NO. 13 SOVIET ANTHROPOLOGY — FIELD H 



developing tliis view, Donch-Osmolovskii contributed new material of 

 outstanding importance for studying the evolution of man. 



The wide dispersal of Xeoanthropus at the end of the Pleistocene 

 period and the disappearance of the ancient form (Paleoanthropus) 

 is testified to by many discoveries in various parts of the world. 

 WMiat were the factors which ensured the predominance of Xeoan- 

 thropus? This problem has been discussed in a number of works, 

 some published and some still in press. The views developed by 

 P. P. Efimenko deserve first mention here. In one of the chapters 

 of his book, "Primitive Society," Efimenko observed during 1938 the 

 significance of strict endogamy (intertribal marriage) which existed 

 in the small hordes of the Mousterian epoch for the fixation of the 

 specific features of the Neanderthal type. The appearance of the 

 new type was conditioned by the formation of broader social groups, 

 the beginnings of the gens organization. This view deserves atten- 

 tion although Efimenko treated the Neanderthal features in a very 

 narrow manner, perceiving in them only signs of degeneration. 

 .•\ctually, it is not degeneration one should perceive but rather 

 specialization. 



S. P. Tolstov and A. Boriskovskii stress the great part played in the 

 evolution of man by the development of hunting and technology in 

 the Middle Paleolithic period. Indeed, collective hunting is a most 

 important stimulus to the development of new forms of intercourse 

 among humans, their uniting in large groups, the invention of call 

 signals, the creation of new tools, the acfiuisition of new materials 

 (horn and bone), and radical alterations in diet. 



An interesting view was expressed by G. C Roginskii. who noted 

 that the small Neanderthal groups themselves presented obstacles 

 to their further development. Unless he was restrained by social 

 motives or self-control, the club-bearing and stone-armed N'canderthal 

 man represented a considerable threat to his fellows in various con- 

 flicts for the female and for food. 



The development of these two means of restraint are most typi^-al 

 of Xeoanthropus. They are closely connected with the development 

 of the brain, especially the frontal region, the formation of which 

 marks the last stage in the physical evolution of man. 



A study of the endocranial casts of Neanderthal man stresses the 

 importance of other elements of cranial structure. One of the most 

 striking features of Paleoanthropus is the very slanting frontal region, 

 the high temporal ridge resulting in the feeble development of the 

 lower parietal region (i.e., the region with which conscious speech is 

 connected). Considering that the general brain cavity of Neanderthal 



