Indigenous Races of the Earth

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312 TilE CRANIAL CUARACTJ~RISTICS of tho heo.d, u.s viewed in front, to o.pproximo.tc dcoidcdly to o. squo.ro. The lo.toro.l part.~ above the oo.rs 1no protuberant; tho forehand low; tho nose truly nquilino- the curvntu t'O beginning ncar the top o.nd ending before roaching the point, the bt\se being horizontal; tho obiu is round, nod tho stnturo short." zt9 Prof. RETZIUS describes, in tho foJlowing terms, a "Schadel einos romischen Kriogers," taken from an ancient cemetery at York: "'rhis skull is vory lo.rgc, in length as well ns in breadth, though of the dolicho-cophnlic (Iranian) form. It is broo.clor above towards the vertex, than below towards the bo.sc. The nroh of its upper or corono.l surfnoc and the vertex o.rc somcwho.t fiat; the oircuru­fcrcnoo, soeu from above, is o. long, wcdgo-likc oval, termino.tiug posteriot·ly in a short, obtuse angle. Forchcnd brond, well o.rchod, but rather low; superciliary ridges small ; mo.ltw processes of the frontal bone small, not prominent; no frontal protuberances; temples rounded nnd projecting; parietal protuberances large, forming lo.tcralanglcs in !I posterior vi ow, o.nd standing fo.r apnrt; tho semi-circullLl' tcmporo.l ric! go clovo.tcd towo.rds the vertex ; occiput broo.d, rounded, the protubero.ncc mthor prominent; the so.gittnl suf.urc slightly depressed, cspocio.lly in the posterior pnrt; rcccptnoulum cere belli ln.rgc, &c." 220 Dr. TnURNAM figures and minutely describes, in Crania Britannica, the skull of Theoclorianus, found in a Roman sarcophagus at York (the ancient Eburacum), erected Fig. 84. probably during the third cen-tury of our rora. He informs us that this skull (Fig. 34) is a very .fine example of the an­cient Roman cranium; that it is unusually capacious, its di­mensions being much above the average in almost ovory direc­tion; that tho forehead, though low, is remarkable for breadth ; that the coronal snrfaco presents an oval outline, and is notable ANotENT RoMAN. for its gl'cat tl'ansvcr c diameter; that the parietal region is full and rounded; the temporal fossro large; the mastoid processes unusually large, broad, and prominent; the occipital bono full and prominent, especially in its upper half; the frontal sinuses and the glabella full and large; tho nasal bonos very largo and broad, with a finely aquiline profile; tho lachrymal bonos and canals large; the face square and broad; the superior maxillro somewhat unduly promi­nent along tho alveolar margin, and thns giving a slightly prognathic character to tho face; the bony palate wide and deep, &c.221 219 Op. oit. 220 Kro.niologischcs von A. Rctziua, in MUller's Arohiv fUr Anat., Phys., &o. JahT., 1840, p. 676. 221 Op. cit., p. (8). See, o.lso, o. po.pcr "On the Crn.nio. of the Ancient Romo.na," read by Mr. J. B. DAVIS, before the British Association. Sept., 1855. 0 F 'l' 11 E n A C E ,' 0 F MEN. 313 One of tho long-vexed, bnt still unsolved problems of tho hir:;to­rian and the othnologiflt, is the origin aud a:fliliations of the ancient Etruscans. Whether they wore emigrants from a foreign land, m~, with very few exceptions, the traditions of tho ancients imply, or whether, as most modern writers contend, they arc really indigonu', is still an open question. Possessing a civilization stretching back to, perhaps, about 1000 years D. c., a cultivated li toraturo and great phy­sical science, an elaborate religious system, whose machinery rivaLled in compl xity tho colossal Theisms of Ilindostan and Egypt, and an artistic development of a high, and in some respects peculiar order, they excelled all tho early nations of Europ , except tho Greeks, when in their palmiest days. Thoit·languag was cognate with older fomts of tho llellcnic and J ... atin tongues; but, judging from the figures roprcsontod upon tho covorino·s of sarcophagi, in painted tombR, and on ceramic productions, their physical characters distinguished tholll oflcctually from tho sur:rounding nations. Aucorclino- to Prof: K. 0. Muller, tho proportions observed in those figures indicate a race of small stature, with great heads; short, tltick arms, and a clumsy m.d inactive conformation of body, the "obcsos ct pingucs EtruHcos." They apr car to have possessed large, round faces; a thick and rath ·r short nose, largo eyes, a well-marked and prominent cllin.2'¥l En­WARDs, however, sp aka of observing among th peasantry of' 'l'u~­cany (ancient Etrm·ia), in the statues and busts of the Medici family, and in tho bas-roliof.'l and ffigics of the groat men of the Florcntille Republic, a typo of head characterized by itA J ngth and narrowncr;s, by a consiclomblo frontal development, by a long, sharp-pointed, and arched nose. Tho Galerie Antlt?'opolo- Fig. 35. giqu,e, at Paris, contains a "01'fine et?·usque clonn6 par le Prince Charl es Bonaparte," from a photograph of which tho accompanying figure was reduced. The readct· will ob­serve tho peculiar conforma­tion of this skull; tl10 rude massiveness of stru ·turo, tho elevation ofth fl'ontalrcgion, tho :fla.t.noss of tho crown, and tho downward inclination of tho pal'iotal bon s towards tho Cn.\NE fi•ruusQU}l, full and rounded occiput. ----------------------- The 222 0. Aliillrr, Abhn.mllung dor B rlin, Aknd. 1818 und 1810, cited by Priclto.rd, in "J:o­sonrclteH," &c., iii. 266: - but, soc, on those philologio:\1 nnd nrchooologicn.l quostious, M. Mn.ury's Chap. I., t~nd M. Pulszky's Cho.p. II., in tltis volume, ante.