THE RHODESIAN SKULL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18019, 18 February 1922, Page 9

THE RHODESIAN SKULL.

PUZZLING CHARACTERISTICS.

TEETH VERY MUCH DECAYED The remarkable skull recently discovered in a mine in Rhodesia, and other hones found at the same time were exhibited and discussed at a meeting of the Zoological Society in London. Professor . Mcßridc, F.R.S., said a deep debt wan owing to the directors of the Rhodesia I Broken Hill Mine for the public spirit, with which they had. responded to Dr. Smith Woodwaid's request and mado i. free gift of this invaluable and unique specimen to the Natural History' Museum. Dr. Smith Woodward gave an account of the skull and the circumstances in which it was discovered. He said the most striking feature of the skull at fiit*. sight was the incongruous combination of the brain-case and the face. Th" arrangement gave the skull the appearance of an ape when one looked at it in front. Tb« braui-case, however, indicated a brain of about the average size of the human brain, and the case itself was.only of about normal thickness. Tho bony ridges of the brows were very big compared with anything we had seen in early man he fore, and their extension to the side- was very marked, though the width was not as great as in the case of the gorilla. The Pithecanthropus from Java could not, lie thought, be regarded as very close to the Rhodesian skull. The latter was much nearer to the Neanderthal skull. Referring to the immense size of the palate in the Rhodesian skull, Dr. Woodward said that nevertheless it was entirely human and beautifully domed—comparable with what we had in modern men. The teeth were very much decayed. There was undoubted caries, which had been attended with complications, such as abscesses. Hitherto we had been accustomed to associate cartes with civilisation. Here it existed in an extremely old skull, yet the symmetry was beautifid, and the nature of the bones perfect; there was nothing to suggest abnormality. This impression was confirmed by a piece of upper jaw of a second individual found with the skull, with teeth and palate exactly like the first. There was no trace, however, of disease. He thought, as far as he could judge at present, that the Rhodesian iskull was that of a later man than the Neanderthal man. There was a perfect brain case and a perfectly erect skeleton, though certain features were such as were at present exclusively associated with apes. They had confirmation of Professor Elliot Smith's theory that the last phase of man was the refining of the face. The Rhodesian skull presented the most primitive tjpo of human face ever found revealing a number of unmistakable resemblances to tho gorilla. They had human characters associated with, morn ape-like characters than had ever been revealed before in any member of the human family. The limb bones of the Neanderthal man apparently indicated a primitive type of man who walked with a crouch, but in the present instance they had limb bones which were apparently very much straighter and longer, and altogether much more like the modern type. Judging by the limbs alone they would assume they were dealing with'a much more recent typo than the Neanderthal man. Judging by the. face, thev 'would imagine they were dealing with a much m;;re primitive type than the Neanderthal. The great discussion on the skull would be whether thev had in it a more primitive type or a more specilised type than the Neanderthal man, The matter could only be settled when they had all the evidence before them. , , . Turning to the que>t,on of the sex of the owner of the Rhodesian skull, he .aid the sacrum was found with the other bones, and there was a suggestion that U,e skull was that of a woman in the prime of life The sutures suggested that h was probablv Ie» ihan 30 ynr. ol ;"e L \he skull was a primitive one. ihl'w 'miirht be even lower. When the « 1 o hod with flesh he thought t might have had widcly-splaved nosnk «irh as the gorilla had. and in th.s Sec hav been loss like a modern human being than might appear from the skull. ■