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On the Crania of the Most Ancient Races of Men

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2016

Charles Carter Blake
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Extract

The authenticated discovery of human remains in strata of high historical antiquity in the Heathery Burn Cave, near Stanhope, and at Muskham in the Valley of the Trent, and the approaching discussion which “looms in the distance” of Palæontology consequent upon the proximate publication of Sir Charles Lyell's ‘Antiquity of Man,’ induce me to offer a few observations on the osteological nature of the evidences at present afforded to us of man contemporary with the mammoths, with a view, if possible, to determine the grade of the individuals whose remains have been preserved in suprapliocene strata.

The deposits on the banks of the Somme (Abbeville, St. Acheul, St. Roch), at Grenelle near Paris, at Hoxne in Suffolk, at Brixham and Kent's Hole in the south-west of England, under Gray's-Innlane in Middlesex, at Maccagnone in Sicily, the Kjökkenmöddings in Denmark, and at Wookey Hole in the Mendips, indicate to us the existence of man in a low state of civilization, as proved by his weapons, but of whom the osteological evidences have not yet been discovered. In these deposits the bones of extinct mammalia are found, as well as a more or less percentage of animals of existing species.

At Engis in Belgium, Massat in France, Aurignac in Gascony, Muskham in the Valley of the Trent, the Lake habitations in Switzerland, proofs of man have been found in strata contemporaneous with the most recently extinct animals.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Geologist , Volume 5 , Issue 6 , June 1862 , pp. 205 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1862

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References

page 206 note * This stall is figured in the ‘Geologist,’ vol. iv. (1861) plate xi. p. 396.

page 206 note † While this paper was going through the press, Professor Huxley, F.R.S., kindly permitted me to inspect the cast of the Neanderthal skull in his possession. I see, however, as yet no sufficient grounds to infer its representing a distinct race of men.

page 207 note * ‘Medical Times,’ Feb. 15, 1862.

page 214 note * ‘Observations on the Human Crania contained in the Museum of the Army Medical Department, Chatham.’ 8vo. Dublin, 1857, p. 73.

page 215 note * Owen, Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1862.

page 216 note * Rivero and Tschudi, ‘Antiguedades Peruanas.’

page 216 note † Davis and Thurnam, p. 29.

page 216 note ‡ Meigs, ‘Description of a Fragmentary Human Skull from Jerusalem.’ 8vo. Philad. p. 279.

page 216 note § See p. 201 of this number.—Ed. Geol.

page 220 note * Dolichocephalic ?

page 222 note * A. Morlot:

1. ‘Leçon d'ouverture d'un Cours sur la haute Antiquité, fait à, l'Academic de Lausanne en Novembre et Décembre 1860.’ 8vo. Lausanue, 1861.

2. ‘Remarques sur les formations modernes dans le Canton de Vaud.’ (Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences naturelles, tome v. No. 40.) 8vo. Lausanne, 1857.

3. ‘Études Géologico-Archéologiques en Danemark et en Suisse.’ 8vo. Lausanne, 1860. (Bulletin, etc., tome v. no. 46.)

4. ‘On tbe Post-Tertiary and Quaternary Formations of Switzerland.’ 8vo.

5. ‘Recherches sur les Habitations lacustres des environs d'Estavayer,’ par M. Biot de Vevay et Henri Rey, rédigées par M. Morlot. (Extrait des Mémoires de la Société des Autiquaires de Zurich, tome xiii.) 4to.

page 222 note † ‘Crania Britannica.’ 4to and folio. London: 1856.

page 222 note ‡ Loc. cit.

page 222 note § ‘Crania Americana.’ Philadelphia: 1839. In a Pachacamac skull before me there is a very slight supraorbital development.

page 223 note * Owen, ‘Report on a Series of Nepâlese Skulls.’ Transactions of the British Association, 1859.

page 224 note * Huxley, Address to Geological Society, 21st February, 1862.

page 224 note † W. Bollaert and C. C. Blake on Antiquities from Chiriquí: Ethnological Society, March 18, 1862.

page 224 note ‡ On Fossil Man. Royal Institution. February 7, 1862.

page 226 note * Knox. Races of Men.

page 226 note † Possibly in Ceylon, according to Mr. Brayley, F.R.S.: Medical Times, May 10, 1862.

page 226 note ‡ Vide Ethnological Society's Transactions, May 6, 1862, for my paper “On the Cranal Characters of the Peruvian Races.”—C.C.B.

pahe 227 note * Comptea Rendua, Acad. Sciences, 1862.

page 230 note * Sur le Gorilla, par Professeur Owen, avec six planches ajoutées par Eudés Deslong-champs. 8vo. Caen. 1861.

page 230 note † Loc. cit. p. 6.

page 231 note * The illustrations to this paper are taken from Professor Bnsk's paper (N. H. R. p. 172, etc.); from Squicr's Monuments of the Mississippi valley; and Maury's ‘Indigenous Races.’ I am indebted to Mr. Mackie for the use of the Muskham and Heathery Burn relics, and for the sketches of the Eastham and Engis skulls.

page 232 note * Usher, , in Nott, and Gliddon, , ‘Types of Mankind,’ p. 343 Google Scholar.

page 232 note † Crawfurd, ‘Antiquity of Man on the Evidence of Language.’ Trans. Ethnological Society, 1862.

page 233 note * Darwin, , ‘Origin of Species,’ 1st edition, p. 489 Google Scholar.