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DESCRIPTIONS OF CRANIA.
Tlie measurements agree with the conclusion that the skeletons are those of Romans, not
Britons or Saxons, in both of whom we have found the statui-e much greater than that'here
indicated. In two males of mature age (Nos. 4 and 27) the skull had clearly been cleft during life,
probably in battle or in some sudden assault: the gaping edges of the large gash in the frontal
in No. 27—no doubt the death-wound—ai-e very remarkable. In the former skull there is a
depression in the centre of the frontal bone, where the external table is the seat of exfoliation.
The head moreover had been severed from the body, the skuU being found below the knees. In
two other instances decapitated skeletons were exhumed. A separate skull was foimd about six
feet from the headless skeleton No. 9; in the thii-d instance, that of a female (No. 16), the skull
was entirely missing.
The accompanying relics were not numerous, but clearly of the Roman period. In five
cases (Nos. 4, 7, 20, males, No. 25, female, No. 44, chUd), a small brass coin had been placed in
the mouth, no doubt the naultim for the ferryman of Hades. In one (No. 25), foui- of these coins
had been placed between the cheek and the jaws; they were aU smaU thü-d-brass, but could not
be deciphered. They appeared to have been wrapped in a brown felt-like material. In two
instances (No. 4, the decapitated wai-rior, and No. 44, a child of about 7 years) there were at the
feet many roimd-headed nails of military boots, or caligts In grave No. 1 was an ii-on spike;
in Nos. 7 and 9, several large nails, clenched and with wood attached; and in the former a squar^
plate, also of iron, mt h a hole in the centre. With two female skeletons (Nos. 8 and 15), were
double combs of bonef; and near the right shoulder of another (No. 36), a smaU vase of fee red
pottery of rather elegant form.
It is not possible to decide as to the exact period of these interments, or the cü-cumstances
under which they took place. That they were of a people occupying the adjacent stronghold and
its vicinity, and of the late Roman period, can hai-dly be doubted. We incline to assign them to
the 4th or 5th century, when cremation was in great measure superseded by the simple burial
of the dead. The writer is not aware of simüar interments having been found under long low
mounds, though tumuli of like appearance exist on Bathampton and Lansdown Hüls, near Bath,
which are perhaps of the same character. The cemetery was perhaps in use during many years
This seems to be shown by the general regularity of the graves, their varying depth, their
absence from about one-thu-d of the enclosed space, and by the occurrence of what appear to
have been family graves. Mr. Atkins, however, was of opinion that the interments were " made
at one time." If this were so, it must have been owing to some special cause of mortality.
Marks on two of the skulls lead to the inference that they were of men who had fallen in battle
or in some sudden im-oad of an enemy, who in the 4th century must have been Picts, Scots, or
Saxons,—one or aU of whom ravaged the island as far south as London, taking immense booty Ind
making captives of the unhappy provincials i. The fact of decapitated skeletons being found in
the tumulus seems in favour of the Picts and Scots being the enemies by whom some of those
who were here interred had been slain. The Celtic custom of cutting off the heads of enemies
slaughtered in battle and preserving them as trophies, as described by Posidonius in the second
centm-y B.C., was common also to the ancient Britons, Picts, and Scots, as is fuUy shown in
native poems, traditions, and annals §.
lib. xxvii. c.* See Description of Eoman SkuU from Bath, Plate 26. 8 ; xxviii. c. 3. Gibbon,
p. 2, for figures of similar clavi caligarii.
t These, like other rare Roman combs described by Mr.
Roach Smith ("Roman London," 1859, p. 129), very much
resemble those of the Saxon period.
51.
i Amm. Marcell.
c. 25, A.D. 3G8-3C9.
§ Seechap. v.p. 68. " Irish Nennius," p. 185. Campbell's
•• Gaelic Tales," 1862, vol. iv. p. 271. " Glossary of Cormae,"
by W. S., 1862, pp. xi. xlvi. As late as 1547 ("Annals of
(-1)
ANCIENT ROMAN—WHITE HORSE HILL, BERKS
A mound, very near that now described, may throw some light on the history of its neighbour.
It is of very slight elevation and ii-reguliir figure-of-eight form. In it were found six
carelessly buried skeletons and a confused heap of bones. Three of the skeletons were decapitated.
The skuU of a young person was found beneath the knees of one of these skeletons; and
near its right shoulder was a circular bronze fibula inlaid with blue and red enamel. The two
other headless skeletons were of males, with the larger of which was the greater half of a lower
jaw, but no trace of the skuU; and at the left hip the blade of a knife, the umbo, handle, and
silver-headed studs of a shield, aU of iron and of Anglo-Saxon type. In the centre of the mound
was a perfect male skeleton, with that of a child by its left side. Further to the east was a
youthful skeleton with the knees somewhat flexed. At a little distance to the right and left of
this last were two detached skuUs, both apparently of middle-aged males; they perhaps belonged
to the two headless skeletons, or to one of these and the heap of bones. The lower jaw of one
had been cut through the chin before burial, probably when decapitated. The type of these crania
materially differs from that of the skuUs from the oblong tumulus. They are mostly ovoid,
highly arched at the vertex, and of moderate size. They are probably Anglo-Saxon *. Could
this mound have been the site of execution of criminals by the Roman or Romanized British
occupants of the neighbouring camp ? The existence of decapitated skeletons in both burialplaces
is remarkable t.
A fine series of skulls, about twenty-five in number, was, through the kindness of Mr. Atkins,
obtained from the oblong mound, about half of which have been presented by the wi-iter to
other coUections t- In their type there is great similarity, especially as regards the male skulls,
which are remarkably fine and large. The form is generally broad and square, with the vertex
well expanded; the occiput full and prominent, with its upper lamina almost vertical, the lower
one almost horizontal. The type is platycephalic and Roman. The lower jaws are large and
broad, and moderately deep. The skuU of one aged female (No. 38) is prognathic, and remarkable
for its broad and flat nasals and immense nasal opening. The skull selected for description
is the detached one found about six feet E.N.E. of the headless skeleton (No. 9), to which it
probably belonged, having perhaps been recovered from an enemy who had carried it off as a
trophy. On the right side of the skeleton, that of a man of middle stature, were eight large
crooked nails, with traces of wood, perhaps that of a cist or coffin.
In the following Table, the Measurements
that here described; B is from the skeleton No.
of middle age.
Ulster " ) the Maguires cut off the heads of sixteen leaders of
the O'Rourkes, who had invaded their country, and affixed them
to the mansion of their chief, just as the Gauls did seventeen
centuries previously. (Comp. "Four Masters," A.D. 1432,
1556.) The heads of Celtic chiefs slain in baUle were sometimes
cut off aud preserved for honourable burial by their
followers. ("Four Masters," A.D. 565, 1213, 1608. "Poems
of Llywarc Hen," by Owen, p. 23.) A somewhat analogous
practice still exists in Brittany and North Italy, where the detached
skulls of the dead are exposed in grated recesses or
boxes in the churches and cemeteries. (King, "Italian Valleys,"
1858, p. 471. Weld, "Brittany," 1856, pp. 119, 154.)
* It may be observed that two skulls from the foot of
Dragon Hill, just below that on which is the White Horse, are
of the same general form. A small brass coin of Constans
51.
of three of the largest skulls are given. A is
27 ; and C from No. 31. They are all of males
was found at a little distance in the dibris, in which were
fragments of pottery and animal bones. Dragon Hill was idly
conjectured by Aubrey and Wise to be the burial-place of
Uther (or some other) Pendragon. It is a natural chalk-hill.
+ In each tumulus a decapitated skull was found beneath the
knees of a skeleton to which it may be supposed to have belonged.
Keyser(" Religion of Northmen," 1854,pp.305,307)
says it was the custom of the old Scandinavians, if the dead
appeared as a spectre, to open the burial-mound, cut off the
head and lay it between the legs, and to do the same before
rifling a tumulus of its treasures. Whether this explains the
case before ua must be matter for conjecture.
t Those of the College of Surgeons of London, Trinity
College, Dublin, Dr. J. Barnard Davis, and Professor Nicolucci
of Naples.
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