UPON THE SERIES OF PREHISTORIC CRANIA. 283 



described in the ' Crania Britanniea,' PI. n, by Dr. Thurnam. Some 

 additional probability for the view which would consider these 

 skulls to be ' Mischformen ' is on the principle laid down in note 4, 

 p. 232 supra, gained from the fact that this latter skull had belonged 

 to a skeleton with a thigh of 205", and by consequence to a man 

 of not less than 6' 2" in stature. Neither of the authors touch upon 

 this point in treating of these skulls ; they coincide with each other 

 in observing upon the great height and the vertical dip of the pos- 

 terior part of their parietals. As regards the series of prehistoric 

 crania with which I am dealing, I have to say that whilst skulls 

 of this kind are by no means rare in interments of the bronze period 

 (e. g. « Flixton, lxxi. 12/ p. 278 ; ' Jarrett, civ.' p. 315 ; ■ Sherburn 

 Wold Prodham, ix. 1 ; ' * Paulinus, cxiii. 3,' p. 322), they form a con- 

 siderable proportion of the skulls from Canon Greenwell's series of 

 the late Keltic or early iron age of Great Britain, and are entirely 

 wanting, so far as I have observed, in the series from the long barrows. 

 The skull from Grimthorpe in the East Riding of Yorkshire, described 

 in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, March 18, 1869, 

 by Dr. Barnard Davis, and now in the Oxford University Museum ; 

 the skull from Arras in the same locality, figured and described by 

 Dr. Thurnam in the 'Crania Britannica,' PL 6 ; and a skull from Crosby 

 Garrett (see p. 386 of 'British Barrows') in the county of West- 

 moreland, may be mentioned as combining the peculiarities above 

 spoken of with the archaeological surroundings of the comparatively 

 short period between probably, at the utmost, 200 B.C. and 100 a.d. 

 Mere etymology might lead a reader to suppose these lofty yet doli- 

 chocephalic skulls might resemble the i Hypsistenocephali ' of the 

 Melanesian islands described by Dr. Barnard Davis (locc. citt. supra, 

 p. 246), they differ however from these skulls in being larger in 

 cubical contents ; in being better filled out, especially in the frontal 

 region ; in being orthognathous ; and above all, in having their 

 parietal tubera far more backwardly placed. See p. 454 of ' British 

 Barrows/ 



I will now pass from the consideration of the skulls as found in 

 a more or less perfect condition, or at least in one which has 

 admitted of their being, partially at least, restored, to a considera- 

 tion of certain conclusions which have been based upon the appear- 

 ances presented by the fragments into which the prehistoric skulls 

 are, so often and so unfortunately, found to be broken. 



