168 BUREAU OP AMEETCAN ETHNOLOGY r bull. 52 



and proo;nathic; with the summit of the skull elevated, nearly py- 

 ramidal, cheek bones prominent; with the front narrow, but not 

 exceptionally depressed; with the interorbital space very large and 

 the walls of the skull very thick (up to 1 cm.). In none of the skulls 

 is seen any trace of an artificial deformation produced by pressure." 



In 1876 the Sumidouro skull deposited in Rio de Janeiro was 

 described by Lacerda and Peixoto.^ The brief report reads as 

 follows : 



"Fossil slcull of Lagoa Santa, No. 7. — It is a relatively small skull 

 encountered with others in one of the caves of Lagoa Santa, where 

 existed also fossil bones of animals of species already extinct. Exter- 

 nally it presents a metallic, bronzelike aspect; on fracture, there is 

 clearly visible a calcareous alteration of the bone. Its weight is 

 notable, as compared with that of other skulls which we have 

 described. The zygomatic arches are broken in their middle part 

 and the styloids are destroyed. In the right temporal region is seen 

 a perforation, nearly elliptical in form, involving the squama of the 

 temporal bone and measuring 4.8 cm. in length by 2 cm. in greatest 

 breadth. The superior border of this defect reaches the beveled 

 edge of the parietal, which is intact. The aspect of the borders of 

 the opening, which are similar in nature and polish to the other 

 unfractured parts of the skull, leads to the conclusion that this defect 

 is not posthumous, such as appears to be true of the fractures of the 

 zygomatic arches, which present an entirely different aspect. The 

 form of this lesion, its extension, and the characteristics of its bor- 

 ders, lead us to believe that it was produced during life, by a cutting 

 instrument. Considering the relations existing between the affected 

 region and the brain, the wound must have resulted in the death of 

 the individual. The skull is without the lower jaw. . . . The front 

 is low and inclined backward as in nearly all of the skulls of the 

 American race; the glabella is salient, the superciliary arches very 

 prominent, the occiput flattened to nearly vertical; the external 

 occipital protuberance is broad, plain, and very protruding. The 

 plane of the occipital foramen prolonged forward would pass through 

 a horizontal line drawn from one orbit to the other. The malar 

 bones are prominent . . . the orbits quadrangular, the parieties of 

 the skull vertical, the mastoid processes of small size, the parietal 

 eminences prominent. Nearly all the sutures are consolidated, and 

 their serration is for the most part simple except in the posterior 

 portion of the sagittal, where it is complicated. There are vestiges 

 of two Wormian bones in the lambdoid suture. In the upper jaw 

 exist 14 dental alveoli, more or less damaged; of the teeth, there 

 remains only the second left molar. . . . The anterior nasal aper- 



1 Lacerda, Filho, e Rodrigues Peixoto, Contribuigoes para o estudo anfhropologico das racas indigenas 

 do Brazil; in Archivos do Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro, i, 1876, pp. 03-G5, pi. iv. 



