Fig. 15. Outline tracings of jaw-bones viewed from above. A an ancient Briton (cf. [Fig. 2], B). B Moustier. C Mauer. (B and C are from casts in the Cambridge Museum.)

The limb bones agree in general appearance with those of the skeletons of the Neanderthal and La Chapelle. Though absolutely smaller than in those examples, they are yet similar in regard to their stoutness. The femur is short and curved, and the articular ends are disproportionately large as judged by modern standards. The tibia is prismatic, resembling herein the corresponding bone in the Spy skeleton. It is not flattened or sabre-like, as in certain other prehistoric skeletons.

Another point of interest derived from the study of the limb bones is the stature they indicate. Having regard to all the bones available, a mean value of about 1500 mm. (about 4 ft. 11 in.) is thus inferred. Yet the youth was certainly 16 years of age and might have been as much as 19 years. The comparison of stature with that of the other examples described is given in a later chapter. At present, it is important to remark that in view of this determination (of 4 ft. 11 in.) and even when allowance is made for further growth in stature the large size of the skull must be regarded as very extraordinary indeed. A similar remark applies to the estimate of the capacity of the brain-case. A moderate estimate gives 1600 c.c. as the capacity of the brain-case (practically identical with that of the La Chapelle skull). In modern Europeans of about 5 ft. 6 in., this high figure would not cause surprise. In a modern European of the same stature as the Dordogne man (4 ft. 11 in.), so capacious a brain-case would be regarded if not as a pathological anomaly, yet certainly as the extreme upper limit of normal variation. Without insisting further on this paradoxical result (which is partly due to defective observations), it will suffice to remark that early Palaeolithic man was furnished with a very adequate quantity of brain-material, whatever its quality may have been. In regard to the amount, no symptom or sign of an inferior evolutionary status can be detected.

La Ferrassie (Dordogne, France).

This discovery was made in a rock-shelter during its excavation in the autumn of 1909 by M. Peyrony. A human skeleton was found in the floor of the grotto, and below strata characterised by Mousterian implements. The bones were excessively fragile, and though the greatest care was taken in their removal, the skull on arrival at Paris was in a condition described by Professor Boule (L'Anthropologie, 1911, p. 118) as ‘très brisée.’ No detailed account has yet appeared, though even in its fragmentary condition, the specimen is sure to provide valuable information. From the photographs taken while the skeleton lay in situ after its exposure, it is difficult to arrive at a definite conclusion as to its characters. But in regard to these, some resemblance at least (in the jaws) to the Neanderthal type can be detected.

M. Peyrony found also in the same year and in the same region (at Le Pech de l'Aze) the cranium of a child, assignable to the same epoch as the skeleton of La Ferrassie. But so far no further details have been published.

Forbes Quarry (Gibraltar).

The human skull thus designated was found in the year 1848. It was, so to speak, rediscovered by Messrs Busk and Falconer. The former authority described the specimen in 1864, but this description is only known from an abstract in the Reports of the British Association. Broca published an account of the osteological characters a few years later. After 1882, the skull again fell into obscurity for some twenty years: thereafter it attracted the attention of Dr Macnamara, Professor Schwalbe, and above all of Professor Sollas, who published the first detailed and critical account in 1907. This has stimulated yet other researches, particularly those of Professor Sera (of Florence) in 1909, and the literature thus growing up bids fair to rival that of the Neanderthal skeleton. A most important feature of the specimen consists in the fact that the bones of the face have remained intact and in connection with the skull. But the mandible is wanting, and the molar teeth of the upper set are absent.

As may be gathered from the tracing published by Dr Sera (cf. [Fig. 16]) the upper part of the brain-case is imperfect. Nevertheless the contour has been restored, and the Neanderthal-like features of distinct brow-ridges, followed by a low flattened cranial curve, are recognisable at once. The facial profile is almost complete, and in this respect the Forbes Quarry skull stood alone until the discovery of the specimen from La Chapelle. Since that incident, this distinction is not absolute, but the Forbes Quarry skull is still unique amidst the other fossils in respect of the bones forming what is called the cranial base. In no other specimen hitherto found, are these bones so complete, or so well preserved in their natural position.