Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1876-01-12


Among the thus far discovered hu
tant O. och under notice, the Neander.
thai ssnll. already mentioned, ant
that of the Engis cavern have chiefly
excited interest in the learned, anC
caused much speculation concerning
the physical and intellectual Qualitie.
of the primeval inhabitants of Europe
Tie first-named skull, or rather skull
fragment-for it consists only of the
upper portion of the cranium-belOng.
ing to skeleuon which was found in
1857 in a small grOttO in the Neander-
thai, or Neander Valley, not far from
Dusseldorf. Rhenish Prussia. Quarry
ing operations led to the clearing o.
the grOttO, situated about sixty fee,
above the bed of the small liver Du-
sci, which flows through the val ey. II
contained horizontal layer of hard
loan intermixed with rolled gravel, q
dri,t deposit identical with that Occrr-
ing in all caves of the Dussel Valley
ana in which bones of extinct quadru-
peds are sometimes found imbedded.
In this gravelly loan of the Neander-
thai grOttO the wOrkmen found, two
feet below the surface, human skele-
ton, which they threw out in an uncOn-
sciOus way, and which would have
been lost to science but for the inter-
ference of Professor Fuhlott, of Elber-
field, who rescued from total destruc-
on the upper part of the skull. the
thigh and ann bones, q collar bone, q
pa t of the pelvis, q shoulder blade.
I'D several fragments of the ribs.
I lese remains are undoubtedly of the
highest antiquity. possessing the same
qualities which characterize the bones
Of the mammoth, cave-bear, etc, Oc-
'lring in the neighboring districts, and
lclosed in the same kind of loan that
contained the skeleton. Professors
FuhlrOtt, VOgt, and other antLr0pOlO-
gists therefore conclude that the Mean
derthal man lived together with the
mammoth and other extinct animals
of the drift period. The body prOba-
bly, had been washed into the grOttO
during the high water. The skull " as
first described anatOmically by Pro e3-
sOr Schaaffhausen, of Bonn. He pOin-
ted ont its enormous ridges above the
orbits of the eyes, behind which the
frontal bone is considerably depressed,
its elongated. elliptical shape, narrow
and low forehead and unusual thick
ness. The other bones of the skeleton
cOrrespOnded in length to those of q
European of middle stature, but they
were much stOuter, and exhibited a
greater development of the muscular
ridges. On the whole, Professor Schaaff-
hausen comes to the conclusion that
the individual to whom the Neander-
thai skull belonged must have been
distinguished by slight development
of brain and uncommon strength of
bodily frame. According to Professor
Huxley, the skull in question is the
most ape-like OF the human crania yet
discovered, and Professor Vogt express
ses himself to the same effect by stating
that it has more of the simian or mon
key type than any other known race
skull. Yet Huxley is far from regard
ing the Neanderthal bones as the re-
mains of being intermediate between
man and apes. At most, he says, they
demonstrate the existence of a man
whose skull may be said to revert some
what to the pithecOid or ape type.
Both Huxley and VOgt detect in the
Neanderthal skull an approximation
to the cranial formation of the Aus
tralian.
The Engis skull. likewise fragmen-
tary, but more complete than the one
Just described, was found, as we have
stated, five feet deep imbedded in a
breccia, in juxtapOsitiOn with the re
mains of the rhinOcerOs, reindeer and
horse. This skullindIcates a highertype
than that of the Neanderthal. Accord
to Huxley, there is no mark of degra-
datiOn. about any part of its structure.
1t Is. IN fact, fair average human
skull, which might have belonged to a
philosopher, or might have contained
the thOughtless brain of a savage ,
Hnrner's Mnad zine.