A N C I E N T H I B ERNIAN SKULL.
PKOM CIST IN THE PHCENIX PARK, DUBLIN.
(REGION OP THE BLANII, TEMP. PIOLEMIEI, A.D. 120.)
Cranium from Cist, Pkanix Parh.—Quarler-siie.
ABOUT tlie year 1840, a small cist was opened at a depth of 4 ft. in the Phoenix Park *, not far
from the two cromlechs previously discovered there t- It was of a domed shape and constructed
of small stones, closed at the top with a larger one. It contained a skeleton, the major part of
which was placed at the bottom of the cist, with the long hones crossed and the calvarium at the
top, the lower jaw upon it J. This skuU was presented to the Museum of Trinity CoUege by the
late Dr. Eohert BaU §.
Its sexual characters are not strongly expressed, but it is most likely the cranium of a young
man of about 30 years of age. The teeth have all been present, and are in good condition. Its
features are those usual among the aboriginal people of the British Islands. The jaws are
slightly prognathous, the chin prominent, the nasal bones projecting, the supranasal and superciliary
protuberances very marked, the forehead not narrow, but rather low, the vertical region
elevated, the parietal centres distinct, yet not prominent, so that the norma verticalis is a pretty
- Fion iiisge, sweet water, or, popularly, the field of sweet scarcely more than half a score skulls of this race, in any conwaters,
corrupted into Phcenix, and this corruption perpetuated
by the English "bul l " of the wit, Lord Chesterfield, who,
when Lord Lieutenant, set np a fowl on a pillar near the Viceregal
Lodge.
t From the largest of these was derived the skull of our
Plate 22. The smaller is re-edified in the Zoological Gardens,
Dublin. This latter was some .3 f t . below the surface, and contained
an imperfect skeleton, the cranium and bones of which
were broken, it was thought, " by violence." Dr. Ball's opinion
was that the bones had been collected from some other
quarter and stowed away in the small chamber. When we
know that no less than three distinct ancient Hibernian sepulchres
have been discovered in a portion of the Phoenix
Park, it is difficult to reconcile the mind to the fact, that
55.
dition, have been rescued from destruction throughout the
whole island.
t This is by no means a solitary instance of such a practice.
Mr. Bateman records the opening of Bee Low, in which a short
cist was discovered that held the bones of the skeleton of an
aged man, regularly piled in a heap, surmounted by the skull,
base upwards. The same funereal custom of preparing the
bones previous to interment has been practised by different
aboriginal races in many parts of the globe. (Ten Years' Diggings,
pp. 73, 273.)
§ To Prof. E. Perceval Wright, we are obliged for facilities
to place on record the vera effigies of this cranium, of which
no further history is to be recovered.