Problems relating to the teeth of the earlier forms of prehistoric man / by Arthur Keith.

  • Keith, Arthur, Sir, 1866-1955.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Problems relating to the teeth of the earlier forms of prehistoric man / by Arthur Keith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    When, however, we look at the teeth of Galley Hill man we must admit that they are really more primitive or simian than even the teeth of Neanderthal man. In fig. 5 four molars are represented, amongst them, B, the second left lower molar of the Galley Hill mandible. The roots are short and not widely separated; the crown and body are above the alveolar border. On one side of the drawing (B) is placed the chimpanzee’s second lower molar (C); on the other side the corresponding tooth from a modern English jaw. The second left molar from the Brelade dentition is also shown (D). It will be seen that the least simian—taking the chimpanzee’s molar as our type—is the Brelade or Neanderthal tooth ; the Brelade tooth is the most specialized or taurodont. The tooth of Galley Hill man in this respect is more positive or simian than that of Neanderthal man; there is nothing in its form which precludes us from attributing to it the antiquity suggested Fig. 5. The second left lower molar of modem English jaw (A) ; Galley Hill (B); Chimpanzee (C); Neanderthal (D). (Natural size.) by the site in which the Galley Hill skeleton was discovered. The teeth of many examples of Pleistocene man of the modern type have short roots. As no minute description has been given of the Galley Hill teeth, the drawing represented to scale in fig. 6 may be welcome. Only one half of the mandible was found, with the premolar and molar teeth in situ. As in modern teeth there is a slight increase in taurodontism as one proceeds from the first to the last molar. There are five cusps on the crown of each of the lower molars. The length or medio-distal diameter of the crown of all three is approximately equal, 11 mm., the middle tooth being slightly the smaller, the labio-lingual diameter of the crown is slightly less than the medio-distal diameter, 10*5 mm. ; whereas in Neanderthal man the width is usually greater than the