DESCRIPTIONS OP CRANIA.
; t .
I:
opening of tlie nostrils, decidedly small and narrow, measures only eight-tenths of an inch across.
The orbits, large and quadrangular, are directed outwards and downwards: the malar bones are
moderately prominent. The face generally is remarkable for the large size of the upper and
lower jaw, which are deeply indented for the muscles of mastication. The alveolar border of
both jaws is deep and strongly marked, and so prominent in the front of the upper jaw, as to
produce a partially prognathic aspect; the fulness, ia the situation of the sockets of the canines,
being so great, as to impart a low, animal character to this portion of the physiognomy. The
bony palate is very deep and rugged, and narrow and square in front, being deficient in the weUarched
and rounded form usual in most modern European skulls. The lower jaw is remarkably
deep, thick and massy, measui'ing in the thickest part seven-tenths of an inch; and has the
ascending ramus peculiarly square and rectangular. The inner surface of the alveolar border of
this jaw presents a somewhat exuberant and eburneated osseous growth. The lower border of
the jaw, in the situation of the chin, is somewhat square, with an angle on each side, corresponding
to the sockets of the canine teeth: between these angles the bone presents a slightly
arched form,—a peculiarity, corresponding with that in the upper jaw, and which is probably
distinctive of the male sex. The teeth, all of which are in place, are large; their crowns, considering
the comparative youth of the subject, are mtich worn; the effects of attrition, as usual
in ancient British crania, being most obvious on the inner edges of the molars of the upper,
and the outer edges of those of the lower jaw. The dentition is weU seen in Mr. Ford's excellent
base view of this skull This view likewise shows the size of the space enclosed by the zygomatic
arch on each side; and the narrowness of the frontal, as compared with the ample development
of the lower and posterior parts of the head.
i >1
MEASUREMENTS.
Horizontal circumference . . 21-1 inches.
Longitudinal diameter . . . 7-6 „
Erontal Region.—Length . . 5-4 „
Breadth • 4-7 „
Height . • 5-1 „
Parietal Region.—Length . . 5-4 „
Breadth . 5-6 „
Height . . 5-2 „
Occipital Region.—Length . . . 5-1 inches.
Breadth . . 5-2 „
Height . . . 4-6 „
Intermastoid Arch 15'8 „
Internal capacity 81 ounces.
Eace.—Length 4-9 inches.
Breadth 51 „ m
Altogether, the characteristics of this cranium clearly establish an identity of race between
the people interred in the Arras barrows and other ancient British tribes; thus confirming the
inferences already drawn from the archaeological evidence. Had some of the skulls exhiuned in
the excavations of 1816 and 1817 been preserved, the light obtained by a comparison of the
ethnological and archasological evidence might have been stiU more convincing.
(J. T.)
h I m
6, 7. (8)