CHAPTER VII 
NEANDERTHAL MAN" 
NEANDERTHAL Gorge and the valley north of it consti- 
tute one of the most interesting natural formations in 
western Germany. Here one comes unexpectedly upon a 
piece of romantic scenery lying beneath the level of the 
cultivated plain surrounding it. Eroded by the small 
stream, Diissel, and its branches, out of the limestone 
formations that underlie the surface, for generations the 
gorge and valley have been favorite resorts. The former 
is named for Joachim Neander, a poet and song composer 
of the German Reformed Church, who lived in the seven- 
teenth century, and for whom the gorge was a favorite 
retreat. Doubtless he sometimes entered the cave in 
which two centuries later was found the famous skeleton 
which has become the type of a special race of men. 
The gorge is bounded by high, rugged cliffs of Devonian 
limestone which have been extensively quarried since the 
middle of the nineteenth century. In the year 1856 the 
excavations had reached the so-called Feldhofen Grotto, 
a somewhat extensive cave located in the right-hand cliff 
not far from Ravenstein, a high, isolated rock still standing. 
The mouth of the cave lay about 110 feet from the right 
bank of the stream and 60 feet above its level. 
According to local accounts the cave had two parts. In 
August, 1856, two laborers, clearing out the loam from 
the smaller section, uncovered a human skeleton. Not 
1This and the following chapter are quoted with slight alterations from, and 
Chapter IX is based on, a monograph by Doctor Hrdli¢ka, now being published by 
the Smithsonian Institution, entitled “The Skeletal Remains of Early Man.” 
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