THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 151 



haps in parts of Corsica. It is worthy of note also that a remarkable 

 purity of type in this respect was manifested; positively no broad 

 crania with' indexes above 80 have ever been found. These long- 

 barrow men were also rather undersized, about five feet five inches — 

 that is to say, an inch shorter than any average prevailing to-day. 

 The full significance of this important point will appear shortly. 

 The evidence seems to bear out the conclusion that thus far we have 

 to do with but one race type, which had, however, slowly acquired 

 a low stage of culture by self -education. 



This neolithic, or stone age, primitive type is still represented in 

 the present population, according to the testimony of those best fitted 

 to judge. Our portrait herewith of an ancient British type, locally 

 known in the Shetland Isles as " the old black breed," because of its 

 accentuated brunetteness, is probably a good specimen. The long 

 head and dark complexion are said to-day to be more often associated 

 with short stature than otherwise. 



The next event in the prehistoric history of the British Isles — 

 pardon the bull, it conveys our meaning — is of profound significance. 

 Often directly superposed upon the relics of the long-barrow period, 

 and in other ways indicating a succession to it in time, occur the 

 remains of an entirely different racial type. This stratum repre- 

 sents the so-called round-barrow period, from the circumstance that 

 the burial mounds are no longer ovoid or elongated in ground plan, but 

 quite circular or bell-shaped. The culture is greatly superior to that 

 of its predecessor. Pottery, well ornamented, occurs in abundance, 

 and the metals are known. Bronze implements are very common, 

 and even a few traces of iron appear. Now the dead are often 

 buried in urns, showing that incineration must have been practiced. 

 More remarkable than this advance in culture, and more directly 

 concerning our present inquiry, the people were as broad-headed as 

 the modern peasants of middle Trance. The cephalic index was 

 fully ten points on the average above that of the long-barrow men, 

 averaging about 83 in the life. The former type has not entirely 

 disappeared, but it is in a decided minority. So persistent is 

 the difference that Dr. Thurnam's well-known axiom, " long-bar- 

 row, long skull; round-barrow, round head," is accepted as an 

 ethnic law. It is impossible to emphasize too strongly the radical 

 change in human type which is hereby implied. The contrast is 

 every whit as marked as that between a modern Alpine peasant and 

 a south Italian or Scandinavian. The new population differed in 

 still another important respect from the underlying one. This is 

 known from scores of detailed measurements of skeletons. The 

 average stature was fully three inches greater, rising five feet eight 

 inches. The round-barrow population therefore attained a bodily 



