SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 55 



with the longer axis nearly due east and west. The inside measurements 

 of the cist were : length along the south side, 3 feet 5 inches, and 

 along the north side 3 feet 5J inches ; breadth at west end 2 feet 4| 

 inches, and at east end 2 feet 3J inches ; depth at east end 1 foot 

 (j inches and at west end 1 foot 8 inches. The mouth of the cist was 

 covered with a large slab of irregular shape, 4 feet 5 inches in its 

 greatest length ; 3 feet broad at the west end and 2 feet 1 inch near 

 the other end. The north-east corner of the cist was covered with a 

 smaller slab. The large slab was about 6 inches thick. The top of 

 the slabs at the east end of the cist being slightly sunk, this part had 

 been heightened by some small thin stones having been built in with 

 clay as mortar. The corners and the vacancies under the cover stone 

 were packed with yellow clay. The bottom of the cist was composed 

 of the gravelly subsoil of the district, above which was a very thin 

 sprinkling of charcoal which was covered with a layer of yellow clay, 

 three quarters of an inch thick, on which the remains reposed." 



THE SKELETON. The bones, with the exception of the skull, are 

 mostly much broken, but the remains indicate the skeleton of an adult 

 male. 



Skull. The skull is fairly well preserved, but has crumbled away 

 in the right parietal region so that there is here a hole measuring 

 about two inches by one inch. The zygomatic arches are broken, as 

 are also the left angle and ramus of the lower jaw. The sutures are 

 open with the exception of the lower ends of coronal sutures which 

 have commenced to synostose. The sutures are delicate and elaborate 

 and in the lambdoidal suture there are several small wormian bones 

 in the right half there are three ossicles, each measuring about 10 mm. 

 by 7 mm., and in the left half of the suture there are two ossicles. 

 The infraorbital suture on the left side is continued across the orbital 

 margin to the infraorbital foramen. At the pterion the frontal is well 

 separated from the squamosal. The enamel of the crowns of the 

 teeth has been worn oft', and the dentine exposed : this might be taken 

 to mean old age ; but the wearing down of the teeth has probably been 

 due to the hard and gritty nature of the food. The supraorbital 



