146 ANTIQUITIES IN TENNESSEE. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 



I. The crania of the stone-grave and mound-building race of Tennessee possess, 

 in a marked degree, those characteristics which distinguished the American 

 aborigines from all other people. 



II. These crania appear to belong to the Toltecan division of the American 

 nations, being characterized, in common with tliose of the Inca Peruvians, and 

 the Toltecs of Mexico, by the quadrangular form, compressed, almost vertical 

 occiput, lateral swelling out of the sides, and elevated but retreating forehead. 

 As in the case of the crania of the Inca Peruvians, these skulls are remarkable 

 for want of symmetry ; for in the whole number examined, scarcely one could be 

 called symmetrical. In many of the crania, the os inca-, characteristic of the 

 Peruvian skulls, was observed. 



III. The crania of the stone graves and mounds of Tennessee have evidently 

 been altered by artificial pressure ; the occiput being greatly flattened, and in 

 some cases rendered almost perpendicular. In many of the crania, on account of 

 the pressure, the parietal diameter was nearly as great as the occipito-frontal 

 diameter, and in some cases even greater. 



The flattening of the occiput was especially manifest in the crania of children. 



When viewed from behind, the skull presents a conical or wedge-shaped out- 

 line, the base being wide at the occipital protuberances and at the openings of the 

 auditory canals, from thence to the parietal protuberances almost perpendicular, 

 and sloping from the parietal protuberances to the vertex. 



When the skull is laid upon the side and viewed in outline, the base presents a 

 massive compressed appearance, with a shortened antero-posterior diameter and 

 lengthened lateral diameter ; and the foramen magnum and glenoid fossa do not 

 occupy symmetrical positions. These peculiarities were evidently the result of 

 artificial pressure rather than of original conformation. 



The mode of burial adopted by the aborigines of Tennessee, in stone coffins or 

 cliests covered with large flat rocks, eff'ectually preserved the crania from all 

 injury or distortion by the weight of superincumbent masses of earth, and at the 

 same time entirely excluded the roots of plants and trees. It would therefore be 

 absurd to refer the peculiar configuration of these crania to causes acting after 

 death. Any cause sufficiently great to flatten the occiput and alter the relative 

 position of the parietal bones, the foramen magnum, and the glenoid fossa, would 

 surely have been powerful enough to crush and utterly destroy the crania. It 

 is well known that such changes are impossible in the adult cranium, by any 

 exertion of extraneous force, however carefully and continuously applied. 



