290 A N C I E N T M N U M E N T S . 



Dr. Morton, in his Craiua Amcricrma, has presented a number of examples of 

 skulls from the mounds. Five of those are from mounds within the United States, 

 and three are from the sepulchral tumuli of Peru. Those of the United States 

 we re obtained, — one from the Grave creek mound, one from a mound near the 

 junction of the French Broad and Tennessee rivers in Tennessee, one from a 

 mound on the Alabama river, one from a mound near Circleville in Ohio, and one 

 from a mound on the Upper Mississippi. The first two may be regarded as 

 genuine remains of the mound-builders ; but it is more than probable, for reasons 

 already advanced, that the rest are skulls of the recent Indians, who, as we have 

 seen, often buried in the mounds. Numbers of these have been discovered by 

 the authors in the mounds, and the measurements of four of them are introduced in 

 the following comparative table. A, where they are indicated by an asterisk. This 

 table exhibits the measurements of the mound skull discovered by the authors ; 

 of the eight skulls described by Dr. Morton; of four modern skulls recovered from 

 the mounds ; of a skull taken from the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, three thou- 

 sand yards from its mouth, and uoav in the possession of Messrs. Foavlkrs & Wells, 

 of New York ; and also of the skull of a mummy or desiccated body, taken from 

 the same cave, and now in the Museum of the American Antiquarian Society, 

 Worcester, Mass. It will be seen that the conclusion already adopted respect- 

 ing three of the skulls noticed in the Crania Americana, are sustained by the 

 general coincidence in measurements between them and those indubitably of 

 recent date. 



The comparatively large facial angle and great internal capacity of the skull 

 figured in the plate cannot fail to attract attention. The mean internal capacity 

 of the eight heads presented by Dr. Morton is but eighty-one cubic inches, while the 

 facial angle does not exceed seventy-five degrees. The accompanying table, B, 

 exhibiting the mean results of Dr. Morton's measurements of American aboriginal 

 heads, as compared with the skull in question, and the mean measurements of the 

 skulls supposed to pertain to the race of the mounds, may not prove unacceptable. 



According to the same authority, the mean internal capacity of the Caucasian 

 head is 87 cubic inches ; of the Mongolian, 83 ; Malay, 81 ; American, 82 ; Ethio- 

 pian, 78. 



From what has been presented, it will be seen that the skull here described 

 exhibits, in a marked degree, the cranial characteristics of the American race, of 

 which it may be regarded as a perfect type. Whether its peculiarities of form 

 may not be, in part, artificial, it is not assumed to determine. It may nevertheless 

 be observed, that the Natchez and Peruvians, as also many of the savage tribes, 

 moulded the heads of their children in a variety of forms. The naturally vertical 

 occiput was undoubtedly generally rendered the more marked by the almost 

 universal practice of lashing the infant with its back against a board, by which it 

 was suspended or carried ai)out. 



Several of the inferior maxillary bones of the mound skeletons have been recov- 

 ered, nearly entire. They arc remarkable for their uiassiveness, and seem to have 

 been less projecting tlian those pertaining to the skeletons of a later date. 



