whole vol. skeletal remains of early man hrdlicka 319 



Resume of the Physical Characteristics of the 

 Neanderthal Phase of Man 



A perfect knowledge and understanding of the physical character- 

 istics of the Neanderthal man is still far from realization. Science 

 possesses already a very respectable amount of skeletal material 

 from this very important period of human differentiation, but this 

 material is as yet not nearly sufficient. It covers but very fractionally 

 the different parts of the long period ; the number of male and 

 especially female adult remains is far from sufficient for the establish- 

 ment of either the mean types, or their variation ; the facial parts 

 are mostly wanting ; the brain case is mostly so damaged as to make 

 adequate study of the brain almost impossible ; the bones of the 

 trunk and the pelvis are nearly wholly wanting ; most of the bones 

 of the hands and the feet are not represented at all as yet, or repre- 

 sented by isolated pieces only, in the collections ; and even of the 

 long bones there is not enough for definite comprehensive generali- 

 zations. A resume of the physical characteristics of the Neanderthal 

 man must therefore for the present remain quite imperfect, and to 

 have in many particulars more the value of indications than actual 

 facts. Fortunately the indications in some important respects, at 

 least, are strong and harmonious enough to constitute doubtless close 

 approximations to realities. 



A critical study of the differences of the Neanderthal from later 

 and present man brings with it two great appreciations. The one is 

 that the more inferior of these characteristics give us many indications 

 as to the nature of the ancestral stock from which Neanderthal man 

 had develoi)ed. Some day it will be quite feasible to reconstruct 

 from our knowledge of the Neanderthal remains the more immediate, 

 at least, of the predecessors of that form. 



The other important and growing appreciation is, that in many 

 respects the Neanderthal man did not stand decisively apart, or 

 very far, from later man. In many characters he is seen to interdigi- 

 tate with the latter ; and there is no one of his characters so far 

 discovered in which he does not at least connect w^ith those of later 

 man. 



A resume of the apparent characteristics of Neanderthal man 

 follows : 



SKULLCAP 



Size — moderate to large. 



Form — markedly dolichoceijhalic — to mesocephalic — to moderate 

 brachycephalic. 

 27 



