544 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 31 



The skull found in 1929 is that of a young adult corresponding 

 in the state of its development with the condition found in modern 

 human skulls at about 16 years of age. When the skull was first 

 examined Dr. Davidson Black was impressed by the grace of its 

 contours in comparison with the uncouth outlines of Pithec- 

 anthropus^ and suggested the possibility that it might be female, with 

 the reservation, of course, that the evidence at our disposal regard- 

 ing this hitherto unknown type of being was altogether inadequate 

 for any definite decision upon this matter. Its grace, however, may 

 be due to its primitiveness and the fact that it is free from those 

 secondary distortions which give the degenerate Pithecanthropus 

 its bizarre character. The discovery of another braincase (pi. 9) was 

 made in July, 1930, by recovering from material brought in from the 

 Chou Kou Tien cave (in October, 1929) a series of fragments which 

 naturally articulated one with the other to form the greater part 

 of the calvaria. This discovery of a skull of another individual 

 probably more than 10 years older than the one found in Decem- 

 ber, 1929, revealed a more lightly built slmll with small eyebrow 

 ridges, a less prominent forehead and less obtrusive parietal emin- 

 ences, which both Dr. Davidson Black and I consider to be probably 

 of different sex from the other skull. It seems probable, however, 

 that the skull reported in July, 1930, may prove to be female and the 

 other skull (found on December 2, 1929) male; but at present 

 neither opinion can be said to be based upon any really decisive 

 evidence. The discovery of a second skull enormously enhances 

 the value of the information we have because it permits compari- 

 sons to be made. In Figure 2, SD indicates the place where this 

 skull was found, a few feet above the spot (SE) where the skull was 

 found in December, 1929. 



In the material found in 1928 there are remains of two other 

 broken skulls (still embedded in travertine), which provide other 

 important comparative material for studying the range of variation 

 of the skulls. 



AVliether or not the Peking man was older than the fossils found 

 in Java and Sussex, there is no doubt that he represents a more 

 primitive type. His characters are more generalized, some of them 

 distinctly reminiscent of man's simian ancestry and others strangely 

 foreshadowing the qualities hitherto regarded as distinctive of Homo 

 sapiens. In other words, Sinanthropus enables us to picture the 

 qualities of the original members of the human family by revealing 

 a type which, though human, was curiously ape-like, and obviously 

 close to the main line of descent of modern man. 



The work of investigation and of recording the results has been 

 carried on with exceptional thoroughness and imaginative insight. 



