164 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 83 



Gibraltar caves, and was studied to some extent by Busk and Falconer. 

 The latter, perceiving how much it differed from recent human skulls, 

 proposed to refer it to a distinct variety of man, Homo colpicus, after 

 Calfe, the old name of Gibraltar. Finally in 1868 Busk presented the 

 cranium to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 

 where it is still preserved. 



The first descriptive account of the specimen was published, as 

 mentioned above, by Broca, but at that time the adhering stony matrix 

 prevented any attempts at accurate measurements. Subsequently it 

 received attention by Huxley, De Quatrefages and Hamy, and later 

 from Macnamara, Klaatsch, Schwalbe, Sollas, Sera, and Keith, as well 

 as the writer. It is a very remarkable specimen which, even though the 

 geological and paleontological evidence relating to its antiquity is 

 imperfect, does not allow for one moment of any doubt as to its repre- 

 senting an early human form ; and its characteristics are such that 

 it is now universally regarded as a representative, possibly a very 

 early one, of Homo ncandcrthalcnsis. 



The cranium is grayish-white to yellowish in color, and is consider- 

 ably mineralized and heavier than normal. The stony matrix has been 

 so far removed that all important determinations and measurements 

 which the defective state of the bones permit may now be made. 

 Fortunately the facial region, the frontal bone, and most of the right 

 side of the skull, includin?^ the back, are relatively w^ell preserved ; 

 the top of the vault on the other hand shows a large defect, and the 

 left parietal, temporal and sphenoid parts, together with much of the 

 base, are lost. With all the defects, sufficient of the skull remains 

 to permit of a number of valuable determinations on the skull and 

 as to the brain, and also a fairly correct reconstruction. 



The aspect of the face is semi-human, apish. The mid-portion from 

 the glabella downward protrudes forward more than in normal skulls, 

 as a result of which the planes of the orbits as well as the planes of the 

 malars slope more outward and backward than they do in modern 

 crania. The line from the nasion to the point of intersection of the 

 external and fronto-malar suture gives in a modern female skull an 

 inclination from the horizontal of 11° ; in the Gibraltar cranium the 

 same inclination is close to 20°. 



Other very striking features of the face are the relatively huge 

 (for a female) supraorbital arch ; the very large orbits ; the stoutness 

 of the medial process of the frontal bone ; the complete absence 

 of suborbital (canine) fossae; the broad nose; and the dental arch 

 with long teeth. The supraorbital arch measures nearly 12 cm. in 

 breadth, and from approximately 12 to over 15 mm. in thickness 



