PARISH OF UPPEll SWELL, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 539 



barrows of tlie same period in the immediate neighbourhood in 

 which male skeletons of as much as 5' ^" were found, accompanied 

 by female skeletons as short as 4' 10", shows us how much care is 

 requisite before generalizing upon these topics. It is, however, 

 possible, or even probable, that the shortness of the stature of the 

 occupants of this barrow may have been a family peculiarity, each 

 barrow having not improbably been the burial-place of the chiefs 

 of a single clan or horde, which clan or horde or family may in this 

 particular case have been distinguished by shortness of stature. 



All the ten skulls recovered or restored from the remains in this 

 barrow are dolicho-cephalic by measurement ; but it is of greater 

 conse(|uence to state that they are all equally free from any of the 

 peculiarities which characterise the brachy-cephalic type, in the 

 way of contour and otherwise, as distinguished from simple pro- 

 portion. Of the ten skulls, five undoubtedly belonged to men, and 

 of these one only to a man below 25 years of age ; of the other 

 four, one belonged to a man between 25 and 30, and the other 

 three to men past the period of middle life. Of the other five 

 skulls, four undoubtedly are skulls of women, and of these three 

 were aged women ; the remaining skull is most probably a woman'' s, 

 and an old woman's, but in this case it is not possible to be quite 

 certain as to the sex. This is a large proportion of aged bodies ; 

 and coupling with this the consideration of the similarly large 

 proportion of fractured and repaired bones mentioned above as 

 suggestive of exposure to the accidents of war, we may suppose 

 that the absence of younger skeletons in a due proportion is to be 

 ascribed to their owners having perished in fighting at a distance 

 from their homes. Perhaps the most striking point suggested by 

 a survey of these ten skulls in a single cou]) cVoeil is the very 

 considerable variety which exists amongst them, though they 

 can all be ranked under the title of ' dolicho-cephalic' Amongst 

 the female skulls two very different forms are at once put into 

 contrast, one of them a larger, the other a markedly smaller form ; 

 the ow^ners of the larger skulls we must suppose to have been 

 better fed and cared foi', and less ill-treated, especially in their 

 younger days, than the others ; it may remain a subject for specu- 

 lation in what way such a hold upon the respect of the other mem- 

 bers of the tribe was established by the less favoured and fortunate 

 women as to secure for them after death admission ' to the tombs 

 of the kings.' The male skulls are all large skulls, and whilst all 

 are dolicho-cephalic, two are exaggeratedly so, and would have 



