286 



PRIMATES 



(Fig. 368) were chipped differently at successive periods, and can often be 

 used to determine the age of the deposits in which they are found. The 

 periods are named from the several localities in France in which the character- 

 istic flint implements were first 

 observed, namely, in ascending 

 order, Chellean, Acheulean, Mous- 

 terian, Aurignacian, Solutrean, 

 and Magdalenian. 



Skeletons and skulls of Man 

 are known in considerable numbers 

 from palaeolithic deposits, though 

 of course many such discoveries 

 have not been accompanied by 

 accurate proof in regard to their 

 age, and really represent bodies 

 buried in prehistoric, neolithic, or 

 even a later time. 



The oldest essentially human 



remains at present known are those 



already mentioned as belonging to 



This Man was undoubtedly a contemporary of 



A lower jaw from a river deposit at Mauer, 



Incised outline of Mammotli on wall of Cave of 

 Combarelles, Dordogne. (After Breuil.) 



an extinct genus Eoanthropus. 



Elephas antiqmis or E. meridionalis 



near Heidelberg, which may be almost as old, is also essentially human. 



It is usually referred to Homo heidelbergensis, but it is remarkably massive, 



with a retreating bony chin, and perhaps represents another extinct genus. 



The remains of Man are next 

 contemporaneous with Rhinoceros 

 antiquifatis and Elephas primigenius, 

 and they still differ so essentially 

 from existing Man as to require 

 them to be described as a separate 

 species. Homo neanderthalensis, or 

 H. primigenius. In comparison with 

 existing Man, all these forms agree 

 in the strong development of the 

 supraorbital ridges, in the slight 

 arching of the skull-cap, in the 

 forwai'd inclination of the occipital 

 surface, in the imperfect develop- 

 ment of a bony chin, and in the 

 depth and heaviness of the man- 

 dible, as well as in the size of 

 the teeth, and the dental arch (Fig. 373). The femur and tibia are 

 robust ; the former being characterised by its curvature, the latter by its 

 retroversion. The first skeleton, of which the skullcap and a few other parts 

 have been preserved, was found in a cave in the Neanderthal, near Diisseldorf, 

 in 1856. Two other imperfect skeletons were found buried under stalagmite 

 at the mouth of a cave at Spy, near Namur, Belgium, in 1886. Nearly com- 

 plete skeletons have subsequently been obtained from caves in France ; and 

 one from La-Chapelle-aux-Saints (Correze), described by Prof. M. Boule, 



Homo neanderthalensis King. Cave of La-Chapelleaux- 

 Saints (CoiTeze). Skull and lower jaw (distorted by loss 

 of teeth during life). 1/4. (After Boule.) 



