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DESCEIPTIONS OF CRANIA.
its upwao-d evolution, without, however, superinducing any disease. The lower jaw is large and
heavy, wide at the angles, which are rounded without beiag everted,—the distance inside
between the condyles is 3-5 inches. The orbits are wide; the superciliary ridges full; the
portion of the nasal bones remaining shows a considerable prominence of the nose, the orifice of
the nostrils being narrow ; the frontal bone is of unusual magnitude, and not deficient in
elevation, although of less prominence in the upper half than beseems so massive a skull. In
this region the transversal arch is long and flat. The coronal suture is very open at the sides.
The parietal bosses are well marked, and the interdiameter of this region rather exceeds that of
the intermastoid diameter. The calvarium is also unusually deep in this region. The occipital
is liliewise capacious, and externally rugged. There is a large external flat surface, extending
from near the middle of the parietal bones backwards, and covering the upper half of the occipital,—
a flatness frequently seen in ancient British skuUs *. In this case the flatness is more
depressed on the right than on the left side ; yet the skuU was laid on the left side in the
baiTOw, which shows that the flatness is not posthumous. The mastoids are bulky, with deep
grooves -ndthin them. There is a distinct paroccipital tubercle on the left side. The foramen
magniun is lozenge-shaped; the bony palate weU-arched and wide. The triunpet-shaped
external auditory orifice is surmounted by a distinct supra-auditory ridge, continued backwards
from the zygoma.
MEASUREMENTS.
Horizontal circumference . . . 21'5 inches.
Longitudinal diameter . . . 7-4¡
Erontal Region.—Length . . 5-1
Breadth . . 5-2
Height . . 5-4
Parietal Region.—Length . . 5-3
Breadth . . 6-0
* This flat surface, withoat being universal, is often a remarkable
feature in these crania. We have already referred to
it in the Descriptions of the Jumper Green and Lesmurdie
skulls (PI. 15 and 16), where vfC were inclined to regard it
as posthumous; and in the Descriptions of the Newbigging
and Caedegai crania (PI. 21 and 23), we have called the
reader's special attention to it. It may be conveniently designated^
ffneío-occípiía?flatness. In some cases it begins at
the middle of the parietal, and extends to the tuberosity of the
occipital, or is A inches in length, and has a transverse diameter
of full 3 inches. Another peculiarity is, that it is not symmetrical,
as we notice in the Green Lowe cranium, and in the two
first skulls. As to the suggestion that it arises from posthumous
influences, facts contradict it pointedly. In the skull of
a child of probably 4 or 5 years of age, discovered on the first
investigation of End Lowe barrow (Description, PI. 13, p. (1)),
which is very thin, we see the parieto-occipital flatness quite
clearly, and posthumous distortion equally plainly. They
coexist, but do not coincide; they are quite distinct, and have
no relation or correspondence. The parieto-occipital flatness
exists in other crania of children, as in an example of about
the same age from Galley Lowe (Vestiges, p. 39). That it is
not peculiar to the male sex, is evidenced by the brachy-cephalic
skull of a young woman of about 20 years of age, found by Mr.
41.
Parietal Reao rion.—HeiDg ht
Occipital Region.—Length
Breadth
Height
Intermastoid arch . . .
Internal capacity . . .
Pace.—Length . . . .
5-3 inches.
4-9 „
4-8 „
4-4 „
160 „
88 ounces.
4-7 inches.
Bateman in another Derbyshire barrow, upon Smerrill Moor,
near Middleton, Jime 3, 1857 (Celtic and Saxon Grave Hills,
1861, p. 102). This very decidedly short skull exhibits almost
the brevity and squareness of that of a Tartar. The forehead
is large and elevated. The parieto-occipital flatness begins
just behind the middle of the parietals, and descends for 4
inches to near the occipital tuberosity : in the centre it is 3
inches wide. This flatness is a curious subject for investigation,
and may resolve itself into a distortion of the bones in
infancy, from some custom to which the tender nursling has
been exposed in these pre-historic times ; a view which is
in a great measure established by the skull of an ancient
Gaul, from the Dolmen, discovered at Meudon in 184.5. We
possess a cast of this remarkably brachy-ccphalic cranium,
which we owe to the very polite attention of Dr. L. Eugène
Robert, who explored the singular Gaulish monument. The
parieto-occipital flatness, in this instance, is decided and extensive
; and it seems impossible to attribute it to any other cause
than the one just alluded to, viz. the mode of nursing in infancy.
See the observations upon this discovery, by Ilobert,
Serres and Retzius, Voy. en Scandinavie, &c. sur la Corvette
*La Recherche.' Géologie, &c., par M.Eugene Robert, 2''partie,
1854, p. 199.
ANCIENT BRITISH—GREEN LOWE, ALSOP MOOR, DERBYSHIRE.
This cranium is brachy-cephalic, and belongs to the typical series of the aboriginal Britons,
yet is somewhat platy-cephalic also. It is the impressive relic of a bulky man, who appears to
have perished in the midst of his career, at an age probably not much beyond 30 years. It is
difficult to look upon such a memento of the ancient dead without forming exalted ideas of its
possessor; without conceiving of the strength of his arm; of the skiU and prowess which
attended him in the chase or fight; of his power, both corporeal and mental, applicable to the
exigencies of his tribe, or to those of neighbouring tribes. That he was an object of great respect,
although so young, is shovra by the relics of those feral rites with which his corpse was
honoured. This iine massive skull, bearing unquestionable marks of its ancient British
derivation, is a proof that size was sometimes a legitimate element in this series, and casts a
doubt upon the phrenological doctrine of development by the influences of civilization, in its
unconditional form. The Green Lowe barrow belongs to the earliest period, and was rich in
highly wrought siliceous instruments, aU of which presented the blanched look of calcination*.
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ITmt Dagger-hlade, 6 in. long, and Arrow-heads ; Bone Imjilement and Pin, from Green Lowe Barrow.
The elegant flint dagger is formed of a rather thin flake, and has been chipped with great
care and exactness. It is a close prototype of the bronze dagger of a later age. The bone pin
is of an ordinary character, and 4 inches in length. The bone instruments with blunt extremities,
one of which is shown in the wood-cut, are made of the ribs of an animal, probably a small
ox, and have also been met with in the "Wiltshire barrows. The ingenious conjecture of
Mr. Bateman, that they were modelling tools for making pottery, or mesh-rules for netting,
appears very probable f.
* The discovery of a flint in a fine barrow opened by us in
May, 1859, at Trentham, Staffordshire, appears to afford conclusive
proof of the usual cause of this whiteness. We met
with a cinerary urn near the centre of the barrow, containing a
mass of calcined bones, and among these was a flint about 2
inches in length, having this milky opaque appearance. The
41.
fire to which the flint had been exposed had not only given it
the opaline tint, but had split it into three pieceswhicli admitted
of perfect re-adaptation. Other flints of this barrow, exposed
to all the same influences of interment, save the funeral pyre,
preserve their translucency in a perfect state,
-j- Descript. Cat. p. 5.
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