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38
ancestor of man, turoed out to
be
quite modero in appearance.
Evolution in Reverse
The more Neanderthal bones that
have been discovered, th e more
confused the evolutionary picture has
become.
Anthropologist Frank
C.
Hibben
explained it this way. "l t would seem
that the Neanderthaloids became more
distinctively Neanderthaloid as they
progressed rather than less so." In fact
a number of Neanderthal skeletons said
to
be
younger,
"seemed to be more
primitive looking than the earlier ones"
(Frank
C.
Hibben,
PrehiJtoric Man i1z
Europe,
Norman: University of Okla–
homa Press, 1958, page 33).
Anthropologists were confused. Sorne
speculated that Neanderthal Man was a
dead-end line of human evolution, that
he became "more primitive" as he
evolved.
More crucial was the problem of
Neanderthal Man's
Sfldden
appearance
and
orsappearance.
This carne as quite a
shock to prehistorians. As the evidence
began to accumu l ate, there was
NO neat blending from Neanderthal
Man to modero man. Could it be
that Neanderthal Man was NO "missing
link"?
"Neanderthal man ... abruptly dis–
appeared," says anthropologist F. Clark
Howell, "the evolutionary [were they
really ?] tendencies that he exhibited
during this period are extremely puz–
zling. For he seems to have gotten more
'primitive,' not less so .... He was
noticeably different from modero man
and became more so as time went
on....
"In addition to stopping abruptly,
the classic Neanderthaler is replaced
with equal abruptness by people like
ourselves. There
is
NO BLENDJNG, no
gradual shading from one type to the
other" (F. Clark Howell,
Eariy Man,
New York: T!ME-LIFE Books, 1968,
page
126).
No wonder the experts eliminated
Neanderthal Man as a direct link from
the supposed chain leading to modero
man.
Then wbat about "modero" man?
WJ:oat..
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m~
lr.r..>4'll
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The
PLAIN TRUTH
More Information - More
Confusion
Darwin claimed the record of bones
was incomplete. He assumed that his
theory would be vindicated as more evi–
dence was unearthed. But the
opposite
has happened
!
More evidence has led to more con–
fusion.
If
you are puzzled by this
enigma, so are the experts
!
Anthropologist William Howells, a
past president of the American Anthro–
pological Association, discussed this
very problem.
"We now enter the whole question
of the origins of
Homo sapiens
(mod–
ero man].
"lt is the worst problem in our evoltt–
tio1l.
Of cotuse we have gaps to face,
but here it is NOT a question of lack
of
f
ossils. . . . Yet the problem obstinately
remains unsolved.
"Who are we - us, ourselves - and
what have we to do with Neanderthals ?
What are the connections of the two
kinds of man? Here the aothropologists
divide" (William Howells,
Ma11kind
in
the Making,
New York: Doubleday,
1967, page
215).
This brings
us
to the second category
of discoveries. Discoveries of bones
which look exactly like modern men.
Such fossils are labelled Cro-Magnon
Man - a generic term for the first
dearly recognized examples of what
anthropologists call full-fledged
H omo
sapiens
-
humans like you and me.
Sorne anthropologists see no really
pertinent difference between the Cro–
Magnon Man and Neanderthal Man.
One should remember that Neanderthal
Man was MAN in the ftrllest sense of
the word.
In any case, the .first Cro-Magnon
Men to be recognized were discovered in
the spring of
1868.
This was just oine
years AFTER the publication of Darwin's
The Origi11
of
SpecieJ.
Earth was being removed to make
way for a railroad in Perigord, France
.that was to run through Les Eyzies-de–
Tayac. Five skeletons and sorne bits of
foetal and infant bones were taken from
the rock shelter which was exposed.
These bones revealed a man fulLy
"modero" in the European sense -
tall, h.ands.ome.,
t!'-@lliu:.
(eatur.r.s., biSJ:P.
June-July, 1970
forehead, prominent chin, small teeth,
thin skull, without heavy brow ridges
characteristic of Classic Neanderthal
Man.
Since then numerous remains of Cro–
Magnons have been found throughout
Europe from southern England to Rus–
sia. France, especially,
is
rich in his
remains.
What is the status of Cro-Magnon
Man's evolutionary history? Is he
linked to older, more primitive "meo"
or "near-men"?
Can we really iiud a connection
for modern-appearing Cro-Magnon Man
with sorne more primitive being?
The answer, admit prehistorians, is
"No."
No Connecting Links
Here is what experts say of Cro–
Magnon Man: "Justas we might actually
be finding sorne of the connections to
which the threads of evideoce seem to
be leading, we are frustrated. The
evidence itself disappears ... we have
only Neanderthals... .
"Beyond and befare this Neanderthal
occupation we drop off to a still
POORER LEVEL of ioformation. The
human remains are few and piecemeal,
and therefore quite incompetent to
answer most of the problems they raise.
"And the main one is still the birth
of
Homo sapiens."
(William HoweUs,
Mankind
in
!he Making,
New York:
Doubleday, 1967, pages 343, 344.)
It is, of course, always assumed the
evidence will be found. But will it? We
have come well past one hundred years
after the publicati.on of
The Origin
of
Species.
But further finds of Neande.t:thal
Man have confused the picture. Neither
has an ancestor -
a
"missing link" -
been found for Cro-Magnon or modero
roan.
Has Modero Mao Evolved?
Modero man feels that he has come a
long way mentally since the "cave mao"
days. At least, this is the popular
conception.
But has the human brain really
evolved?
With Cro-Magnon Man we have
somethiog whrch CAN show just how
intelligent he rea!ly was. We have his
ar.t. . 'th.oJ>e who have studied it are