Prehistoric man / by W.L.H. Duckworth.

  • Duckworth, W. L. H. (Wynfrid Laurence Henry), 1870-1956.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Prehistoric man / by W.L.H. Duckworth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/180 (page 10)
    The Heidelberg or Mauer Jaio^. Professor Dubois’Javanese researches were carried out in the years 1891 and 1892. Fifteen years separate the discovery of the PitJm-anthroptis erectus from that of the second great find mentioned in the introductory paragraph of this chapter. This period was by no means barren in respect of other additions to the list of human fossils. But the other results (including even the finds at Taubach) are regarded as of subsidiary importance, so that their considera- tion will be deferred for the present. In 1907 a lower jaw, known now as the Heidelberg or ]Mauer jaw, was discovered by workmen in the sand-pit of Mauer near Heidelberg. The Mauer jaw is indeed a most remarkable specimen. The first general outcome of an inspection of the photographs or of the excellent casts (which may now be seen in many museums)is a profound impression of its enormous strength (Figs. 2,18, and 15 c). By every part of the specimen save one, this impression is con- firmed. This massiveness, together with the complete absence of any prominence at the chin, would have caused great hesitation in regard to the pronouncement of a decision as to the probable nature of the fossil. The one paradoxical feature is the 1‘elatively small size of the teeth. All of these have been preserved, though