HEIDELBERG MAN 241 
height the ascending branch of the Australian mandible 
is practically the same as that of the Heidelberg specimen, 
but in width the latter measures 60 mm, — 22 mm. more 
than the primitive Australian native. The area re- 
presented by the outer surface of the ramus of the 
ancient mandible is 34 cm.- ; the corresponding area in 
the Australian measures 22 cm.^ ; an average modern 
European mandible, 18 cm.- These measurements give 
some idea of the surpassing strength which must 
have characterised the masticatory system of the 
Heidelberg man. The chief difference, however, is seen 
in the region of the chin and symphysis. In the 
Australian, although there is no prominent chin, yet the 
anterior or labial surface of the mandible ascends almost 
at right angles to the lower border of the jaw. The 
alveolar border, on which the teeth are implanted, is not 
prolonged forwards markedly in advance of the lower 
border of the mandible. The reverse is the case in 
the Heidelberg jaw — the alveolar border is prolonged 
far forwards and the chin recedes almost as in an 
ape. On its posterior or lingual aspect the symphysis 
of the Heidelberg mandible shows the genial pit 
already described in connection with the chin region of 
Neanderthal man (see p. 145) ; but there is this difference, 
the pit is deeper, wider, and more ape-like than in any 
specimen belonging to the Mousterian period. As 
regards the markings of the chin — the markings connected 
with the attachment and mode of action of the muscles 
of the tongue — the Australian mandible shows all those 
features which characterise modern man. In the 
Heidelberg mandible, on the other hand, we see the 
same peculiarities as in Neanderthal man, but to an 
exaggerated and to a more primitive degree. 
To show how the Heidelberg mandible compares with 
that of an anthropoid ape, I have superimposed its out- 
line, in fig. 85, on a drawing made from the mandible and 
face of a female orang — both on the same scale. In 
height and area of the ascending branch of the jaw there 
is not much difference between the ape and Heidelberg 
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