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DESCRIPTIONS OF CEANIA.
close agreement in tlie barrows themselves as in tlie skulls tliey contain*), belong to a very
remote period—yet we cannot but perceive that these elaborate structures do not resemble the
simplicity of the earKest efforts t —we must still recognize the diversity among the long skulls
themselves. This wiU be rendered apparent to our readers by comparing the figures of the long
slender skull of our lithograph, with that from Uley in Gloucestershire (PL 5). These two
crania present great discrepancies in form; such, that we are led to doubt whether there be any
other conformity between them than that of considerable length. They appear entirely to want
that eongruity which would mark them out as derived from one peculiar race. And, on the
other hand, if we assume with those who receive this hypothesis, that the possessors of these long
crania were a race distinguished by a particular kind of sepulchres, stone chambers or chambered
barrows, it must not be overlooked that dolicho-cephaUc crania are still met with in other
barrows and cists. Of five imperfect skuUs, derived from Top Lowe, Swinscoe, a tumulus of
that kind caUed " long barrows" by Hoare, we have been able to measure the length of three.
One is perhaps the longest cranium in Mr. Bateman's Celtic collection, being 8 in. In length; a
second is 7-3 in.; and the thii'd brachy-cephaUc, or 6-8 in. So that the evidence appears to us
incomplete, exceptional and inconclusive, let us examine it in whatever way we please. It may
not be unadvisable to mention, that Mr. W. Wynne Ffoulkes, whose investigations have been
made amongst the Welsh baa-rows, does not regard those deposited in his " Cromlechs," " Giant's
Chambers" and " Chambered Tombs," to be of dilferent race to those interred in simple cists.
Por further remarks upon this hyi^othesis, to which we must confess an inability to render our
concurrence, the reader may refer to Chapter II. pp. 19 and 20 J.
Compare ^he ground plans and Tiews of the Uley tumulus, all three works figures are given of both varieties of skulls.
given in the Description of the cranium (PI. a), with our
woodcut of the Long Lowe chamber, p. (2), and the plan and
view of the Five "Wells Hill chambered barrow. Joum. Brit.
Archaeol. Ass. vii. pi. 18. The reader may also refer to the
Littleton Drew tumulus (Plate 24), a large oval cairn containing
several separate cists, and a cromlech at one end.
t It is worthy of remark, that Koman remains were met with
in the Uley tumulus ;—even in one of the side chambers, there
was found a small vessel "resembling a Roman lacrymatory ; "
—and also lately, in digginginto the entrance of the chambered
tumulus at Stoney Littleton, near Wellow in Somersetshire, In
the latter case, a fibula and some Eoman pottery.
A recent examination of the remaining chambers of the Uley
tumulus, leads us to doubt very much whether these chambers
have ever been roofed in the manner of the " horizontal arch,"
The present large flat stones appear to us to constitute the
original roof. But, if they ever had this horizontal arch, it
would decidedly favour the presumption, that the structure
cannot be an example of the eariiest form of primeval se-
¡julchre—no one being bold enough to maintain that the
rudest vaulted roof preceded the simpler flat one. Indeed
it is difficult to avoid the question upon the whole series,—
Are these chambered barrows really the most ancient among
British sepulchral erections ?
t See also Mr,Batemau's paper in the Joum. Brit. Archajol.
Ass. vii. 21U ; " The Beauties of the Boyne," by William R.
Wilde, 2nd Ed. i 850, pp. 40, 229, &c.; and hkewise the first
publication which called attention to the long and short skulls
derived from ancient barrows, attributing them to difl^erent
races, " Om Hovedsknllerne og Beenradene i vore gamle Gravhoie,"
by Prof Eschricht, D.insk Folkeblad, 1837, p. 109. In
33.
At an eariier period, M. Amide'e Thierry (Hist, des Gaulois,
1828) had distinguished two Gauhsh or Celtic families, the
Galls, Giiels or Gael ; and the Kimris, Kimry or Cymrn. His
philological researches led him to regard the Gael as having
preceded the Cymru in the British Islands, and as having
constituted their primitive population. In the ethnological
classic of Dr. W, F. Edwards (Des Caractères Physiologiques
des Races Humaines. 1829), the people whom he considers to
be the modern representatives of these tribes are discriminated
by their physical peculiarities. The Gael, or older race, are described
by this acute observer to have a head more round than
oval, round features and middle stature ; whilst the Kimri, or
secondary race, are discerned by a long head, broad elevated
forehead and a tall figure. It is also worthy of notice, that
Dr. Eugène Robert, in his lucid account of the excavation of
the Gaulish Dolmen at Meudon, near Versailles, in 1845, the
numerous bodies in which primeval sepulchre, amounted, it was
computed, to about 200 of different ages and sexes, deposited
in a crouching position, announces some of the crania to have
been of a round form and others of an oval form, which he
thought belonged to distinct races. And M. Serres, in his
Memoir upon this monument, does not hesitate to attribute the
bones to two types of the Gaulish race, the type Gall and the
type Kimry ; and to declare that, generally, the former, or
brachy-cephalic, occupied a deeper position under the dolmen ;
and the latter, or doli-ehoccphalic, a more superficial one,
(Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, tome xxi.) Of
course this again confounds and reverses the chronological
order of the English observers, as we have explained at length
in Chap. II. pp. 19, 20.
(J. B. D.)
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