BARROWS AT HADDON FIELDS, DERBYSHIRE. 53 



fractured edge of the remaining part of the parietal bone, that forms 

 the top boundary of this open space, shows unmistakable signs of 

 having been gnawed by rats. The surface of this edge is at first 

 vertical to the plane of the outer surface of the bone (as, indeed, is 

 the case with all the other edges of fractures of this skull), and then 

 it becomes a bevel, consisting of a succession of hollow scollops at an 

 obtuse angle to the outer surface, in each of which can be distinctly 

 seen the double teeth gougeings of rats. It is clear from this that the 

 fracture existed before thegnawings, in fact, that it furnished an edge 

 for the rats to operate upon : otherwise, it is difficult to imagine how 

 they could have attacked a smooth and unbroken surface of bone. 

 Why should rats attack this skull? It seems to me to be very 

 improbable for them to cut through into a dry and empty skull. I 

 can only conceive of such an attack taking place while as yet the 

 skeleton formed part of a corpse, and tha. '^eir object was to reach 

 the brains. If so, this would make the old set of fractures to be 

 practically contemporary with the burial of the individual, and perhaps 

 actually connected with his death. 



The following calvarial measurements will interest craniological 

 readers of this magazine : — 



Extreme breadth .. .. .. 5 '37 in. 



Extreme length* .. .. ., 7^43 „ 



Fronto-inial length* . . . . . 7-12 ,, 



Circumference . . . . . . 207 „ 



Maximum frontal width . . . . 4-5 „ 



Minimum do. . . . . 3-62 



Parietal arch . . . . . . 5-37 



Frontal do. . . . . . . 5-37 



Cephalic Index . . . . . 72-2 „ 



But perhaps the most interesting relic of this barrow is the fragment 

 of quern, which is of millstone grit. It is, I believe, a part (roughly 

 speaking, about one-fourth) of the upper stone ; and in the sketch at 

 the foot of Plate II., the lower or grinding surface is shown upper 

 most. The reader will there observe part of the curved side of the 

 central hole or " eye," which has been roughly " pecked " into shape 



* These measurements are taken from a spot immediately above the "glabella. 



