(Anthropol.) Of, pertaining to, or named from, the Neanderthal, a valley in the Rhine Province, in which were found parts of a skeleton of an early type of man. The skull is characterized by extreme dolichocephaly, flat, retreating forehead, with closed frontal sutures, and enormous superciliary ridges. The cranial capacity is estimated at about 1,220 cubic centimeters, being about midway between that of the Pithecanthropus and modern man. Hence, Pertaining to or designating the, or, a species of extinct robust humans, believed to have been widespread in the Middle Paleolithic in Europe and western Asia; as, a Neanderthal skull.
