jiioneeiN ? The future alone can answer this question either
in the affirmative or negative.
However this may be, the remains of human industry
indicate a well-marke*! progress since the earliest ages.
Tools and arms became more numerous an<l perfect. Deer's
3o6 TJic 1 fuman Species.
antlers and bear's jawbones arc worked into weapons and
tools ; in addition to scraptMs and bon-rs, the form of which
becomes more and inure marked, we tiiul knives, cldsels, and
hammers, set in handles : hatcliets of much greater size,
sometimes comparatively thin, flat upon one side but
retouched upon the other, sometimes thick and rudely cut
on both sides, with or without a handle, belong to the
mount ie rim and acheuleen types of M. do Mortillet ; they
assume definite forms by which we arc able to recognise
several modifications characteristic of certain localities ; the
arrow is larger and the lance has become a formidable
weapon. In the midst of the lowest (juaternary alluvial
deposits, we meet with small heapaof cose inopora (jlohidaris,
and other small chalk fossils, all pierced either naturally or
artiticiallv. The only possilde explanation is to consider
these polypi ami shells as having once formed necklaces or
bracelets, the thread of which has disajipeared. Thus, the
taste for adornment, so largely developed in modern savages,
was displayed as early as this period.
If we compare the industries, still very modest, with those
of the present day, we shall be able to form for ourselves an
approximate idea of what the race of Canstadt was when it
ofcnpied perhaps nearly the whole of Europe. With M.
Lartet we .see in the obsidian lances of New Caledonia, the
Hint heads of the lower alluvium of the Sommo ; the hatchet
of certain Australians reminds us, Jis it diil Sir Chaih-s Lyell,
of the Aljbeville hatchet. It is with the latter and with the
I'osjesmans, that I should be tempted to connect the Nean-
derthal man and his fellows, J^ike them, he seems to have
most freipicntly led a wandering life. But few of his
dwellings, ur places of meeting, are known to us, such jus
the Naul< tie cavern. Nothing seeujs to indicate that he
had places of burial such as we find later. Everything tends
to show, moreover, that he lived entirely .'is a hunter, and
there is nc»thing to justify us in supposing that he was
anpuiintcd with ngiiculture, which is carried to sucli a
remarkable pitch by certain Melancsian negroes.
The Canstadt Race. 307
IV. Judging from the geulogical ili.stribution of the rcmiiins
wliith have been met with up to the present time, tlie Can-
stadt race during the quaternary period principally occupied
the basins of the Seine and \\w. Rhine, and extended perhaps
as far as Stiingenius in the Buhusliin ; certainly as far as the
Olnio in central Italy; as Brux in Bohemia; as the Pyrenees
in France, and probably as far as (Jiltraltar.
This race is not restricted in point of geological time. The
attention roused by the strange characters of the Neanderthal
cranium w;u< the means of instituting widespread investiga-
tions, which have rapidly drawn this specimen from the
isolation in which, at first, it seemed to be placed. B. Davis,
Bii.sk, Turner, King, Carter Blake, Pruner Bey, Vogt, Huxley
and Hamy have been particularly .successful in these inves-
tigations, and have brought to light relations which are now
generally adopted.
The result obtained from all these labours is that the Can-
stadt type, sometimes remarkably pure, and sometimes again
more or less modified by crossings, is found in the dolmens
and in the cemeteries of the Gallo-Roman period, in those of
the Middle Ages, and in modern tombs from Scandinavia to
Spain, from Portugal to Italy, and from Scotland and Ireland
to the valley of the Daiudje, in the Crimea at Minsk, and as
far as Orenbourg in Ru.ssia. This area of habitation com-
prises, we see, the entire space of time which has elapsed
from the quaternary |)eriod to the present day, and the whole
of Europe.
The remark luus w ith justice been made l»y M. Hamy, that
there probably exist in India, in the midst of populations
driven back by the Aryan inviusion, representatives of the
Neanderthal type. Nevertheles.s, to find them with any
degree of certainty, we must go as far as Australia. Our
investigations have on this point confirmed those of Huxley.
Among the races t)f this groat island there is one, distri-
buted particularly in the province of Victoria, in the neigh-
bourh^xxl of Port Western, which icpnuluces in a remarkable
manner the characters of the Canstadt race.
3o8 The JIunian Species,
Filially, the Canstadt race has had representatives in
America also. One of the drawings published by MM.
Lacerta and Peixoto leaves no room for doubt on this point.
It represents almost the whole of the upper part of a cranial
vault found in the province of Ceara, the resemblance of
which with that of Eguisheim is very striking. Unfortu-
nately, the Brazilian naturalists say nothing about the situa-
tion of this precious fragment at the moment of its discovery,
and we do not know whether the cranium in question is a
fossil or whether it belongs to the present epoch.
V. All these fact.s, which I have been obliged to sum up
in a few lines, raise an important problem, and lead to an
interesting conclusion.
Are we, in the first place, justified in connecting etlino-
logically the crania of a more or le.ss Neanderthal typo,
discovered in the Antipodes as well as in Europe, with the
races, the remains of which have been preserved by the
quaternary alluvium ? Is not thf reproduction of this typo
purely accidental ? Do not the most ancient crania owe
their remarkable characters to .some pathological condition,
to a simple deviation from the normal development, and
particularly to a }»rciM:ilure union of the bones of the
cranium ?
The.sc several opinions liavc been maintaineil, and the
latter in particnlur has had adiiircnts. It rests principally
upon the condition of the ossified sutures of the Neandiitlial
cranium. But these same sutures may be ob.served in the
Canstadt cranium. M. Sauvage found in the almost infantine
frontal bone of La l)enise all the Ni-anderthal characters,
although the medio-frontal suture as yet only existed in
part. It is entirely open in the cranium of the young man,
di.»*covered in a I'oitou tumulus, de.sciibtcl by M. I'runer
Btty, and which it is impo.ssibh; not to connect with the
preceding.
Tims we cannot .'ittiibnte to the pi iin.if ore ossification of
the sutures, the form of the crania of the men f)f Canstadt.
For a nuicl stronger reason, the cleailv maiked characters
The Canstadt Race. 309
of tlic forcliead ami face which rciiKiiii cannot support this
thuorv, and wc must allow that tlio whole constitutes a true
ethiiiciil typo.
Since wo meet with this type disseminated througli time
and spact', always fimdamentally the same, antl sometimes
reappeaiinj^ in all its primitive purity, we are forced to
choose between the two following interpretations ; wc have
here either an ejuniple of tituv'c^m, the importance of which
is attested by its generality : or else the reproduction <^f
these exceptional forms, in the midst of the most varied
lK>puIiitlo)is and under the most different conditions of life,
is ilue lo mere chance.
The laws which govern the formation and maintenance of
animal and vegetable races, and from which man cannot
escape, do not allow the admission of the latter conclusion.
This is why M. Hamy and I have regarded the Canstadt
race as one of the elements of modern populationa In
I'Airope it has blended with succeeding races, but asserts its
past existence by the marks which it imi^resses, even at the
present day, upon some rare individuals. In Australia,
|)erhaps, it has some direct descendants in the tribes of
North Western.
VI. The epithets hruttd and simian, too often applied to
the Neandrrthal cranium, anil to those which resemble it,
the conjectures made with regard to the individual to whom
they belonged, might lead us to think that a certain moral
and intellectual inferiority was naturally connected with this
form of cranium. It can ciusily bo shown that this conclusion
rests upon a most worthless foundation.
At the Paris Congress, M. Vogt quoted the examjtle of one
of his friends, Dr. Emmayer, whose cranium exactly recalls
that of Neanderthal, and who is nevertheless a highly distin-
uMiished lunacy doctor, In passing through the Copenhagen
Museum, I was struck by the Neanderthal characters
presented by one of the crania in the collection ; it proved to
be that of Kay Lykkc, a Danish gentleman, who played some
part in the political alVairs of the 17th century. M.Godron
3IO Tlic llunian Species.
has puLlislitHj the diawiiiu: of the .skull of Saint Mansuy,
Bishop of Toul in the 4lh century, and this head even
exaggerates some of the most striking features of the Nean-
derthal cranium. The fmihcad is still more receding, tlie
vaidt more depre.s.sed, and the head so long that the cephalic
index is GO-il. Lastly the skull of Bruce, the Scotch liero,
is also a reproduction of the Canstadt type.
In presence of these facl.s, we must assuredly acknow-
led<'-e that even the individual whose remains were found in
the Neanih-rtlial cave was capaLle of possessing all the moral
and intellectual qualities compatible with his inferior social
condition.
CIlArTKIl XXVII.
Tilt: CRO-MAGNON RACE.
I. In the year IS.IS, in tlic valley of the Voz6rc, near to
tiic village of Les Eyzics, which had already been rendered
famous by the investigations of the elder M. Lartet and
Christy, the workmen brought to light in the rock-shelter of
Cro-Magnon the bones of three men, a woman and a child,
which liave been preserved to science by MM. Berton-
Meyron and Dclmarcs. M. Louis Lartet, to whom the study
of the deposit had been entrusted, determined their geologi-
cal age ; MM. Broca and Pruner Bey described them with
all the precision which we should expect from their know-
ledge of the subject, and the discussions which arose between
these two eminent antliropologists, brought the essential
points still more strongly forward. The Cro-Magnon bones
thus became classic almost within a day of their discovery ;
and M. Hamy and I could not do better than group around
them the human remains which resemble them. This has
been our reason for choosing the name which we have given
to our second dolichocephalic race.
Like the preceding one, this also has its typical imlividnal
who exaggerates in certain respects the characters of the
race, and thus presents an extreme term of comparison.
The contrast is only the more striking. The only character
common to both the Neanderthal man and the old man of
Cro-Magnon lies in the proportions of the cranium. The
cephalic index, here 73 7(5, differs but very slightly, jus we
see at once from what we have already stated. It tle-
scends, moreover, as low as 70 O.i in a cranium of the same
race found at 8olutre ; it is 70-52 in the famous Engis
3 1 2 The Iliinian Species.
cranium. It was this elongation from the front backwards
which led Schnicrliiig to connect the fossil man which he
iiad just discovered with the Ethiojiian ratlier than with the
European. Tiiis, at least, partly accounts for the theory
Avhich makes the Negro the starting point of our race.
M. Haniy, in connecting the Engis cranium with the Cro-
Magnon type, has added one more fact to those which are at
variance with this doctrine.
In every other respect the Cro-Magnon head and that of
Canstadt are most dissimilar. Instead of a low and retreat-
ng forehead above superciliary ridges which remind us of
the ape, instead of a flatteneil vaiilt like that of the Nean-
derthal skull and its companions, we here find a large fore-
head rising above frontal sinuses but slightly marked, and a
vault presenting the finest proportions. The frontal bone is
remarkably developed from before backward. The fronto-
occipital curve is continued with a striking regularity till
Avithin a short distance above the lambda. It is there bent
so as to form a surface which is prolonged upon the cerebral
]»art of the occipital bone. The cerebral region of the same
bone is carried abruptly downward, and presents numerous
strong impressions of muscular insertions.
This skull, so remarkable for its fine jtroportion, is also
remarkable for its capacity. According to M. Broca, who
could only work under precautions calculati-d to diminish
the amount, it is equal to at least l.>!)0 cubic centimetres
(IKj'D!) cubic inches). I have already remarked that this
ntimbcr is far higher than the mean taken from modern
J'ari.-ians ; it is equally so in oompaiisou with the oihcr
Eurojiean races.
Thus, in the savage of (piaternary ages, who liad to light
against the mammoth with stone weaj)ons for arm.s, we find
all tho.sc craniological characters generally considered as the
sign of great int<llrrt«ial development.
The features of the fare are not less striking than those of
the skull, in the heads which M. rmner ^dn^y calls luir-
vionic, a face elongated from abi»ve downward corresponds to
The Cro-I\Iagnon Race. 313
a skull elongated from beliiiul forward. When there is a
disagreement between these proportions the head is diju-
kaniionic. This latter character is very strongly marked in
the old man of Cro-Magnon. The bizygomatic transverse
diameter accpiires an extent rare even in harmonic brachy-
cephali. In Ids case the facial index descends as low as G3.
This exaggeration in breadth is present also in all the
upiHjr and medial parts of the face. The orbits, almost recti-
linear at their extremities, are remarkable for their sli<dit
elevation, being on the other hand very long. The orbital
index descends lower than M. I3roca hi\s ever known it to be:
it is only (»1.
But this tendency to breadth does not extend to the
medial regions or to the inferior portion of the face. The
nose, the bones of which are boldly projected forward and
constitute a strongly marked protuberance, is narrow ; from
its index, 4.jO.0, it places the old man of Cro-Magnon amongst
the lepthurhini of M. Broca. The superior maxillary bone is
equally narrowed relatively to the face which it terminates,
and the alveolar arch is projected outward in such a manner
as to produce a very decided prognathism. The inferior
maxillary bone is especially remarkable for the breadth of its
ascending branches which, according to the investigation of
M. Broca, surpass in this respect all other known human
jaw-bones. The breadth in (piestion is 41) m.m. (lOo inch).
Far from being obliterated and retreating, as in the Canstadt
race, the slightly triangular chin projects forwards.
The cej)halic characters of the ol«l man of Cro-Magnon arc
to be found more or less strongly marked iu all the men of
the same race. They are generally modified in the women.
Thus, even in that sj)ecimen, the head of which, unfortunately
incomplete, was discovered not far from that of the old man,
wc see the beautiful lines of the skull preserved, and the
forehead even rising a little higher still. But the posterior
Burface is less pronounced, the dysharmouy is less strong
between the skull and the face. The latter is relatively
longer, the orbits arc higher, the nose is broader, and the
314 ^/^^' I/lOli^'i S/>i'cic-S.
.prognatliisiu is inoJiticd. We cannot, however, deny the
ethnical rehitiun of the two heads which were fuund together,
and which thus constitute definite terms of comparison for
the two sexes.
The Cro-Magnon race was tall. The mean height deduced
from the measurements taken by M. Hamy upon a skeleton
and the isolated bones of five men is ITS m. (5 feet 10 inches.
With the old man of Cro-Magnon it was about 182 m. (5
feet 110 inches), and with the Mentone man, whose skeleton
was found by M. Riviere entire and hi situ, it was as much
iis 1S.5 m. (0 feet ()-8 inches). The Cro-Magnon woman
measured IGG m. (5 feet 5 3 inches). These bones and all
those which have been connected with them, moreover, give
indications of a remarkably strong race. They are thick
and solid. In all cases the nuiscvdar impressions are very
strongly marked. In the old man of Cro-^NIagnon the fenuirs
are also the broadest and thickest that M. Broca has ever
measured, as we have already ninarked. The linea aspera
is also of an unusual breadth and thi< knr^s aiid \\<i\n^ a si)rt
of prutninent column or buttress.
Finallv, in the Cro-Magnon men, a line opi n funluad, a
large, narrow, and acjuiline nose, must have compi'Usated
for any strangeness which the face may have ac(]uir(-(l fp-m
the probable smallness of the eyes, from very strong mas-
setcr.H, and from a slightly lozenge- shaped contour. With
tlicse features, the type of which is in no way disagreeable,
ami allows of real beauty, this magniticmt race combined
a high stature, powerful mu.scles, and an athletic constitu-
tion. It seems to liavc been fitted in cviiy way for
.struggling against the tlilTiculties and perils of savage life.
Jl. We have already seen that the Cro-Magnon race was
diHCOVcred inun(-<l lately above that of Canstadt in thr a!hi-
vial d((»osits of (Innclle. It is therefore very old. and was
conteni|)orary with the great mammals, now either extinct
or emigrated. M(jro Hociable, doubtless, and more nettled
than the preeeding race, it inhabited caverns where it left
numerous specimens of its handiwork ; it buried its dead
The Ti'oglodylcs of iJic V&d-re. 3 1 5
under the shelters where they arc now found. A great
nuinher of enjinent investigators have explored these sclent ijic
(juai'ries. I cannot enumerate them all here, but there is
one name, the omission of which would be unpardonable,
that, namely, of Edouard Lartct. It is well known with what
persevering intelligence, sometimes alone, sometimes accom-
panied by his friend Christy, this man, as modest as he is
learned, luis explored these caves, what treasures he has
obtained from them, and the prude«ce and sagacity wliich
he showed in the interpretation of liis splendid discoveries,
and only justice was done to him in awarding him the title
of Jouiulcr of human jxdccontolor/i/.
Thanks to him, and to those who have followed in his
>teps, we possess the essential elements of a history of the
C'ro-]SIagnon race. Almost without leaving this valley of the
Vezere, the name of which stands so high in anthropology,
we can, as M. Broca has done, follow it step by step. In
fact, from the village of Les Eyzies to the rock-shelter of
Moustier, within a distance of from seven to eight miles we
meet with no less than eight human settlements, all of which
have become more or less celebrated from the different
records which they have furnished. They are the Mon.sticr
ravem, the Mouaticv shelter, the shelter of La Madeleine,
the Cro-M(if/)ion shelter and burial-place, the Ldnrfpric-Htuiie
.'helter, the Lnu(jeric-B((^sse shelter, the Cioiye (T Eiifrr caxcru,
and the Les Eyzies cavern.
The most ancient, that of Moustier, is connected by its
fauna with the lower alluvium (bas niveaux) of (Jrenelle, and
dates at least from the close of the age of the bear ; that of
\a Madeleine cannot be placed much before the present
t'poch. Between these two extremes are ranged the other
six, and altogether they mark out, so to speak, the two last
periods of the quat«'rnary ages. Yet to obtain a clear idea of
the social and intidlectual development of the race, to learn
liow fer it complied with the modifications of the climate,
and what progress or what decadence these modifications
imposed upon it, wc must consult the evidences which
3i6 llic Iluniaii Species
it has left in many other locahties, and esiKcially in the
caves and shelters of Bruniquel, in the burial-places of
Solutre, in the caves of.Gourdan, Duruty, ami of L'Homme-
Mort, etc.
The men wlio fn-iiuentcd the Muu.slicr cavern do not seem
to have been much superior to the Canstadt race, witii wluch
they were perhaps associated, and -whose industries they
closely imitated. Their conditions of existence were almost
identical with those of the preceding age. They lived
ainon"- the irrcat mammals which served them for food.
The horse and the aunjchs were the general objects of their
.sport. But they fed upon the mammoth, the bear, and even
the lion and the cave liyaMia. To meet .such enemies as
the.se they employed a species of spear-head and small huice,
smooth upon one side, cut upon the other, and sharp at the
edges, constituting umloubtedly a formidable weapon. This
special f«Mni characterises the Mou.slirr (t//u' of M. ile Mor-
tillet. The hunters (»f this epoch cut their arrows upon the
.«amc model, but rarely made use of them ; they seem to
have despised birds and small game ; the other iuiplements
remained almost the same as in the preceding age.
At Cro-Magnon, the progress is evident. Our fine old
man and his companions had arms and implements of flint,
which were more numerous, more varied and less massive.
To judge from the remains of their kitchen, they must have
ni;ide frcipient use of the bow, to obtain birds and .suiall
iii:immal.s, while they still attacked large aniiuais, and
especially the horse, with the lance, spcar-lieail, :ni<l i»erh;ips
the dagger.
At Latigerie-llaute, on the Vt^zerc, at Solutre, in the
Mj'iconnais, and other contemporary settlements, the cutting
of the flints reached a degree of perfection which was truly
marvellous. Sometimes undoubtedly old types reappeared
side by side with forms niodified by intelligent e.xjjeriencc,
and by [»crfected workiuan.ship. Still the predominance of
the latter is so nuirkcd, that it tlistinctly characteri.ses this
epoch. The points of the lances and javelins are tapered off
Till' Cro-Magnon Race — ludushy. 317
more or less in the shape of a wahiut, hiurtl, or plantaii) kaf.
They arc very pointed, and become perfectly symmetrical.
The arrowheads are the object of most particular care. M. de
I'erry has very well shown tiiat the i,n'neral form, the weight,
the angle, etc., were calculated in such a manner as to be
adapted to the different distances of flight, to the necessities of
the chase. All these tools, finely cut upon both sides, ])rcsent,
moreover, a much more remarkable finish than what we meet
with in any of the otlier implements. They were worthy
of being taken for one of the terms of compari.son admitted
by M. de Mortillet, and constitute his Soladr ifjpr.
Essentially hunters, and certainly warriors, the men of
this period bestowed tlu-ir chief attention upon their arms.
They probably felt a certain pride in possessing the finest or
the best cut weapons ; but the relative indiflferencc which
they betrayed in the matter of other objects, shows us that
their chief aim in the finish of their work was to make their
weapons more terrible by increasing their power of penetra-
tion. Several fragments of bone, discovered in places remote
from each other, and belonging to several periods, prove that
these weapons of flint, handled by .strong hand.s, left nothing
to be desired in this respect. I shall only mention the verte-
bra of a reindeer, whieh had been pierced through by a lance
or a javelin, and a human tibia, through the head of which an
arrow lias passed near to the kneepan. In both ca.ses tho
broken flint has remained, testifying to the good quality of
the weapon and to the strength with which it was used.
At the time of the deposition of the upper river gravely
and when the i^redominance of the reindeer was most marked,
the industry of the men of Cro-Magnon underwent a sudden
change. Till then flint, and, in its ab.sence, other hard
stones, had furni.shed both the implement and the in.strument
formed by the aid of the former. Doubtless from the
earliest times, bones and the antlers of the stag or reindeer,
had been \ised from time to time ; but they only played au
almost insignificant part in the mamifacture of tools or
weapons. During the epoch of which we are speaking, they
3i8 The Iluinan Species.
acquired a giowini:^ importance, and soon furnished almost
the only material for weapons. Flint was now only used
to make the implements, and these, on the other hand, became
more numerous, and fitted for the most varied uses. It was
with Hints that the troglodytes of Les Eyzies, of Laugerie-
Basse, of La Madeleine, and a great number of other settle-
ments, sawed and carved their reindeer antlers to make
strong harpoons, which were barbed on one side only. It