ANCIENT REMAINS OF MAN HEDLICKA. 511 



(0.87 meter) above the floor of the excavation and 79 feet (24.1 

 meters) from the surface.' The same level, as well as some of the 

 higher layers, yielded fossil bones of the Elephas antiquus, Rhi- 

 noceros etrusciis, Felis leo fossilis, and various other extinct species. 

 The age of the human jaw has been determined by these and subse- 

 quent exj)lorations to be earlier Quaternaiy, though there seems to 

 be some uncertainty as yet as to the exact subdivision of the period 

 to which it should be attributed. 



The original specimen, when seen, impresses one at once and po- 

 tently as one of the gi^atest anthropological treasures. It is a huge 

 lower jaw, which looks simultaneously both human and ape (pi. 10). 



It presents no abnormality or any diseased condition that could 

 have altered it in shape, so that it may well be regarded ag a perfect 

 representative of its type. The bone is dull yellowish-white to red- 

 dish in color, with numerous small and large blackish spots. The 

 crowns of the teeth are dirty creamy white, with blackish discolora- 

 tions on the somewhat worn-off chewing surfaces of the canines and 

 incisors, and a few similar spots over the molars ; while all the parts 

 of the teeth beneath the enamel are dull red, as if especially colored- 

 It is much mineralized and feels more like so much limestone than 

 bone. It weighs nearly 7 ounces (187 grams). 



The jaw is considerably larger and stouter than any other known 

 human mandible. Its ascending rami are exceedingly broad. Its 

 coronoid processes, thin and sharp in modern man, are thick, dull, 

 broad, and markedly diverging. The chin slopes backward as 

 in no human being now known or thus far discovered, with the 

 possible exception of the recently reported Eoanthropus; and there 

 are other primitive features. The total of the characteristics of the 

 bone are such that, had the teeth been lost, it would surely have been 

 regarded as the mandible of some large ape rather than that of any 

 human being. 



The teeth of the Mauer jaw, however, are perfectly preserved, 

 and though large and provided with great roots and in various other 

 ways primitive, they are unquestionably human teeth. They force 

 the conclusion that their possessor, while of heavy, protruding face, 

 hugh muscles of mastication, wide and thick zygomatic arches, thick 

 skull, probably heavy hi'ows, and possibly not yet quite erect posture, 

 had nevertheless already stepped over that line above which the being 

 could be tenned human. His food and probably his mode of life 

 were related to those of primitive man, and he was already far re- 

 moved from his primate ancestors with large canines. 



The writer will not enter into the anatomical details of the speci- 

 men, which have been admirably brought out by Prof. Schoetensack. 



^ The exact spot has been marl:ed by Prof. Schoetensack with a stone monument bear- 

 ing the inscription : " Fundstelle des menscblichen Unterktefers, 21 Oktober, 1907." 



