3B Scientific Anthropological Skull Model - Steinheim - Manual (Page 2)

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• Homo steinheimensis (Berkhemer 1936)
• Homo sapiens steinheimensis (Campbell 1964)
• Group classification: Pre-Neanderthal (Ante-Neanderthal) possibly archaic Homo sapiens
• Reconstruction based on Berkhemer Skull without lower jaw.
The model was developed from a cast of the replica from the collection of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe
University of Frankfurt am Main, Institute of Anthropology and Human Genetics for Biologists.
The skull was discovered in 1933 in a gravel pit near Steinheim on the Murr in Southern Germany. Bones
of archaic elephants, Merck‘s rhinoceros and a wide-shovelled giant stag were found in the same layers.
On the basis of the attendant fauna it was possible to estimate the origin to be approximately in the upper
Middle Pleistrocene. A later, more accurate determination fixed the data at approximately 250 000 years.
Hence the Steinheim skull can be allocated to the last part of the Middle Riss Interglacial period. It is con-
sequently much older than the classic Neanderthal man and even the Pre-Neanderthal man. On the other
hand it is considerably younger than the Sinanthropus (Homo erectus pekinensis) or even the Heidelberg
man (Homo erctus heidelbergensis).
In the original skull which belonged to an individual of about 25 to 30 years, there are parts missing, for
example parts of the upper jaw with the front teeth and the two zygomatic arches. In addition to this the
left side of the face showed evidence of serious injuries. The right side of the skull seems uninjured, but
may have been shifted somewhat to the left by the pressure of the soil. This made some correction neces-
sary for accurate skull determination and its reconstruction.
Compared to the classic Neanderthal man, and also the Sinanthropus, the skull is very narrow. It is additi-
onally characterized by the fossa canina at the upper jaw below the eye sockets and the deep depression
at the root of the nose. There is only a slight projection in the face (slight proscopiny) and the bones of the
skull are distinctly thinner than those of the classic Neanderthal man. As is the case in the Sinanthropus,
the widest part of the cranium is not between the ears but located much higher. With the overall higher
skull, the marked indentation of the occiput is not evident. Seen from the rear the head seems nearly
square in shape. The mastoid bone at the temporal fossa, however, is extremely small.
Length and width of the skull are 185 mm and 132 mm, respectively, with the cranial capacity being
between 1,100 and 1,200 cm
3 . This suggests a relatively long, rather narrow and altogether delicate skull.
Weinert (1936) believes it to be that of a female, as the “overall diagnosis” seems to indicate. The form of
the forehead, of the eye sockets and the region above the eyes, the region of the glabella and the formati-
on of the ridges above the eyes however, seem to contradict this.
For a long time, the Steinheim Skull was the cornerstone of the so-called “presapiens theory”, which pos-
tulates that anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals developed synchronously in Europe. Although
even today the Steinheim Skull raises many questions due to its bewildering mosaic of modern and
archaic characteristics, the presapiens theory can hardly be upheld in this form any longer. More likely, the
skull can be assigned as a female representative of the group of Homo heidelbergensis finds or the early
Neanderthals.
Steinheim