ANCIENT CHAMBERED TUMULI. 49 



been ahnost flat, there being little or no forehead rising 

 above the sockets of the eyes, tbe shape mucb resernbling 

 those given in the works of Lavater, as cbaracteristic 

 of tbe Tartar tribes. I wish I could bave preserved one 

 entire, but I have retained the upper part of two distinct 

 crania, which will be sufficient to confirm thi8 remarkable 

 fact." Dr. Thurnam has been at the trouble to trace out 

 these remains, which he found had been bequeathed by 

 Mr. Skinner to the museurn of the Bristol Philosophical 

 Institution, and he has described them in the I. Decad of 

 the Crania Britannica, a book manifesting great accuracy, 

 extensive research, and intimate acquaintance with the 

 subject of interments, while the facts brought under notice, 

 being so carefully arranged, must contribute much to the 

 assistance of future antiquaries. It is important that Dr. 

 Thurnam should have been enabled, on examination of 

 these remains, to ascertain their general resemblance to the 

 crania found in the tumulus at Uley. " The frontal bone," 

 he says, "is from the skull of a man of not more than 

 middle age." " Its narrow and contracted character is 

 very obvious, and its peculiarly receding and flat form 

 fully justifies the observations of Sir R. Hoare and Mr. 

 Skinner." And of the other he says that it has probably 

 been that of a female of rather advanced age : " The 

 forehead is narrow and receding, but less so than the for- 

 mer." " While it is satisfactory," says he, " to be able to 

 establish this general conformity of type, i. e., in the Uley 

 and "Wellow tumuli, how much is it to be regretted that 

 nothing beyond such meagre fragments remain to us of 

 these skulls, taken as they were from a tumulus of so rare 

 and remarkable a construclion, and clearly belonging to the 

 same period and people as that of Uley !" 



And here T may properly pass on to say something 



