348 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 83 



(8) Anthropology is thus confronted with the following condi- 

 tions : 



Neanderthal man is of a primitive physique, appears to have ended 

 by a sudden and complete extinction, and to have been replaced by 

 H. sapiens. 



But there has been discovered no previous home of this H. sapiens 

 outside of that of the Neanderthal man, nor any remains whatsoever 

 of his ancestors ; and, if he coexisted with Neanderthal man in the 

 same territory, it is impossible to understand why he did not prevail 

 sooner, or why he did not mix, or, above all, why he left no cultural 

 and other remains of his existence in this region. 



On the other hand, the Neanderthal man is now known to show 

 wide morphological variation, leading in the direction of later man ; 

 and there are individuals among later men, even to this day, who show 

 transitional features reminiscent of the Neanderthalers. This might 

 be explained by an original common parentage of the two strains ; 

 or by an intermixture of the Neanderthal stock with the succeeding 

 H. sapiens; or most naturally, it would seem, by a development, evo- 

 lution, of the former into the latter. 



(9) A critical examination of the known facts does not favor the 

 assumption of a far-back common parentage and early Quaternary 

 separation of H. ncandcrthalcnsis and H. sapiens, for lack of cultural 

 evidence of H. sapiens and other great difficulties. 



(10) A critical consideration of the question is equally unable to 

 favor a separate origin of the two stocks with subsequent hybridiza- 

 tion, for again there is no evidence of the pre-Aurignacian where- 

 abouts and the doings of //. sapiens, there is no trace of his ancestry, 

 and knowing his and his descendants' characteristics, it is impossible, 

 as said already by Karl Pearson, to conceive his origin without a 

 Neanderthal-like stage of development. 



(11) There remains but the third alternative — which is the evolu- 

 tion of the Neanderthaler into later man. This proposition is not yet 

 capable of fully conclusive demonstration. There is not yet enough 

 material to definitely decide it. But the thoroughly sifted indications 

 appear to the writer to favor this assumption. 



(12) The great current need of prehistory, it may be accentuated 

 once again, is more exploration and more good fortune in discoveries. 

 Meanwhile there appears to be less justification for the conception of 

 a Neanderthal species than there is for that of a Neanderthal phase 

 of Man. 



