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DESCEIPTIONS OF CEANIA.
The skull now to be described, restored from the fragments to which it had been reduced,
is in the collection of the writer. It is less perfect than those hitherto figured in these pages.
The right malar and part of the maxUlary bones being wanting, the deficiency, in the lithographic
plate, has been supplied from the corresponding bones of the left side. The skiül is that of a
man about forty-five years of age; the sutures are distinct, esceiiting the sagittal, which on its
inner surface is nearly obliterated. The thickest portions of the frontal and paa-ietal bones
measure from three to four-tenths of an inch. The form is dolichocephalic, inclining to the
regiüar ovoid. The vertex is without marked elevation or breadth; the forehead narrow and
poorly developed; the parietal region narrow and only moderately prominent at the tubers.
The occipital bone is neither full nor large, and its bony spines for the attachment of muscles,
but moderately marked. The temporal fossce are small; the mastoid process small and pointed;
the external auditory foramen in the centre of the skull. The frontal sinuses and superciliary
ridges are not prominent. The small nasal bones project abruptly. The orbits are small, the
malar bone not prominent; the upper maxillary bones of less than average size, excepting the
alveolar processes, which, though somewhat short, are thick and broad for the support of the
lai'ge teeth : the incisors overhang those of the lower jaw. The bony palate is broad and deep
behind, but shallow in the front, which has a well-arched form, the fangs of the canines not
projecting externally, so as to give that angularity and animal character seen in many ancient
British crania. The lower jaw, of medium size, is thick and heavy, measuring three-fourths of
an inch in the thickest part; the ascending ramus is moderately broad, but rather short; the
chin is well-marked by a defined arched triangular base. All the teeth are in place, excepting
the upper third molars, which seem never to have been developed, and the right upper second
incisor, which has been lost during life. The cro^mas of all are much reduced by attrition.
MEASUREMENTS.
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Horizontal circumference . 20-8 inches. Occipital Region.--Length . 5-1 inches.
Longitudinal diameter . . . 7-7 „ Breadth . • 5-6 „
Erontal Region.—Length • 5-2 „ Height . • 4-3 „
Breadth . 4-8 „ Intermastoid arch 16-2 „
Height • 5-0 „ Internal capacity . 77 ounces.
Parietal Region.—Length . 5-7 „ Eace—Length 4-6 inches.
Breadth • 5'0 „ Breadth ?
Height . • 51 „
In its lengthened oval form, this skuU decidedly approximates to that of others from the
chambered barrows at Uley and Stoney Littleton. The long stone barrow of Littleton Drew,
though containing cists and not chambers, has many features like those of Stoney Littleton and
Uley, and may with probability be ascribed to the same period and people. The correspondence
of cranial form cannot be overlooked. It is not necessary to admit the existence of any pro-
Celtic race, as the skiJls described may be those of Gaelic, as distinguished from Cymric, Celts ;
or the long-headed builders of these long, chambered, stone barrows may have been an intrusive
people, who entered Britain from the south-west. Can they have been some ancient Iberian or
Ibero-Phcenician settlers ? As yet, conjectures are all we can offer on this interesting question.
(J. T.)
24. (4)
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