WHOLE VOL. SKELETAL REMAINS OF EARLY MAN — HRDLICKA 34I 



All arrangement of the specimens in morphological order, beginning 

 with those that show the most primitive or old features and advancing 

 gradually towards more modern standards, is now in order, and the re- 

 sults are very striking. The first strong impression is that, with all the 

 seeming riches, there is still not nearly enough material for satis- 

 factory grading. The next appreciation is that it is hard to grade 

 whole lots, but that it is necessary to grade the skulls, jaws, teeth, 

 and bones separately. In one and the same skeleton are found parts 

 and features that are very primitive and far away from man's later 

 types, with parts and features that are practically modern; and every 

 skeleton is found to differ in these respects. Here is facing us, 

 evidently, a very noteworthy example of morphological instability, 

 instability, plainly, of evolutionary nature, leading from old forms 

 to more modern. 



The Neanderthal skull and skeleton proper, in all the parts that 

 have been saved, is found to stand at the base of the series. It lacks, 

 regrettably, the lower jaw and the teeth, as well as the sternum, most 

 of the scapulae, and the ribs, vertebrae, sacrum, the leg, the hand and 

 the foot bones. Of what is present, the farthest from modern type 

 is the skull, the next being the thigh bones ; the nearest to modern 

 forms, though still somewhat distinct, are the bones of the upper 

 extremity. The closest in general to the Neanderthal skeleton is 

 Spy No. I, La Chapelle, and apparently the Le Moustier youth. But 

 Spy No. I has almost primitive-modern jaws with practically modern 

 teeth ; the La Chapelle shows high cranial capacity, an " ultra-human " 

 nose, and a strongly developed nasal spine ; the Le Moustier skull has 

 a higher vault and forehead, with less protrusion of the occiput ; while 

 the bones of the upper extremity in all three approach closely to the 

 modern types. Thus, even in these most nearly related four specimens, 

 there is in evidence a considerable variability, with more or less ad- 

 vance in various parts in the direction of later man. 



These facts deserve, undoubtedly, earnest consideration. But there 

 is much more to be learned. Taking the remainder of the skulls, jaws, 

 and bones attributed to the Neanderthal man, it is seen that both the 

 variability and the number of characters that tend in the direction of 

 later man increase considerably. The Krapina series, by itself, is 

 probably more variable from the evolutionary point of view than 

 would be any similar series from one locality at the present. This is 

 true in respect to the cranial form, the development of the forehead, 

 the jaws, the teeth, and that of some of the bones of the skeleton. 

 The additional Neanderthal remains manifest signs of similar insta- 



