170 HUMAN FOSSILS HI 



to admit a man, and about 15 feet deep from the entrance, 

 which is 7 or 8 feet wide, exists in the southern wall of the 

 gorge of the Neanderthal, as it is termed, at a distance of about 

 100 feet from the Dlissel, and about 60 feet above the bottom of 

 the valley. In its earlier and uninjured condition, this cavern 

 opened upon a narrow plateau lying in front of it, and from 

 which the rocky wall descended almost perpendicularly into the 

 river. It could be reached, though with difficulty, from above. 

 The uneven floor was covered to a thickness of 4 or 5 feet with 

 a deposit of mud, sparingly intermixed with rounded fragments 

 of chert. In the removing of this deposit, the bones were dis- 

 covered. The skull was first noticed, placed nearest to the 

 entrance of the cavern ; and further in, the other bones, lying 

 in the same horizontal plane. Of this I was assured, in the 

 most positive terms, by two labourers who were employed to 

 clear out the grotto, and who were questioned by me on the 

 spot. At first no idea was entertained of the bones being 

 human ; and it was not till several weeks after their discovery 

 that they were recognised as such by me, and placed in security. 



" * But, as the importance'of the discovery was not at the time 

 perceived, the labourers were very careless in the collecting, and 

 secured chiefly only the larger bones ; and to this circumstance 

 it may be attributed that fragments merely of the probably 

 perfect skeleton came into my possession.' 



" My anatomical examination of these bones afforded the 

 following results : 



"The cranium is of unusual size, and of a long-elliptical form. 

 A most remarkable peculiarity is at once obvious in the ex- 

 traordinary development of the frontal sinuses, owing to which 

 the superciliary ridges, which coalesce completely in the middle, 

 are rendered so prominent, that the frontal bone exhibits a 

 considerable hollow or depression above, or rather behind them, 

 whilst a deep depression is also formed in the situation of the 

 root of the nose. The forehead is narrow and low, though the 

 middle and hinder portions of the cranial arch are well developed. 

 Unfortunately, the fragment of the skull that has been preserved 

 consists only of the portion situated above the roof of the 

 Dibits and the superior occipital ridges, which are greatly de- 



