Men of the Old Stone Age: Their Environment, Life and Art

by Henry Fairfield Osborn

Fig. 142. Head of the 'Old Man of Crô-Magnon,' rejuvenated by the restoration of the teeth, showing the method of restoration of the features adopted in all the models by J. H. McGregor. The diameter of the head across the cheek-bones is seen to be greater than that across the cranium. (Compare Figs. 146 and 147, also Pl. VI.)

Verneau,[(18)] in his description of the Crô-Magnon type, emphasizes the disharmonic form of the head, for the dolichocephalic form of the skull is combined with a face very broad for its height, and this, in fact, is the unique and most distinctive feature of the Crô-Magnon race. The cheek-bones are both broad and high. It is curious that in this face, so broad across the cheek-bones and cheek arches, the space between the eyes is small, the nose is narrow and aquiline, and the upper jaw is noticeably narrow; it is no less remarkable that this upper jaw projects forward, while the upper part of the face is almost vertical, as in the highest types of Homo sapiens. The eye sockets, which are remarkably broad, are rather shallow, and their angles are but slightly rounded off, so that the form suggests a very long rectangle; the mandible is thick and strong, and the chin massive, triangular, and very prominent; the marks of muscular attachment denote great muscular development around the thick, strong jaws, in which the parts for the attachment of the vertical muscles are unusually large. I would add, says Verneau, to these essential characteristics the surprising capacity of the cranium, which Broca estimated as at least 1,590 c.cm. The majority of these features are found in almost all of the skulls of the Crô-Magnon race in the Grottes de Grimaldi. The top view of the skull is unusual on account of the extreme prominence of the eminences of the parietals, which give the skull a pentagonal effect when seen from above. The eyebrow ridges show decided prominences above the orbits but disappear completely in the median line and at the sides and thus differ totally from those in the Neanderthal head.

DISCOVERIES CHIEFLY OF THE CRÔ-MAGNON AND GRIMALDI RACES[AM]

Referred to Aurignacian Times

Date of Discovery	Locality	Number of Individuals	Culture Stage
Crô-Magnon and (?) Aurignacian Race
1823.	Paviland cave, western Wales.	One skeleton. Burial.	Aurignacian.
1852.	Aurignac, Haute-Garonne, Pyrenees, France.	Seventeen skeletons. Burial.	?"
1868.	valign="top"Crô-Magnon, Dordogne, France.	Three incomplete skeletons and fragments of two others. ? Burial.	"
1872-1884.	Grottes de Grimaldi, Baoussé-Roussé, Italy.	Burial.
	1. Grotte des Enfants (Grotte de Grimaldi).	Four skeletons.	"
	2. Grotte de Cavillon.	One"	"
	3. Barma Grande.	Six"	"
	4. Baousso da Torre.	Three"	"
1909.	Combe-Capelle, Dordogne.	Type of Homo aurignacensis, Klaatsch. Burial.	"
1909.	Laugerie Haute, Dordogne.	One skeleton. Burial.	?"
	Solutré.	Fragments.	?"
	Camargo (Santander), Spain.	Fragment of skull.	"
	Willendorf, Austria.	Fragments.	Late Aurignacian.
	Cave of Antelias (Syria).	Scattered bones.	Aurignacian.
Grimaldi Race
1906.	Grottes de Grimaldi, Baoussé-Roussé, Italy.
	1. Grotte des Enfants (Grotte de Grimaldi).	Two skeletons.	Aurignacian or Late Mousterian.

Of the numerous skeletons found in the Grottes de Grimaldi, or Baoussé-Roussé, near Mentone, the one first discovered is most widely known as the 'man of Mentone,' which was found in the Grotte de Cavillon, in 1872, by Rivière; hence this is sometimes spoken of as the Mentone race; but, as Verneau shows, while the measurements of the skulls of Baoussé-Roussé show some variety, they do not exceed what might be expected in individual variation, and we conclude that all the men of tall stature found in the Grottes de Grimaldi belong to the Crô-Magnon race, which is not to be confused with the very distinct dwarf Grimaldi race discovered in the Grottes de Grimaldi by Verneau, in 1906, in a lower level than any of the skeletons of the Crô-Magnon type.

In Aurignacian times, lofty stature seems to have been a general characteristic of this race, but there appears to have been a gradual decrease in height, so that in later industrial times the race in general is somewhat smaller in stature. The heights are as follows:

Crô-Magnon type of Dordogne		1.80 m.		5 ft. 10¾ in.
"woman slightly inferior in size.
Baoussé-Roussé, Grottes de Grimaldi.
Adult males of
Cavillon		1.79 m.		5 ft. 10½ in.
Barma Grande II		1.82 m.		5 ft. 11½ in.
Baousso da Torre II		1.85 m.		6 ft.¾ in.
Barma Grande I		1.93 m.		6 ft. 4 in.
Grotte des Enfants		1.94 m.		6 ft. 4½ in.
Average		1.87 m.		6 ft. 1½ in.
Woman of Barma Grande estimated at		1.65 m.		5 ft. 5 in.
Youth of 15 years, Barma Grande, estimated at		1.65 m.		5 ft. 5 in.

The woman had not reached complete development. As there is a variation of 6 inches in the height of the various male skeletons, it is evident that we cannot reach a trustworthy conclusion from a single subject; but there would seem to be quite a disparity in height between the sexes.