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DESCRIPTIONS OF CEANIA.
the skulls have been kindly sent for examination to the writer ; two are from the barrow at
Ulwell, and two from one of those on Ballard Down,—one in each instance being fr-om the upper
level, and one from the bottom of the cist. They are mostly fragmentary and defective ; but the
two from the cists are strongly marked examples of the Ancient British skull, though inclining,
as would appear, to the doUchocephalic type*. They have the protuberant brows and immensely
deep and angular jaws so characteristic of ancient British crania. The teeth, like those in the
British series generally, are large ; and, in the great size of the crowns of the molars, and the
separate, rather than connate, implantation of their fangs, they approach the Australian character
of dentition, as described by Professor Owen, rather than that of the modern European t- The
skull from the upper level of the UlweU barrow is remarkable for its great breadth and size, and
was at fli-st supposed to be Anglo-Saxon. It has, however, a very protuberant glabella, and is
probably an aberrant form of the British cranium. The skuU from the upper level of the barrow
on BaUai-d Down is that figured in our Plate, and, notwithstanding its being derived from a
skeleton described as stretched at length, is doubtless Ancient British.
Before proceeding with its description, we must refer somewhat more particularly to the two
barrows on Ballard Down, from one of which this skull was obtained. This down slopes away
to Ballard Head, which forms the northern boundai-y of Swanage Bay. Here, just above " Punfield,"
are two bowl-shaped barrows each about 3 feet in height. In that nearest to the east, in
a large cist 3 feet deep in the chalk-rock, was the skeleton of a young man in a flexed position,
and with the head towards the east. "With it were the broken remains of a large um, and
two oyster shells. At the edge of the cist, on the natural level, was the skeleton of an infant.
Beneath the other barrow, was a cist 5 feet deep, containing the skeleton of a man of more than
middle age, lying on the left side, with the head to the north and face to the east. The
hands rested on the knees, which were so tightly gathered up, that the entire skeleton occupied
a space less than 8 feet in length, and only 16 inches in width J. The thigh-bone measured 18
inches. The skull, one of those already referred to as of dolichocephalic type, is evidently that of
a powerful man—the forehead narrow, nose'promiuent, superior occipital ridge strongly developed.
In the cist were several pieces of the antler of a stag, one of which bore marks of a cutting-tool.
No other relics were observed ; but above the cist, about the natural level, was the skeleton of a
youth lying on the back with the feet to the east, and the heels touching each other. The
time of Caisar, were immolated over the grayes of their chiefs.
It is not impossible that in some of the Purheck barrows the
less-deeply buried skeletons were those of slaTes, perhaps of
Belgic race, hereditary enemies of the Dnrotriges, taken, it may
be, in battle (B. Q. lib. t . c. II. " continentia bella "), or in
a sudden foray, or even kidnapped from the territory beyond
the Frome and Piddle, in order to be sacrificed over the grave
of some Purbeek chief.
* Of the skull from the principal skeleton at the bottom of
the barrow at Creech, Mr. Austen observes that it " closely
resembled, in its great length from the forehead to the back,
those figured in the ' Crania Britannica' as 'Ancient British'."
Mr. Austen probably here refers to such dolichocephalic skulls
aa those from Uley and West Kennet (C. B.pls. .5, 60), or at
least to such as that from Arras (PI. 6).
t Odontography, 1845, pp. 452, 454, pis. 118, 119.
I This exaggeratedly curved position must be due to some
forcible binding of the knees up towards the neck, as is still
45.
practised on the dead in Australia. In three or four instances,
Mr. Austen has observed (Purbeek Papers, pp. I l l , 160, 162)
a peculiar displacement inwards of two or three of the lumbar
or lower dorsal vertebrse, the rest remaining in a gradual
curve. He thinks this is the result of an intentional breaking
of the^back after death, and supports this opinion by the
existence, as reported by travellers, of such a custom among
certain West-African and Australian tribes. Such is the complexity
and strength of the vertebral articulations, that, as the
surgeon knows, a dislocation is rarely possible without a fracture
of one or more of the bones themselves ; and, as no fracture is
recorded by Mr. Austen, the view he suggests, curious as it is,
must for the present be regarded as subjjidiee. On the whole,
it appears equally or more probable that the displacement is
posthumous, and has been produced at the time of decay by
the elasticity of the powerful hgaments acting most on those
vertebrse which, from the contracted position of the skeleton,
were in the state of greatest tension.
(4)
ANCIENT BRITISH—BALLARD DOWN, DORSET.
skeleton was about 4 feet in length, the skull, that figured in the Plate, being almost precisely in
the centre of the barrow; the thigh-bone is reported to have measured 11^ inches, but this was
probably exclusive of the epiphyses.
The SkuU IS that of a boy of about fourteen years, being the most youthful specimen we have
had to figure. Twenty-eight teeth were in place at death, the rudimentary third molars beindeeply
buried in theii- alveoli. The teeth, especiaUy the incisors and true molars, are very large •
the crowns are slightly eroded, with the exception of those of the second molars, which cannot
have been long protruded, and are quite intact. The basilar process of the occipital is separated
from the sphenoid by a distinct interval. There is a large foramen magnum. Turning to the
face, we observe a full and prominent glabeUa : the nasals, remarkably weU preserved, are prominent,
and spread over a wide nasal aperture. The upper jaw is very much produced, showing
an mcipient grade of prognathism. The lower jaw retains the youthfrd characters of shallowness
and shght angularity of the ascending ramus, which, however, is moderately wide : the jaw was
no doubt destined, had life been prolonged, to attain that square and massive form which our
researches show was so general in the adult Ancient Briton, and which is seen in many savage
races, as the Australian, at this day *. ^ o
MEASUREMENTS.
Horizontal circumference . 19-8 inches.
Longitudinal diameter . . . 6-8
Frontal Region.—Length . 4-8 3>
Breadth . . 4-8 S)
Height . 4-6 51
Parietal Region.—Length . . 4-7 »)
Breadth . . 5-6
Height . . 4-7 ))
é'O inches.
5-0 „
3-6 .,
Occipital Region.—Length .
Breadth .
Height .
Intermastoid arch i4,-8
Internal capacity 69 ounces.
Face.—Length 4.4 inopes.
Breadth
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The skull IS extremely brachycephalic, being 6-8 inches in length, by 5-6 inches in breadth
The parietal protuberances are moderately full; the temporal, mastoid, and lower occipital
regions fall and prominent. The skull is valuable as showing so well-marked a short and broad
form of head before the age of puberty : with the advance of life this peeuliai-ity of form nii-ht
in part have been lost. It affords, likewise, tolerably clear evidence that this form, if not always
produced, was at least liable to be exaggerated, by an artificial flattening of the occiput such
as IS practised by many American and Polynesian tribes. The form of our specimen very closely
corresponds with that of one fr-equently figured, viz. the celebrated skull from the tumulus in the
Scioto Valley, Ohio t, as well as with that of many Peruvian skulls, given by Morton {. This
* A late writer on the Australians of Victoria, Mr. W. E.
Stanbridge, attributes " their large teeth and the squareness of
thejaw to their continually tearing food with the teeth * * * as
boys who have Uved almost entirely with white people have not
that squareness of jaw."—Trans. Ethnol. Soc. of Loudon,
1861, N. S. vol. i. p. 287.
45.
t Squier and Davis, "Ancient Monuments of Mississippi
Valley," pi. xlvii, xlviii.
t "Crania Americana," pis. 8, 9, 11, 11 c. The Scioto
Valley skull, and one of these Peruvians from Morton, are
copied by Gosse, " Deformations Artificielles du Crâne," pl. ü.
figs. 4, 5, pp. 67, 129, 152; comp. pl. iii. 4 ; iv. 3 a, 3 b, 8.'
(5)
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