148 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 83 



THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL AND BONES 



Among the most famous of the skeletal remains representing early 

 man are unquestionably the imperfect but highly characteristic speci- 

 mens known as the Neanderthal skull and bones. This important 

 find more than any other has aroused scientific men to an intense 

 realization of the earlier phases of human evolution. The skull and 

 to some extent also the other parts of the skeleton stand morpho- 

 logically far below those of any existing type of man, being corre- 

 spondingly nearer to lower primates ; and their name has been 

 deservedly taken to designate the entire early phase of mankind 

 of which the skeleton is, as is now well known, a prototype. 



The skull, with most if not all the rest of the skeleton, was found 

 in August, 1856.' The bones were dug out accidentally by two labor- 

 ers from an old cave located in the right wall of the Neander gorge, 

 not far from its upper entrance. The gorge and the valley north of it 

 have remaincil strangely but little known to anthropology. The writer 

 had the good fortune to visit them in 1927.° Lying between Diissel- 

 dorf (11 km.) and Elberfeld (16 km.), they form an unexpectedly 

 beautiful bit of scenery, sunk beneath the level of a somewhat raised 

 cultivated plain, and constitute one of the most interesting natural 

 formations in western Germany. They have for generations been 

 the favorite spots for school and other excursions. The valley and 

 gorge were eroded in the limestone formations that underlie the 

 surface by the small stream Diissel and its two branches. 



The gorge is said to have originally been called simply " Gesteins " 

 (rocks). It was later named for Joachim Neander, a poet and song 

 composer of the German Reformed Church, who loved to visit the 

 gorge and probably the cave that eventually gave the skeleton, between 

 the years 1674- 1679. From about 1850 the term " Neanderthal " has 

 been extended to both the gorge and the valley, as well as to the little 

 village and railroad station at the edge of and within the valley. 

 Today this whole beautiful depression constitutes the " Natural Reser- 

 vation Neanderthal," which comprises the whole triangle between 

 Erkrain, Mettmann, and Gruiten. 



^ In many publications the date is erroneously given as 1857. 



" A very grateful acknowledgment of the facilities extended, original infor- 

 mation and valuable illustrations, is due to the gentlemen of the Rheinish- 

 Westfalishe Kalkwerke, Dornap ; to Herr Peter Herring, supervisor of the 

 quarrying works of the company; and to H. Lickoflf, Lobbecke Museum, 

 Diisseldorf. 



