NO. 13 SOVIFT ANTHROPOLOGY FIELD 9 



impressions of convolutions as far as tlic frontal protuberances ; and 

 a central frontal furrow with a horizontal posterior protuhirance. 



These characteristics do not identify the skeleton with any variation 

 of modern man even at the lowest stage of his development, but relate 

 the Tcshik-Tash skull to the type of fossil man belonging to the 

 end of the rieistoccnc period, the Mi<ldle r.-deolithic, or, broadly, 

 " Neanderthaloid." 



This conclusion is l)eyond (U)ul)t. but from the modern point of 

 view it is insufficient. Middle Paleolithic includes many different 

 human tvpes, such as the typical European Neanderthal, fossil remains 

 from Ngandong in Java and from various places in Africa and Pales- 

 tine. The question arises as to which of these types the Teshik-Tash 

 skeleton most resembles. The extreme youth of the Teshik-Tash 

 cratiiiun renders it difficult to draw a final conclusion, since there is 

 insufficient comparative material for that age. Comparative research 

 in new data, especially the Palestine discoveries, will probably render 

 it possible to clear up this interesting question. Nevertheless, even 

 now the Teshik-Tash discovery is of great interest. First of all, it 

 greatly extends the area in which Middle Paleolithic man existed. 

 .Ml previously found human remains were discovered at comparatively 

 .short distances from the sea. The Teshik-Tash skeleton is the first 

 reliable proof of the penetration of Middle Paleolithic man into the 

 interior of the Asiatic continent. Proof that man lived in high 

 mountainous regions is also of great importance. The Teshik-Tash 

 skeleton provides valuable material for the investigation of the varia- 

 tions of the "Neanderthaloid" tyjie and for the study of age peculiari- 

 ties of ancient man. 



.•\ valuable monograph by G. A. Bonch-Osmolovskii entitled "The 

 Hand of Paleolithic Man" was published in 1941 just before World 

 War II. It treats of another most important find of fossil man — the 

 skeleton of a hand found in the Kiik-Koba grotto in the Crimea. Con- 

 siderable literature has been written about this discovery, but a 

 comparative anthropological study of the skeleton, the skull of which 

 is unfortunately missing, required many years of persevering work. 

 The published monograph treats only of the bones of the hand and is 

 a work of exceptional value as the author is the first to have collected 

 exhaustive material about the structural peculiarities of this important 

 part of the skeleton of modern man, fossil man. and of various groups 

 of Ccrcopithccus monkeys. 



As the result of measurements and reconstruction, Bonch-Osmo- 

 lovskii notes the following peculiarities of the skeleton of the hand 

 of the Kiik-Koba man : relative elongation of the fourth and fifth 



