PRIMATES. 409 



ten mi. from a bed of volcanic ash containing the remains of 

 Pliocene mammals, near Trinil, in central Java. These are 

 believed to belong to one animal, which has received the name 

 of Pithecanthropus erectus. The capacity of the brain-case 

 (fig. 227, Pe.) is estimated to have been about two-thirds the 

 average of that of man ; the forehead is very low ; and the 

 supraorbital ridges are prominent. The inclination of the 

 nuchal surface of the occiput is considerably greater than in 

 the Simiidse. The femur measures 0'455 m. in length, and 

 denotes an upright gait. 



The oldest human skeletons of which the geological age is 

 determined with certainty, are two from the cavern of Spy, 

 near Namur, in Belgium. These were found in association 

 with remains of the mammoth and other Pleistocene mammals 



FIG. 228. 



Human Calvarium from a Cavern in the Neanderthal, near Diisseldorf, Germany, 

 one-quarter nat. size. 



beneath a layer of stalagmite, which had never been disturbed, 

 and which was also covered with earth containing bones of the 

 same extinct quadrupeds. The skeletons, therefore, could not 

 be the result of a comparatively recent burial, but were proved 

 to have been contemporaneous with the associated animals and 

 Palaeolithic flint implements. They are essentially human in 

 every respect, but seem to represent a race inferior in skeletal 

 characters to any now existing. They are small, but powerfully 

 built. The forehead is low ; the supraorbital ridges are very 

 prominent; and the chin is remarkably retreating. The 

 radius and ulna are unusually divergent in the middle. The 

 femur is somewhat bent, and the tibia is comparatively short ; 

 so that the leg cannot have been quite upright in walking. 

 This type is now generally known as the Neanderthal race; 



