620 EXCAVATIONS IN AN ANCIENT 



I must say that the skull from the leaden coffins, of which I am 

 speaking, as also a more or less authentic bust of Julius Caesar, and 

 such works of art as the Roman figured in Lindenschmit's * Alter- 

 thiimer,' Heft vii. Taf. v. have convinced me that too much weight 

 may be laid upon breadth of forehead. In these heads the broad 

 character which they present does not depend upon the frontal but 

 upon the parietal region, and the vertical view of the cranium pre- 

 sents very much such an outline from back to front as the broad 

 side of the flint axes or celts, so familiar to antiquaries, presents 

 from front to back. The head of the first Napoleon must have 

 presented such a contour when viewed from above; and I believe, 

 in spite of our tendency to connect a narrow forehead with foolish- 

 ness, that a truer analysis would connect it in many cases merely 

 with premature closure of the frontal suture, which seems hereditary 

 in some families. This premature closing is consistent with the 

 possession of a large cerebrum, and of great mental powers, and we 

 cannot arrogate for it any ethnological significance, at all events in 

 cultured races. 



His and Kiitimeyer (' Crania Helvetica,' p. 34) hold that their 

 *Sion^ type of cranium, which seems to me to be represented by 

 the broad, flattish, globosely contoured skulls, of which I have just 

 been speaking, was the type of skull possessed by the Helvetii, 

 their ' Celtic forefathers,' and by the inhabitants of their Pfahl- 

 bauten. And, as there is evidence to show that this same form of 

 skull existed in pre-Roman times even in these islands, we must 

 not suppose that the flatter and more globose skulls which we find 

 at Frilford belonged exclusively to Roman immigrants, or to im- 

 migrants from Southern Europe, who may have been commanding 

 as officers, or settled as upper-class decuriones or equites in the 

 neighbourhood of this cemetery. The loftier and narrower crania, 

 however, may with less hesitation be supposed to have belonged to 

 men of similar station, but of British birth and blood, who had 

 acquiesced in Roman rule, and identified themselves with Roman 

 institutions. 



Differing in the particulars specified, the osteological remains of 

 the two occupiers of leaden coffins do nevertheless present certain 

 important points of resemblance. Both belonged to men who were 

 beyond the middle period of life, who were possessed of great 

 muscular strength, but whose skulls, teeth, and jaws seem to show 



