WHOLE VOL. SKELETAL REMAINS OF EARLY MAN — HRDLICKA I93 

 LOWER JAW OF SKULL NO. I 



The lower jaw attributed to skeleton No. i appears to have been 

 somewhat misrepresented in earlier publications. The bone is quite 

 as slender as the average lower jaw of man of today. The height 

 of the body, though considerable if this was the jaw of a female, 

 falls easily within the modern male limits ; and the shapes and sizes 

 of the teeth are much like those of modern whites. On the other 

 hand the specimen shows a number of interesting primitive and in 

 one or two respects peculiar features. 



There is no chin eminence, yet there is a slight broad chin with a 

 moderate depression above. Were it not for the fact that the alveolar 

 process protrudes somewhat forward, the chin formation would be 

 more distinct. It is possible to duplicate these features among some 

 primitive jaws of today. The mental foramina are situated further 

 back than in modern jaws, being directly beneath the first molars. 

 The lower border of the jaw is somewhat thicker and flatter in the 

 anterior third (digastric insertion) than it is in the jaws of the white 

 man of today. The digastric portion presents a low flat topped arch, 

 reminding one somewhat of the much more marked condition in the 

 Mauer mandible ; more or less marked traces of such an arch are 

 also present in modern jaws. The teeth look feminine. They are 

 perceptibly smaller than those of some male whites of today. The 

 alveolar process, from a line touching the rear of the third molars 

 to the most anterior point of the alveolar border in the incisor region, 

 measures but 4.9 cm., which is below the same measurement in many 

 modern jaws. The external breadth of the dental arch is 7.1 cm., 

 which is broader than in the majority of female white jaws of today 

 but is equalled or even exceeded in some of those of the males ; and 

 this measurement is equalled or exceeded in numerous cases among 

 more primitive whites and other peoples. 



Notwithstanding the above, the Spy jaw as a whole is larger antero- 

 posteriorly than the jaws of modern man. This is due to the extension 

 of the body of the jaw on each side beyond, i. c, backward of, the 

 dental arch. There were evidently not only fairly broad ascending 

 rami, but also a considerable space (approximately 10 mm.) between 

 the third molars and the anterior border of the rami. This space is 

 generally absent or very reduced in modern jaws, and in not a few 

 cases the third molars lie actually partly behind the anterior border 

 of the ascending branches. It is an early character. 



Additional peculiarities are observable on the lingual surface of 

 the bone. The anterior portion of the surface shows in its upper half 

 a fairly marked convexity, a remnant of the thickness and convexity 



