296 Notes on some Ancient British Skulls 
are mesaticephalic. Of these ancient skulls only the two referred 
to belong to the latter group; the other four are dolichocephalic, 
having indices ranging between 70 and 75. In the fundamental 
form of the head the majority of these ancient skulls therefore, 
differ from the form of the skull in the present race of the British 
Isles. The long-shaped skulls are chiefly found in the ong barrows. 
They also occur occasionally in round barrows; butin the latter the 
predominant form of skull is brachycephalic, and no brachycephalic 
skulls are found in the primary interments in long barrows. In long 
barrows hyperdolichocephalic skulls are often found, and in the 
round barrows the hyperbrachycephalic form as frequently occurs. 
The skulls interred in the long barrows are usually found associated 
with worked flints of a more or less rough character, while in the 
round barrows metals are not infrequently found, indicating that 
the dolichocephalic race were the inhabitants of the country anterior 
to the brachycephalic. The various objects found in the numerous 
barrows of this later race indicate that it must have invaded and 
conquered, or driven before it, the dolichocephalie race ; and hence 
we are able to account for the presence of dolichocephalic skulls 
occuring in round barrows, as in the ease of the skull from the 
round barrow at Shalbourne. 
In all the skulls, as far as could be determined (some of them 
being in a broken condition), the height is less than the breadth, 
with one exception, namely, the skull from Aldbourne. This is 
what usually exists in the human race. 
When we examine more particularly the characters of these 
crania, we find that there are two different types. The two 
skulls from Oldbury are what is termed coffin-shaped, that is 
to say the sides of the skull are flat from the point of greatest 
width towards the front and back, in the others the side walls are 
curved regularly and so that the skull is of a markedly ovoid form. 
The two forms can be easily distinguished by placing one of the 
Oldbury skulls side by side with that from Monkton cist and viewing 
the two from above. The want of sufficient material prevents the 
determination of the degree of importance of these two forms being 
properly estimated, but it seems not unlikely that the long barrow 
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