ARCHiEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN CRETE. 229 



Cretan Mussulmans (who, it is true, possess but little Turkish blood) 

 and orthodox Cretans either of whose parents or grandparents hail 

 from outside the island, however near. 



This reduces our total figure, which is the basis of the comparisons 

 made in this paper, to 2,290. 



The interest in Cretan ethnology lies not only in the present distri- 

 bution of types and their external connections, but in their contrast 

 with the prehistoric inhabitants, the builders and artificers of Knossos, 

 Phaestos, Gournia, Palaikastro, &c. 



Skull Measurements. 



It will be remembered that Dr. Duckworth's examination in 1903 

 of skulls from Palaikastro (Eastern Crete) showed that the men of 

 ancient Crete of the so-called Middle Minoan Period were dolicho- 

 ccphals, with a small minority of brachycephals. The women were even 

 more dolichocephalic, and the long heads among them in greater 

 proportion than among the men; but, as I shall confine myself to male 

 adults in this paper, I use Dr. Duckworth's figures for men only. 



Sixty-four Cretan Males. 



Cranial index (average) 734 



,, (distribution) dolichocephalic . . . 65'3 per cent. 



,, brachycephalio . . . 8'55 „ 



„ mesaticephalic . . . 2615 „ 



Stature (estimated) 1,625 mm. 



Since 1903 further ancient Cretan cranial and skeletal remains have 

 passed through my hands, including twenty skulls. By the kindness 

 of Miss Edith Hall the lengths and breadths of five more crania, found 

 this year by Mr. Seager, have recently been communicated to me. 

 These twenty-five skulls, although limited in provenance to the eastern 

 half of Crete, hail from a wider area than the previous sixty-four, 

 namely, from Knossos, Meskinia, Koumasa, Gournia, as well as 

 Palaikastro. Thirteen of them belong to an equally early period, but 

 yield a rather higher average cranial index — 75'5 as compared with 73 '4 

 — and include among them two brachycephals. The remaining twelve 

 show an increasing breadth, agreeing with the archaeological evidence 

 for the inroad of invaders. Five skulls from Gournia, belonging to 

 the beginning of the Late Minoan Period, have a mean cranial index 

 of 76'5, and seven from various sites, belonging to the end of this 

 period (L.M. III. after the fall of Knossos), average 79*1, and include 

 no dolichocephals, but three mesocephals and four brachycephals. 



It would be more satisfactory to have had a broader foundation, 

 both geographical and numerical, on which to base our knowledge of 

 the physical type of the Minoans; but the evidence of 100 crania 

 (64 male + 13 male + 23 female) from the eastern half of the island., 

 dating back to the beginning of the second millennium B.C., is not to 

 be despised. These are the grounds for assuming the Minoans to have 



