THE SKELETAL REMAINS OF EARLY MAN 



By ales HRDLICKA 



(With 93 Plates) 



Introduction 



The chief object of anthropology is a full knowledge of man — a 

 knowledge of what man is from every point of view; why, when, and 

 how he came to be; how he is progressing; and what the promise of 

 the future is for him. Only with such knowledge can anthropology 

 be of the greatest service to mankind. To understand man of the 

 present and to aid in guiding his future it is first necessary to know 

 his past ; and this past goes back far beyond the time of written records. 

 But a record there is, preserved in the great book of Nature. As en- 

 vironment impressed itself upon man, so also man impressed himself 

 upon his environment. Wherever man was, he left traces of his 

 activities and of himself, and many of the more material of these traces 

 remain today in the deposits of the old sites and caves where man 

 had dwelt. 



These records of earlier men are of several classes. From the very 

 oldest times there are artifacts of stone, the bones and teeth of the 

 animals on which man lived, and, rarely, the skeletal remains of man 

 himself. From early time also there appear shaped tusks and bones. 

 Later there is the development of primitive art in bone or ivory, on 

 stone, in clay, and on the walls of the caves ; and eventually there 

 appear the polishing of stone and primitive pottery. Doubtless large 

 quantities of the more perishable articles of wood, skins, etc., together 

 with many of the less resistant bones, have disappeared. 



For almost a century an ever more careful and intense search for 

 these old remains of man has proceeded. Men are seeking or watching 

 for such remains in all parts of the world. And where remains are 

 found, students often devote years of most painstaking labor in bring- 

 ing to light what the deposits contain. Collectively a vast amount of 

 work has thus already been accomplished ; though it may be only a 

 small percentage of what remains. The material results of this work 

 already fill or enrich many museums, and the written records and 

 studies would constitute a large library. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 83 (Whole Volume) 



I 



