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Schaaffhausen 1858
Schaaffhausen 1858
know what the beings looked like, he was at least conl'inced that they were
true men. He wrote, "No human skeleton of undoubted Pleistocene age
has as yet been discovered in river I gravel] strata on the continent suffi
ciently perfect to allow us to Jorm an idea oj the physique oJ the Klver
drift [Paleolithic] men, and no human bones have as yet been recorded
from the flul'iatile deposits of Great Britain. The few fragments, however,
which remain to us, prove that at this remote period man was present in
Europe as man, and not as an intermediate form connecting the human
race with the lower animals. ,.
DISCOVERY OF THE
NEANDERTHAL SKULL
D. Schaaffhausen
In the early part of the year 1857, a human skeleton was discovered in
a limestone cave in the Neanderthal, near Hochdal, between Dusseldorf
and Elberfeld. Of this, however, I was unable to procure more than a
plaster cast of the cranium taken at Elberfeld, from which I drew up an
account of its remarkable conformation, which was, in the first instance,
read on the 4th of February, 1857, at the meeting of the Lower Rhine
Medical and Natural History Society, at Bonn (Verhandl. d. Naturhist.
Vereins der preuss. Rheinlande und Westphalens, xiv. Bonn, 1857). Sub
sequently Dr. Fuhlrott, himself gave a full account of the locality, and of
the circumstances under which the discovery was made. He was of the
opinion that the bones might be regarded as fossil; and in coming to this
conclusion, he laid especial stress upon the existence of dendritic deposits
with which their surface was covered, and which were first noticed upon
them by Professor Mayer. To this communication I appended a brief
report on the results of my anatomical examination of the bones. The
conclusions at which I arrived: (1) that the extraordinary form of the skull
was due to a natural conformation hitherto not known to exist, even in
the most barbarous races; (2) that these remarkable human remains be
I
longed to a period antecedent to the time of the Celts and Germans, and
i were in all probability derived from one of the wild races of northwestern
Europe, spoken of by Latin writers; and which were encountered as au
tochthones by the German immigrants; and (3) that it was beyond doubt
that these human relics were traceable to a period at which the latest
t
~
"On the Crania of the most Ancient Races of Man," by Professor D. Schaaffhausen,
r of Bonn. (From Muller's Archiv., 1858, pp. 453.) With remarks and original figures,
11 taken from a cast of the neanderthal cranium, by George Busk. The Natural History
r Review, Vol. I, No. II (April, 1861), Article XVII. (London and Edinburgh: Williams
and Norgate, 1861) pp. 155-174.
Disco I' er;
animals
assumpl
affordec
AsDi
stances,
"A sma
deep ff(
wall of 1
100 feel
valley. ]
narrow
scended
with dil
of 4 or
fragmeI
covered
the caVl
plane. l
who we
me on t
and it '
ognized
the disl
less in
this cin
bly per
My
results:
The
remark
ment a
coal esc
frontal
behind
the roc
and hi]
the fn
partial
ridges,
horizol
pari etc:
tal. Tl
time 0
its cul
centim
DiscOl'ery of the Neandertha! Sku!! 143
animals of the diluvium still existed; but that no proof in support of this
assumption, nor consequently of their so-termed fossil condition, was
afforded by the circumstances under which the bones were discovered.
As Dr. Fuhlrott has not yet published his description of these circum
stances, I borrow the following account of them from one of his letters.
"A small cave or grotto, high enough to admit a man, and about 15 feet
deep from the entrance, which is 7 or 8 feet wide, exists in the southern
wall of the gorge of the Neanderthal, as it is termed, at a distance of about
100 feet from the Dussel, amI about 00 feet above the bottom of the
valley. In its earlier and uninjured condition this cavern opened upon a
narrow plateau lying in front of it, and from which the rocky wall de
scended almost perpendicularly into the river. It could be reached, though
with difficulty, from above. The uneven floor was covered to a thickness
of 4 or 5 feet with a deposit of mud, sparingly intermixed with rounded
fragments of chert. In the removing of this deposit, the bones were dis
covered. The skull was the first noticed, placed nearest to the entrance of
the cavern; and further in, the other bones, lying in the same horizontal
plane. Of this I was assured in the most positive terms by two laborers
who were employed to clear out the grotto, and who were questioned by
me on the spot. At first no idea was entertained of the bones being human;
and it was not till several weeks after their discovery that they were rec
ognized as such by me, and placed in security. But, as the importance of
the discovery was not at the time perceived, the laborers were very care
less in the collecting, and secured chiefly only the larger bones; and to
this circumstance it may be attributed that fragments merely of the proba
bly perfect skeleton came into my possession."
My anatomical examination of these bones afforded the following
results:
The cranium is of unusual size, and of a long, elliptical form. A most
remarkable peculiari ty is at once obvious in the extraordinary develop
ment of the frontal sinuses, owing to which the superciliary ridges, which
coalesce completely in the middle, are rendered so prominent, that the
frontal bone exhibits a considerable hollow or depression above, or rather
behind them, whilst a deep depression is also formed in the situation of
the root of the nose. The forehead is narrow and low, though the middle
and hinder portions of the cranial arch are well developed. Unfortunately,
the fragment of the skull that has been preserved consists only of the
portion situated above the roof of the orbits and the superior occipital
ridges, which are greatly developed, and almost conjoined so as to form a
horizontal eminence. It includes almost the whole of the frontal bone, both
parietals, a small part of the squamous and the upper third of the occipi
tal. The recently fractured surfaces show that the skull was broken at the
time of its disinterment. The cavity holds 16,876 grains of water, whence
its cubical contents may be estimated at 57.64 inches, or 1033.24 cubic
centimeters. In making this estimation, the water is supposed to stand on
!c{4 MAN'S DISCOVERY OF HIS PAST
a level with the orbital plate of the frontal, with the deepest notch in the
squamous margin of the parietal, and with the superior semicircular ridges
of the occipital, Estimated in dried millet seed, the contents equalled 31
ounces, Prussian Apothecaries' weight, The semicircular line indicating
the upper boundary of the attachment of the temporal muscle, though not
very strongly marked, ascends nevertheless to more than half the height of
the parietal bone, On the right superciliary ridge is observable an oblique
furrow or depression, indicative of an injury received during life. The
coronal and sagittal sutures are on the exterior nearly closed, and on the
inside so completely ossified as to have left no traces whatever, whilst the
lambdoidal remains quite open. The depressions for the Pacchionian
glands are deep and numerous; and there is an unusually deep vascular
groove immediately behind the coronal suture, which, as it terminates in
a foramen, no doubt transmitted a vena em£ssaria. The course of the
frontal suture is indicated externally by a slight ridge; and where it joins
the coronal, this ridge rises into a small protuberance. The course of the
sagittal suture is grooved, and above the angle of the occipital bone the
parietals are depressed.
mm."
The length of the skull from the nasal process to the frontal
over the vertex to the superior semicircular lines of the
occi pi tal measures 303 (300) = 12.0"
Circumference over the orbital ridges and the superior semi
circular lines of the occipital . . 590 (580) = 23.37" or 23"
Width of the frontal from the middle of the temporal line
on one side to the same point on the opposite . 104 (1l4) = 4.1"-4.5"
Length of the frontal from the nasal process to the coronal
suture . . 133 (125) = 5.25"-5"
Extreme width of the frontal sinuses . 25 ( 23) = 1.0"-0.9"
Vertical height above a line joining the deepest notches in
the squamous border of the parietals . 70 = 2.75"
Width of hinder part of skull from one parietal protuber
ance to the other . 138 (150) = 5.4"-5.9"
Distance from the upper angle of the occipital to the supe
rior semicircular lines . . 51 ( 60) = 1.9"-2.4"
Thickness of the bone at the parietal protuberance . 8
- - at the angle of the occipital . 9
- - - at the superior semicircular line of the occipital . 10 = 0.3"
.. The numbers in brackets are those which I should assign to the different measures,
as taken from the plaster cast.-G. B.
Fig. 21. The Neanderthal ,kull a, depicted by Lubbock (1~78, fig,. 192-194). This early
drawing is remarkably accurate when compared to the photograph of the original ,howl' in
Hrdlicka (1930, pI. 30).
1..+6 MAN'S DISCOVERY OF HIS PAST
are somc rccent thighboncs, with which in thickness the foregoing pretty
Ilearly correspond, although they arc shorter.
Fig. 22. Reconstruction by H. Klaatsch of the origlllal Neanderthal skull from near Dusseldorf.
The area beneath the black line is reconstructed and based on other Neanderthal material.
(After Koenigswald, 1958. pl. r.)
by Dr. Mayer, are most distinct on the inner surface 01 the cranial bones.
They consist of a ferruginous compoLlnd, and, from their black color,
may be supposed to contain manganese. Similar dendritic formations
also occur, nut infrequently, on laminated rocks, and are usually found in
14::-. MAN'S DISCOVFR Y OF HIS PAST Discol'C
minute fissures and cracks, At the meeting of the Lower Rhine Society of our I
:It Bonn, on the 1st of Avril, 1857, Prof. 1\byer stated that he hac! noticed des PIa
in the museum or Poppelsdorf similar dendritic crystallilatlollS on several crania,
fossil bones of <luimals, and particularly 011 those of [!lSIlS s/Jcaloclls, but oped; a
stiJl more abundantly and beautifully displayed on the fossil bones and transiti(
teelll of E(jllils adomiticus, Fle/)lIos jnimigc!1ills, &c., from the caves of Then
Bohe and SLlndwig. Faillt indications of similar dendrites were visible in the fror
a ROillan skull from Siegburg; whiJst other ancient skulls which hac! lain individl
for (enturi(~s in the earth presented no trace of them . . . characte
As we cannot now look UpOIl the primitive world as representing a of the 0
wholly dilIerent condition of things, from which no transition exists to the usual pI
org:lnic lile of the present time, the designation of fossil, as applied to a pendage
l)()nc, has no longer the sense it conveyed in the time of euvier. Sufficient enduran
grounds exist for the assumption that man coexisted with the animals size of a
found in the diluvium; and Illany a barbarous race may, before all histori bones. 1
cal time, have disappeared, together with the animals of the ancient frontal s'
,,,,oriel, whilst the races whose organization is improved have continued III many
the genus. The bones which form the subject of this Paper present with the
characters which, although not decisive as regards a geological epoch, are, cate a sn
nevertheless, such as indicate a very high antiquity. It may also be re of mille
marked that, common as is the occurrence of diluvial animal bones in the the whe
muddy deposits of caverns, such remains have not hitherto been met with conrent~
in the caves of tbe Neanderthal; and that the bones, which were covered I tis,
by a deposit of mud not more than four or flve feet thick, and without similar
any protective covering of stalagmite, have retained the greatest part of it exist~
their organic substance. whethe'
These circumstances might be adduced against the probability of a geo tending
logical antiquity. Nor should we be justifled in regarding the cranial con deraile<
formation as perhaps representing the most savage primitive type of the from. 1
human race, since crania exist among living savages, which, though not skulls;
exhibiting such a remarkable conformation of the forehead, which gives
con[on
the skull somewhat the aspect of that of the large apes, still in other re
pressio
spects, as for instance in the greater depth of the temporal fossae, the
The
reason for supposing that the deep frontal hollow is due to any artificial of the
the Old and New ·World. The skull is quite symmetrical, and shows no Hesse
must have given the human visage an unusually savage aspect. This aspect sufllcie
might be termed brutal, inasmuch as the prominent supraorbital border that w,
is also characteristic of the facial conlormation of the large apes, although incidel
in these animals the prominence in question is not caused by any ex sideral
pansion of the frontal sinuses. These sinuses have been found by Owen The
to be wholly wanting, as well in the Gorilla, as in two Tasmanian amI stances
an Australian skull, a circumstance which is in acconlance with the weak cal po~
bodily constitutions of these savages . . . probab
In conclusion, the following propositions may be regarded as the result quaten
of the foregoing researches: instanc
The fragments of crania from Schwaan and PIau, on account both of mg as
their anatomical conformation and of the circumstances under which causeYI
they were found, may probably be assigned to a barbarous, aboriginal to det
people, which inhabited the North of Europe before the Germani; and, tlividu
as is proved by the discovery of similar remains at Minsk in Russia, and rej~lar "
in the Neanderthal near Elberfeld, must have been extensively spread forehe
being allied, as may be presumed from the form of the skull, with the be des
aboriginal popUlations of Britain, Ireland, amI Scandinavia. Whilst at appear
Schwaan the bones were deposited in a Germanic grave of stone, and of the
consequently are brought into relation with the historical period, the with h
bones from Piau, on the contrary, were merely laid in the sand, to Sir ell
gether with impIcments of bone of the rudest kind. The Minsk skull, in which
like manner, was found in the sand of an ancient river bed. But the dOllbtf
human bones and cranium from the Neanderthal exceed all the rest in Profess
those peculiarities of conformation which lead to the conclusion of their elevati
belonging to a barbarous and savage race. \,yhether the cavern in which peciall
they were found, unaccompanied with any trace of human art, were the in whi
place of their interment, or whether, like the bones of extinct animals second
elsewhere, they had been washed into it, they may still be regarded as the half th
most ancient memorial of the early inhabitants of Europe. is part
tinued
craniu
REMARKS BY GEORGE BI_'SK The
borde
The fact of the geological antiquity of Man, or, to use other words, lIlg or
of his having been contemporary with extinct animals whose remains are pressio
universally regarded by geologists as "fossil," has apparently been fully craniu
established, though rather, perhaps, from the discO\'ery of his work errone
1 han of his actual remains, under certain geological conditions. It has Chim
!)ccol1le a matter, therefore, among others, of extreme interest to deter
mine how far it may be possible, from the scanty remains of his bones
as yet discovered, to ascertain whether, and in what respects, the priscan
race or races have differed from those which at present inhabit the earth.
Although the materials as yet in our possession are far too scanty to
allow of any satisfactory solution of this difficult question, they are
r Disco}e,..\' oj' Ihe Neander/hal Skull 151
ct sufficient, perhaps, to allow of its being entered upon. It is with this view
er that we reproducc the interesting paper by Professor SchaarEhausen, which
~h incidcntally trea ts upon the question at large, and con tains a con
x siderable amount of information respecting it.
~n The human remains there described were discovered under circum
stances which, though not altogether demonstrative of their real geologi
cal position, leave no doubt of their enormous antiquity, and of the
probability of their having belonged to what has been termed the
lIt quaternary period. The conformation of the cranium, moreover, in this
instance is so remarkable, as to justly excite the utmost interest, approach
of ing as it does in one respect that of some of the higher apes. It remains,
:h comequently, a subject of the deepest importance for future discoveries
al to determine whether the conformation in question be merely an in
d, (hidual peculiarity, or a typical character. The peculiarity consists in a
ld renlarkable prominence or projection of the superciliary region of thc
forehead; for the enlargcment in this part is so great, that it can hardly
le bc described as limited to the superciliary ridges. Dr. Schaaffhausen
at appears to regard this extraordinary conformation as due to an expansion
ld of the frontal sinuses. In this we are not disposed altogether to agree
le with him; but as we have had an opportunity, through the kindness of
0 Sir Charles Lyell, of examining only a plaster cast of the cranium, in
in which the interior is not shown, we, of course, are able to speak but
le doubtfully on the subject. A main reason for our disagreement with
In Professor Schaallhausen arises from the circumstance that a considerable
ir elevation of the same part is often observed in recent crania, more es
:h pecially, as hc states, in those belonging to savage and barbarous races.
le in which no extraordinary cxpallSion of the sinuses is found to exist; and,
Js secondly, because the frontal sinuses rarely, we believe, extcnd beyond
le half thc length of the su praorbi ta 1 border; whilst in 111any cases-and this
is particularly evidcnt in the Neanderthal cranium-the elevation is con
tinucd to the outcr angular process of the frontal bone, which, in that
cranium. is very rema I kabl y thickened.
The lateral extent of the frontal sinus, in cases where the superciliary
bordcrs are much elevated, is usually imperfectly indicated by an open
ls, ing or depression, through which the frontal nerve passes; and this dc
re pression is very manifest, especially on the right side, in the fossil
ly cranium, in which it is regarded by Professor Schaaffhausen, we believe
'k erroneously, as indicative of an injury received during life. In the mature
IS Chimpanzee and Gorilla, the supraorbital ridges are, as is well known,
r remarkably developed: in the former case, we are not aware that the
es enlargement is accompanied with any expansion of the frontal sinuses,
in which in fact do not exist in the ape, but it is due simply to a projection
h. of the margin of the orbit, ,,,,hich cavity is larger in proportion to the
to skull behind it, than it is in the human subject, and is thus in accordance
re with the greater development of the face generally. In the old Gorilla, on
152 M ,\N'S DISCOVERY OF HIS PAST
the other hand, although the bone itself is enormously thickened in the
monstrous projection above the orbit, there are very large frontal sinuses.
However this may be, the protuberance in question must be regarded
as showing a very savage type; and, in the extent to which it exists in
the Neanderthal cranium, it affords a character in which that skull ap
proaches that of the Gorilla and Chimpanzee.
Dr. Schaaffhausen appears to have taken considerable pains to inquire
whether a similar conformation, or one approaching it, has been ob
served in other instances of ancient or modern skulls, but without
success . . . ***