man a singularly gorilloid appearance. Tlu' low beetling brow, tlu' llattcncd 

 vault of the skull, the head set close upon the shoulders, tlu' broad llat 

 nose, the heavy jaw and rt-cedmg chin could hardly tail to produce a couiite- 

 nanci' in many respects as brute-like as the great anthrojjoid apes. Envisaged 

 from his fossil remains. Neanderthal man was indeed a savage-looking 

 creature. But his brain is not altogether in keejjing with this low estimate of 

 him. In fact, the \-olume ol' the Neanderthal brain is somewhat greater than 

 that of modern races. This cerebrum does not denote such low psychic 

 organization as the ape-like a[)pearancc of the head would seem to suggest. 



Neanderthal man had made dclimte advances in liiinian progress. 

 He laid the foundation of many customs and tendencies which later domi- 

 nated social organization. I Ii- was a skilled artisan and Hint worker. He had 

 command ol lire w hich he employed both as an invaluable accessory to his 

 life and m the upbuilding of distinctive cultural attainments. He buried his 

 dead w ith ceremonial rites, which shows at once that he believed in a future 

 existence and possessed some religious conceptions. Far from being a lowly 

 ape-like creature, he had man\ oi the higher attributes of man. Although 

 the Neanderthal had a dccick'dly pithecoid cast of countenance, he also 



