DAVIS ON THE CRANIA OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. 291 



Hence I have denominated it parieto-occipital flatness. The most 

 peculiar and characteristic, normal form of these crania, which is very- 

 general, exhibits a shortness of the whole calvarium. Tliis form must 

 not be considered universal, yet it has prevailed among tribes far 

 apart, if not deserving to be looked upon as difiei'ent races. Such 

 natural shortness has been found to be so common as in a material 

 degree to mask the parieto-occipital flatness, to which allusion is 

 now made. Another complication was early perceived in the occur- 

 rence of posthumous distortion, to which the skulls of the ancient 

 Britons, like those of other people, are liable. The crania of those 

 who were buried under tumuli have become singularly deformed by 

 the pressure of the superincumbent earth, acting constantly upon a 

 moist and slightly plastic body like the spheroidal skull. Others, 

 whose remains were tnclosed in cists, kistvaens, and cromlechs, were 

 mostly defended from the mechanical influences which produced 

 posthumous deformation. Still the effects of this kind of compres- 

 sion are often evident in the occipital region. Hence they serve to 

 interfere with our aj)j)reciation of that deformity which manifests 

 itself in the parieto-occipital flatness. It was only after witnessing 

 many examples in which both kinds of distortion were present, and 

 observing that they were not coincident, but quite independent of 

 each other, that their real distinctness became fully ajjparent. In 

 some ancient British crania of young subjects, preserved in the 

 Bateman Museum, the original parieto-occipital flatness is observed, 

 and at the same time another distinct and non-coincident flattening, 

 generally on one side of the occipital region, which is clearly post- 

 humous. To this subject I have directed attention in the Descrip- 

 tion of the Newbigging SkuU in the " Crania Britannica," plate 21, 

 p. (4) ; and more at length in the Description of the Green Lowe 

 Skull, plate 41, p. (2). In the examples enumerated in these places 

 both the two kinds of deformation manifest themselves, and, since 

 they do not correspond, it is obvious that they have no relation to 

 each other — one has been produced before and independently of the 

 other. 



It has long appeared to me most probable that the parieto-occipital 

 flatness now under consideration was produced by some artificial 

 process. In the Description of the undeformed British Skull from 

 Caedegai Barrow in Denbighshire, " Crania Britannica," plate 23, p. 3, 

 I distinctly attributed it to art at an early period of life. Still, tlie 

 subject being curious, it may be deserving of some further atten- 

 tion and additional evidence, by which it will be satisfactorily proved 

 that the ancient Britons observed certain practices which resulted 

 in deformation of the skull. Further investigation has shown that 

 neither these practices nor their results were confined to the .ancient 

 Britons alone, but have equally prevailed among the ancient Cale- 

 donians and Hibernians and the ancient Gauls. 



I wiU, in a few words, describe the appearance of this peculiar 

 parieto-occipital flatness. It varies in extent in the different crania 



