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DESCRIPTIONS OF CEANIA.
skeleton whose skuU is delineated in profile. We also add below the figure of a flint-flake or
rude arrow-head, discovered m another of the graves, though it is perhaps a relic of the British
period.
FUnt-Jiake Jrovi Saxon Grave at Litlington.—Full sise.
The whole of the remains met with passed into the hands of Mr. J. Cove J ones, to whom we
owe the permission to figure them. That grave which contained the elder individual of our
profile nthograph was remarkable for presenting the appearance of a domed chamber. The
chalky SOU, which covered it in, formed an arched vault, about 18 inches thick, and leaving a
hollow interval of a foot in depth above the skeleton. Doubtless this was the consequence of
the tenacity of the soil merely, which probably had originally been heaped upon a bulky body.
Our Plates 39 and 40 are very faithful representations of two of the crania discovered in this
cemetery, which was placed on an elevation above the beautiful Downs, near the highest part of
Pii-le Beacon,—hence not far from that whence was derived the subject of Plate 29. The first is
the skull of a man, somewhat advanced in yeai-s; probably approaching to seventy. The base
view is taken from the skull of a man also, but, as the sutures indicate, much younger, in aU
likeHhood not more than 25 years of age. They both exhibit the Anglo-Saxon characters in
an eminent degree, as wiH be apparent from the figures and the descriptions, which follow in
the order we have named.
The face in both is not deficient in length, orthognathous, and of tolerable breadth. The
lower jaws are pretty deep, that of the elder the deeper, and the more everted at the angles ; and
the chin suflaciently prominent. The teeth in the younger are rather smaU, and but little
abraded, whilst those of the elder have suffered a good deal from use, and also from decay. The
cheek-bones do not project, but gradually slope off sideways. The nasal bones are very prominent
but not long; the nasal apertm-e narrowly pyriform. The superciliary ridge projects a
little in the elder, much less in the younger, although the latter presents large frontal smuses,
the cavities of which extend almost to the outer angles of the orbits. In both the forehead is
tolerably broad, and rises weU and quickly into a capacious arch about the coronal region. The
most elevated spot in the vault of the calvarium is about an inch behind the commencement
of the sagittal suture. Wlien viewed vertically, both skuUs exhibit a long oval to the eye,
rather flattened at the fore-part; this oval is somewhat oblique in the skuH of the older man, -
a slight unsymmetrical appearance probably impressed in infancy, from some peculiarity of
nursin.'. The parietal surface is spacious; the upper occipital region moderately full; the
mastoids laa-ge and prominent; the condyloid surfaces long; the occipital foramen a long oval ;
the pterygoid processes a moderate length; the arch of the palate lofty and capacious.
There is a general indication of good form in these fine capacious skulls, which is apparent
in every aspect, whether we regard them in the face, or view the calvarium from above or
below. This will be seen in all the figures before the reader, but perhaps best in the base view,
with its elegant oval outline-the delineation itself being a remarkable example of the lithographic
art. On a review of the whole series of Anglo-Saxon crania which have come under our
39, 40. ^^^
ANGLO-SAXON—LITLINGTON, SUSSEX.
notice, we are led to conclude that this pleasing oval, rather dolichocephalic, form may best be
deserving the epithet of typical among them. The eye at once perceives that it is the conformation
so generally repeated in modern English skulls. Its permanence, as a characteristic of race,
is at once unquestionable and impressive.
In the following Table of Measm-ements, we shall place those of the elder skull (A.), that
from which the lithographic plate of the profile is taken, first ; and let the measures of the
younger (B.), so far as they admit of being ascertained, succeed.
MEASUREMENTS.
A.
Horizontal circumference 20-9
Longitudinal diameter . 7'5
Frontal Region.—Length 4-9
Breadth 4-7
Height 4-7
Parietal Region.—Length . 5-0
Breadth 5-3
B.
21-3 inches.
7-5 „
5-0 „
4-6
5-1
5-2
Height 4-9 4'7 „
Occipital Region.—Length
Breadth
Height
Intermastoid arch . . .
Internal capacity . . .
Face.—Length . . . .
Breadth . . . .
A.
4-9
4-6
4-5
14-9
80
4-6
5-1
B.
4-8 inches.
4-6 „
4-4 „
14-8 „
75 ounces.
4-6 inches.
Mr. Akerman has very justly observed, that the appearances of these cemeteries " plainly
indicate that the graves were made by people in the quiet possession of the country, and of very
primitive habits—in fact, by the rural population of the district." In the absence of any remains
of weapons or defensive armour, and even of articles of personal ornament, especially those
belonging to women, this village cemetery, like the adjoining one at Firle (Plate 29), is remarkably
contrasted with others of the Anglo-Saxon period, which have marked the sites of towns,
or belonged to populations more cultivated and luxurious, and in which ornaments, if not arms,
abound. We are hence led to the conclusion, that the period to which the persons, whose skulls
we are now describing, belonged, was long subsequent to that at which iEUa, with his three sons,
landed on the coast of Sussex. As the kingdom of the South Saxons was the latest to own
the sway of Christianity, which was established there by the efforts of the famous Wilfrid,
Bishop of York, about 681 A.D., we have reason to infer that the cemetery near Litlington
is not of earlier date than the latter part of the 7th or the beginning of the 8th century. And
further viewing this cemetery, as well as that at Firle, as Christian, we most likely have in that
fact the real explanation of the absence of both arms and ornaments—the new religion, simple
and peaceful, discountenancing the pagan practice of furnishing the grave, or interring the body
fully equipped.
(J. B. D.)
39, 40. (3)
í'í íé