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Show 296 THE OHANIAL OllARAOTERISTIOS bcgnn to effect sottlomont.~ and build houses on tho scenes whore tltoy hnd rnvagod tho villu. gcs of tho oldor Bl'itish natives. 1.'he first class, we may infer, nttomptod little cultivation of tl:to soil. ..... "Viewing Archooology as one of tho most ossontiu.l moans for tho eluciuntion of primitive history, it hns boon employed hero chiefly in an 11ttcmpt to trnoo out tho annals of out• oountry prior to thnt compnrntivoly rooont medieval pcrio<l1~t which tho boldest of our hi~torio. »B have heretoforo ventured to bogin. 1.'ho resoarchos of the ethnologist carry us back somowbrtt beyond tlutt epoch, n.nd confirm mu.ny of those conclusions, oRpooially in rolation to tho close affinity botweon tho untivo arts nud Celtic rrLcos of Scotland o.nd Iroltmd, nt which we ltnve nrrivod by moans of arcbooologioal cvidcuco .. .. But we hrtvo found from mnny iudependont sourcos of eviclcnoo, tbnt tho primeval history of l1ritnin must bo sought for in tho n.nOflls of oldor rncos than tho Col too, and in tho remflins of a people of whom we bavo ns yot no renson to boliovo tb11t any philological tt·nccs nro disoovornblo, though they probflbly do exist mingled with Iuter dialects, and especially in the topogmphic1.1l nomenclature, adopted and modifiod, but in nil likelihood not entirely superseded by lr11or colonists. With tho earliest intelligible indicos of that primovnl colonization of tho British Isles our nrchooological rcoords begin, mingling their dim historic annnls with tho Jnst giant trncos of older worlds; and, ns nn ossoutinlly indepondont clement of historicnl rosoaroh, they torminn.te nt the point whol'O the isolation of Scotland oouscs by its being ombr11ood into tho unity of modiev111 Christendom." 11!8 Mr. llA1'EMAN, who bas carefully examined the ancient barrows of North Derbyshire, describes the skulls found in the oldest of these- known as the Chambered Barrows- as being elongated and boat-shaped (knmbc-kcphalic form of Wil on). The crania of the_ su coeding two vari tics of barrows aro of the brachyccphahc type, round and short, with prominent pari 'talia. In tho ba~·1:ows of the "iron agc"-thc most recent-he found the prcvalhng form to ar proximate tho oval heads of the modem inhabitants of Dcrbyshirc.189 From the foregoing statements, a remarkable fact becomes evident. Whi_l H~T7.IUs, -~lLSSON, Esomuorn, and Wn,nE arc remarkably harmol~ lOus m ascnbmg tho brachy-cephalic type to the earliest or 'tone Pcr10d in candinavia, Denmark, and Ireland, we find WILSON and BA1'EMAN equally accordant in considering the kumbc-kephalro a!'l the first men who trod the virgin soil of Caledonia and England. J 11 the present state of antiquarian research, then, we are forced to conclude that the primitive inhabitants of Britain are identical with those of Sweden aud Denmark, but that in diiicrent parts of those countries the order of their sequence has varied. lPig .. 26 (soc next parre), reduced fi·om a magnificent life-size lithogr~ l~h m Omnia Britannica, represents a strongly-marked aboriginal Bnt1sh sknl~ of the earliest period. "It was disinterred from tlto lowermost CJst of a bowl-shaped Barrow on Ballidon Moor." lt ~=The Arohooology a.n~ Prehistoric Anno.ls of Scotland; Edinb. 1851; pp. 108-187, 695-6. Jouronl of the Bnttsh Arohooologioal Society, vol. VII. OF THE RACES OF MEN. belongs to the brachy-cepha]ro of R tzins, and is regarded hy Dr. DAvrs, who gives us the following- <lcs ription of it, as a typical example ol' tl1 ·ancient British form. " This omnium possesses n rugged ftloo, tho bones of which nrc rough, nngulnr, ospocinlly tho lower jnw, 11nd deeply impressed by stl·ong muscular notion. Tho Spllco enclosed by tho zygomntic nrcb is mthor lnrgc. It is tho skull of u. mnn of probflbly about forty-five yottr·s of ago. The teeth, which nrc not romnrknbly largo, must Fig. 26. have been complete t1t tho period of intermont, ANOHJNT BntTON. except tho two lo st moll\rs of the upper ju.w on tho 2!)7 left side, which ho.d previously peri shed by Oltrics, their u.lvooli being wholly absorbed. Some of tho molu.rs still roto.in n thick coo.ting of tartnr; n.nd tho teeth ttltogothcr indicole tho severo service to which tl1oy wor·o subjected dut·ing lifo, for tho crowns of rd01ost nllai'O worn down to 11 level sul'f'no , by tho musticn.tiou of ho.rd substo.noos. l'ho nnsnl bono~, which lt11d bccrt fmctnrorl obliquely 1tcross tho centre during tho lifo of this primitive huntor, possibly in some onoouutet· of tho ehn.so, nnd l1n.d unitod porfcotly, with 11 slight bend to tho right. aro very prominont. 1.'110 openi ng of the nostriiH, modomto in size, is just on inch in dinmotot•. Tho ft·ontnl sinusos nrc largo, nnd project coosidembly over the noso. The frontnl bono is not pnrticuhl'ly remn1·krlblo oithor· fot· its arched or receding form, but inclines to tho lnttor. Tho pnrictal bones nro rogulnr, and do not present much lo.lornl prominency. 'fho ocoipillll is somewhat full abovo tbo protubornnco, 'vhich itself is strongly mnrkod. Tho point of the chin is hollowed out, or depressed, in tho middle, a not uncommon foo.ture of tho 13r·ili sh slHtll, which mny pcrhnps be to.kon ns nn intlicrtti{ln of 11 dimple, n. murk of bonuty in tho other sox. 'l'ho profil of tho CIL]vllrium pr·osents o. pretty unifot·m ourvn.tnr·e, intor'l'ttptod by rt slight rising in tho mid<llo of tho prtriotnl bonr~, and tho occipitrtl prolubct·n.nco. 'l'bo outline of tho vertical ttspoot is 11 tolornbly rognlnr ovfll. 'J'he cnLi t·o orrtnium is of modornto density. , , . Its most striking peculinritics n.ro tho rurlo chnmcter of the ft~co, g t·ontly hoiglttoncd by tho prominent ft·ontal simlScH, n.tHl its modemtl' dimensions. lt seems to have belonged to one whose struggle fot· lifo wns severe, to conq uer the denizens of tbo forest his chief sk ill, 1\nd wltoso food consisted of crude nnd COt\rso nt•liclcs. Still there romn.in irrcfrngn.blo oviuonccs, even at this distant day, tlmt his stdfo wns a successful one, nnu that he bcc11me tho lord of tho wilderness " An anci nt British skull (Fig. 27), from a cbamucred tumulus at UJcy, Glouccstcrshirc, fi.gut· d a.nd dcscri bed in Crania Britannica, affords a good id a of the dolicho-cephalic Ot' long-headed form auove referred to. It "is tho skull of a mnn of probnbly not loss than sixty-five. Tho sutur·os 1tro more or less grown together, 11nd, in mnny place~, oompletoly oblitemtod. 'l'be ern ni um is of grcnt th icknoss, cspecin.lly in tho uppor pnt·t of tho calvarium; tho pnl'iotal bones, iu tho sitm1tion of tho tobors, Fig. 27. ANCWNT BmTJBU (from Uloy). |