Chancelade skeleton

Chancelade skeleton, fossil remains of a human (genus Homo) discovered in 1888 in a rock shelter at Chancelade, southwestern France. The 17,000-year-old skeleton was found in a curled posture—an indication of a deliberate burial—below the floor of the shelter. The Chancelade skull was studied by the French anatomist Jean-Léo Testut, who declared it to be of Eskimo type and established it as the type specimen of a supposed “Chancelade race.” Although its Eskimo affinities were long accepted by many paleoanthropologists, later experts have generally agreed that the Chancelade skull is Cro-Magnon. The Cro-Magnons were early modern humans (Homo sapiens) who occupied Europe after the Neanderthals from about 40,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago. Although broadly similar to modern humans, Cro-Magnons differed from contemporary populations in having larger browridges, wider faces, and larger skulls. Most researchers agree that the physical characteristics shown by modern humans are of more recent origin and certainly postdate the Chancelade specimen.