MAN FROM THE FARTHEST PAST 
THE HEIDELBERG MAN 
If so many apparent contradictions and uncertainties 
surround the Piltdown discoveries, nothing of the sort 
attaches to that other extremely ancient specimen, the 
lower jaw of Heidelberg man. 
The Heidelberg, or more properly, Mauer jaw is one 
of the oldest relics of early man. For its preservation and 
thorough description we are indebted to Dr. Otto Schoe- 
tensack, at the time of the discovery professor of anthro- 
pology at Heidelberg University, who for years had been 
watching for human remains in the sand pits near Mauer 
which eventually yielded the specimen. Much credit is 
due also to Herr Joseph Rosch, of Mauer, the owner of 
the sand pits, who saved the jaw from destruction, im- 
mediately brought it to Professor Schoetensack’s atten- 
tion, and eventually donated it unselfishly to science. 
The specimen, the lower jaw of an adult male, was dis- 
covered accidentally on October 21, 1907. On the date 
of the find, two of the laborers were working in undis- 
turbed material at the base of the exposure, over eighty 
feet below the surface, when one of them suddenly brought 
out on his shovel part of a massive lower jaw which the 
implement had struck and cut in two. As the men realized 
the importance of carefully preserving all fossils, the 
specimen was handled with some care. The missing half 
was dug out, but the crowns of four of the teeth broken 
by the shovel were not recovered. The men were struck 
at once with the remarkable resemblance of the bones to 
a human lower jaw; but it seemed to them too thick and 
large to be that of man. They called Herr Rosch and he 
also was puzzled; but he saw at once that the specimen 
might be of considerable interest to Professor Schoeten- 
sack, and so took charge of it. Returning to the village he 
telegraphed to the professor, who came the next day; 
and “‘once he got hold of the specimen, he would no more 
let it out of his possession.”” He took it to Heidelberg, 
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