Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/241

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
FOSSIL MAN (ITALY AND OTHER COUNTRIES)
181

appearance of all the fossil men which have hitherto come to light from the Palæolithic period. It presents in a marked degree the characters of the Neanderthal-Spy type retreating forehead, prominent superciliary ridges, and broad capacious orbits. For a critical discussion on the Gibraltar skull I refer readers to an article by Professor W. J. Sollas in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. cxcix. B, 1907.

Dr Keith informs us in his recently published volume (Ancient Types of Man, p. 121) that the Gibraltar cranium was brought to light in 1848 ;

"that it came to England in 1862 with an extensive collection of the remains of animals which had been excavated in the Genista Cave ; and that it was examined by Mr Busk and Dr Falconer. Both were struck with the human cranium. Falconer, observing that certain features distinguished it from the modern type of cranium, proposed to recognise it as a type of a new variety of mankind, and to name the variety Homo Calpicus— from Calfé, the old name of Gibraltar. In 1868 Busk presented the cranium to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, where it is now preserved. It has received the attention of anthropologists from the days of Huxley, Broca, Quatrefages, and Hamy to more recent days, when it has been studied by Macnamara, Klaatsch, Schwalbe, Sollas, and Sera. The point on which all are now agreed is that the Homo Calpicus belongs to the Neanderthal type of Pleistocene man."

With regard to its dimensions and osteological characters, Dr Keith, who seems to have carefully studied these points, thus writes :—

"The cranial capacity is under noo cubic centimetres 20010300 less than in the examples of Neanderthal man found elsewhere, with the possible exception of one Krapina specimen. Although the size of the brain has not shown a progressive increase with evolution, still we must regard a small brain cavity in a primitive type of skull as an indication of antiquity. The total length of the skull is 192 millimetres, the brain making up 164 millimetres of this amount. In the Neanderthal skull the total length was 203 millimetres, with a brain length of 175. The proportion of the thickness of bone is therefore greater than in the Neanderthal skull. The width of the Gibraltar brain is 130 millimetres, the skull 142 millimetres. The width or cephalic index of the skull is thus 74 per cent, of the length. There is a slight indication of the brachycephalic character as seen in Krapina crania. It is, however, in the cerebral height that the primitive nature of this skull is evident. The height according to the writer's method of measurement is only 88 millimetres, 10 to 15 millimetres less than in the other Neanderthal crania, with the possible exception of some of the Krapina fragments." (Ibid., p. 125.)