170 ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 



mm. 

 Prom the foramen magnum to the same point, . . . 122 ( 4.8") 

 Width of occiput from one parietal protuberance to 



the other, 138 ( 5.5") 



Width of base from one mastoid process to the other, 155 (6.25") 

 Thickness of the frontal and of the parietal bones in 



the middle of each, 9 



The cranial contents, estimated in millet-seed, amount to 36 ounces, 

 3 J drachms, Prussian apothecaries' weight. 



Another instance of a similar cranial form has occurred in Meck- 

 lenburg ; and the circumstance under which the skull was found again 

 point to a high antiquity. In the year 1852, a human skeleton, with a 

 bronze sword, was found in a sepulchral mound, termed "theHer- 

 berg," under a stone cairn, covered with an earthern mound. The 

 skull presented a regular Caucasian form. Beneath a stone foundation, 

 upon which the body lay extended, were found eight skulls lying 

 in the same direction, the faces looking towards the west ; beneath these 

 were innumerable bones lying one upon another, the arm-bones appear- 

 ing above the thigh-bones, as if in this spot eight bodies had been placed 

 side by side in the ground in a crouching or squatting posture. The 

 bones were so rotten, that only a few of them could be preserved. A 

 frontal bone, which was also sent to me by Dr. Lisch, presented in the 

 great prominence of the supraorbital ridges, the low retreating forehead, 

 and the broad root of the nose, a great similarity with the Plau cra- 

 nium ; but the projection was far less considerable; and the thin 

 bone with the ossified coronal suture appeared to belong to a young or 

 female cranium ; it adhered to the tongue, like the Plau cranium. The 

 assumption that the eight bodies placed in the foundation belonged to 

 a more ancient period than the principal corpse, is not justified by the 

 more decayed condition of their bones, which obviously depends upon 

 the way in which they were buried ; it is far more probable that these 

 eight bodies were those of slaves, sacrificed at the interment of the 

 warrior. That the Germani, when they immigrated into Germany, 

 met with an indigenous population, is indubitable from historical and 

 linguistic indications. The position in a crouching or squatting posture 

 is not Germanic, it indicates a higher antiquity ; but the custom may 

 have maintained itself even into the time of the Germani, together 

 with the remnants of the aboriginal population. As among the Esqui- 

 maux and Greenlanders, and several American tribes, the dead are 

 placed in the graves in a sitting posture, so, according to Nilsson,* 

 human skeletons in a squatting posture occur only in the more an- 

 cient graves in Scandinavia, as, for instance, in the Axevalla-Haide. 

 These primitive graves are covered with great stones, and they never 

 contain any objects of metal, nor any indication of cremation having 



* Jahrbuch. der Vereins f. Mecklenb. Gesch. u. Alterthumskunde. 1849, xiv., 

 p. 301. 



