Show Was Has the Missing Link Leak Deere Been Found at Last f operations In northern Rhodesia MINING Africa have recently brought to light not ot some great vein of precious mineral but wh what t may prove of even far greater value greater value especially to the s scientific world a human skull which anthropologists say forms a new link in inthe the pedigree of mankind In fact some go so far faras faras faras as to say It may actually be the tho missing link between the human and the ape This skull of a pre-historic pre being the finding of which has aroused to the highest pitch the tho interest of scientists scientists the world over was unearthed at a depth of 60 feet below water level in the Rhodesia Broken Hill Development Company's mine mino at Broken Hill Northern Rhodesia and has been presented by the proprietors of tho the mine to the British Mu Mu- seum eum t This mine which William E. E Harris describes In The Illustrated London News is at present an open quarry famous for its Bone Cave among geologists and travelers for some years It was wasat was wasat at the foot of this Bone one Cave that the skull and other human bones mentioned were found constituting the only human remains out of the many hundreds of tons of bones that have been removed during mining operations The discovery of this skull is made doubly Interesting when the mine and particularly the 1 Bone Cave itself are considered says Mr Harris Before mining operations commenced there stood spot a kopje or hill 50 60 to 60 feet high with a slight depression in the fhe centre Mining operations have demolished this hill and have excavated to the depth of over 90 feet belowground belowground below belowground ground level le where the hill hUl stood and it was at this depth that the skull was discovered The entrance entrance entrance en en- trance to the Bone Cave was at ground level One of the early prospectors who visited it before before before be be- fore mining operations had commenced has described described described de de- de- de scribed the cave as having been practically filled with debris After one had crawled over this obstruction obstruction ob ob- and stood upon the floor of the cave proper it could be seen that bones of various animals were scattered all around Th The floor was as made of loose debris and fairly dry Thew The w walls and roof were studded with crystalline deposits deposits de de- posits which when lighted up with the rays ofa of ot ota ofa a candle candIe or lamp reflected back the light making a veritable fairy cavern while bats and owls disturbed disturbed disturbed dis dis- by the unaccustomed lights flew round much to the visitors' visitors discomfort Anthropologists have long sought tho the actual remains of an extinct race of men known to have existed at some time in South Africa Primitive bone and stone implements h have have- ve been found in company with scraped and broken animal bones But the wonderful ape ap faced ape faced skull recently unearthed unearthed unearthed un un- un- un has not only proved the existence of this extinct race but gives concrete support to a vital theory put forward by Prof Elliot Smith in 1912 Addressing the British Association he asserted that when practical evidence e was forthcoming it would be found that man attained his erect gait gaitand and full fuU intellectual powers before his face became became became be be- came refined from a bestial like apelike form It is a remarkable fact that the man whose skull has now come to light the age of which can probably be told in hundreds rather than in thousands thousands thousands thou thou- sands of years although possessing the brain voice and upright posture of modern man had the terrifying features of a bull ape I Yet another astonishing revelation is the discovery discovery dis dis- discovery covery by Dr A. A Smith Woodward LL D. D F. F R. R S. S keeper of the geological department South Sooth Kensington Museum that the famous Heidelberg s. s b ba a I The Skull of the African Man Ape Discovered ed in Rhodesia jaw-bone jaw found in Europe approximately fits the Rhodesian skull Moreover it is said to be bo bethe bethe the only known human jaw which will do so sol According to Dr Woodwards Woodward's account of this skull which appears in The Illustrated London News it is in a remarkably fresh state of preservation preservation preservation not at all fossilized and its substance appears appears appears ap- ap pears to differ from modern bone only in the loss of its animal matter The case brain-case writes Dr Woodward is that of a very ordinary man with bone not thicker thick thick- er than that in an average European and of similar structure The size of the brain cavity is not yet determined but is clearly far above the lower human limit When seen in view side-view however the skull has an extraordinary appearance appearance appearance appear appear- ance because the bones of the face are relatively very large and the tho upper edges of the ey sockets eye sockets are inflated into nto immense rounded crests or ridges which obscure the shape of the forehead and give it a retreating contour The skull thus approaches that of a great ape and when seen in front view its large square orbits with their overhanging ridges recall those of a gorilla The skull is indeed human with reminiscences of an like ape ancestor in n its face The bones of the nose are typically human but their arrangement shows that it would be broad and flattened The skull is seen to be much broken on the right side but the oval opening foramen magnum magnum magnum mag mag- num where the spinal cord enters the braincase braincase braincase brain- brain case is is' distinguishable placed as far forward as asin asin asin in modern man This opening makes no approach to the backward position which it occupies in the gorilla and other apes and it shows that the skull would be perfectly poised on an upright trunk Corresponding with the large size of the face the palate is enormous for man It is however however however how how- ever a typically human palate beautifully domed and adapted to perfect speech and bounded bounded bound bound- ed by the hors shoe horses shoe shaped row of large though absolutely human teeth All the teeth are much worn and those of the front of the jaw met their lower opposing teeth edge to edge as in all the early races Only one feature is specially noteworthy note note- worthy worthy the the wisdom tooth is much smaller than the other grinders The whole dentition is remarkable remarkable remarkable re re- re- re as exhibiting much decay from caries and the disease has affected the bone round the tooth-sockets tooth which are partially destroyed in some places So far as I am aware this is the only example of caries in n the teeth of a prehistoric prehistoric prehistoric skull hitherto discovered red The lower jaw unfortunately has not been preserved but the size of the palate and the great space for the temporal temporal tem tem- temporal muscle prove that it its must have been unusually unusually unusually un un- un- un usually large and massive With the Rhodesian skull were found a aI I r r. r I t r is i 7 2 A Restoration of the Same Skull Shown at Left I complete shin bone tibia and the two ends of a thigh bone femur which are in all respects respects' those of an ordinary modern man man to to totally tally different from the corresponding correS bones of the Neanderthal race found in France and Bel Bel- gium If these limb bones really belong to the associated skull the Rhodesian cave man stood perfectly erect like ourselves without the inelegant in inelegant inelegant in- in elegant shoulders and the shuffling gait which must have been habitual in m in Neanderthal man We have already observed that the poise of the skull on the backbone also suggests a normal erect at at- It Itis It-is is for these reasons that Dr Woodward suggests that in making a restoration an ordinary ordinary ordinary nary skeleton nearly six feet tall should be used as a model for the body and limbs of the new race of which scientists have just found the first evidence |