Page:A Short History of the World.djvu/70

 50 A Short History of The World characteristics between the Neanderthaler and the human being. The brain-case indicates a brain bigger in front and smaller behind than the Neanderthaler's, and the skull was poised erect upon the backbone in a quite human way. The teeth also and the bones are quite human. But the face must have been ape-like with enormous brow ridges and a ridge along the middle of the skull. The creature was indeed a true man, so to speak, with an ape-Uke, Neanderthaler face. This Rhodesian Man is evidently still closer to real men than the Neanderthal Man. This Rhodesian skull is probably only the second of what in the end may prove to be a long list of finds of sub-human species which lived on the Earth in the vast interval of time between the begin- nings of the ice age and the appearance of their common heir, and perhaps their common exterminator, the True Man. The Rhodesian skull itself may not be very ancient. Up to the time of pubhshing this book there has been no exact determination of its probable age. It may be that this sub-human creature survived in South Africa imtU quite recent times.