478 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
been greatly simplified if there had been a top to the vault so that 
the whole skull could have been inverted. Under the circumstances 
it seemed best to hold to the original positioning of the total assem- 
blage, and only when the pieces were firmly fixed by wires to turn the 
skull over (supported by the hands) for inspection. Needless to say, 
the stated objective was not reached on the first trial. Indeed, it took a 
couple of days to get everything here satisfactorily arranged; that is, 
satisfactory only if the gaps already mentioned are disregarded. 
One more point should be mentioned in connection with the last 
phase of reconstruction, namely, the placement of the occiput. Early 
in the work I discovered that a large central piece of occipital bone 
had what seemed to be definite, if slight, connections on both sides, 
but no other connections. ‘Then, in the course of trying out various 
arrangements the connection on the right was damaged. Also, a 
gap developed in this region and it was no longer possible to connect 
the central occipital fragment on both sides. I decided finally to use 
the connection with the right side, because this side is more com- 
plete, but I remain unhappy that I could not confirm the connection. 
Possibly this part of the occiput should be shifted more to the left. 
From this description of the problems encountered during the course 
of reconstructing the skull the reader will understand why the original 
form has not been entirely recovered. Yet I am fairly certain that the 
skull, as restored, looks very much like it did before it was damaged. 
The parts could not be assembled very differently without yielding a 
bizarre appearance. I am inclined to believe that I achieved a com- 
promise between the original form and the distorted form caused by 
earth pressure. 
Necessarily the deficiencies of the skull have been emphasized in the 
foregoing account. To offset this I will now review some of the assets. 
In spite of what has been said, the skull can be considered essentially 
complete, since the parts recovered are so distributed that they permit 
the missing parts to be interpolated from them. Moreover, all im- 
portant landmarks, with the possible exception of lambda, are present. 
The location of lambda is rendered uncertain because of suture closure, 
the possible presence of a small “Inca” bone, and the loss of critical 
bone. Very important is the evidently correct placement of the fora- 
men magnum and its useful landmark basion at the anterior margin. 
Indeed, the whole base, delicate though the parts are, is almost com- 
plete. The same can be said with considerable confidence of the face; 
the details of the face could not have been very different from those of 
the face as restored. It is noteworthy that even the zygomatic arches 
are complete. And finally, all the teeth were present in life and are 
now in place, except only the lower central incisors, the absence of 
which was noted at excavation. Such assets (and more could be 
