618 REPORT— 1880. 



and it is remarkable that when long barrows and chambered tumuli have since 

 been opened in this country the evidence has tended in the main to confirm Dr. 

 Thurnam's proposition. 



It is commonly believed that the brachycephali of the round barrows came in 

 contact with the dolichocephali as an invading, and ultimately as a conquering, 

 race. Not only were they armed with superior weapons — superior in so far as a 

 metal axe is a better weapon than a stone axe — but they were a taller and more 

 powerful people. Thurnam's measurements of femora led to the conclusion that 

 the average height of the brachycephali was 5 feet 84 inches, while that of the 

 long-headed men was only 5 feet 5-4 inches.^ Not only were they taller, but they 

 were probably a fiercer and more warlike race. In the skulls from the round 

 barrows the superciliary ridges are more prominent, the nasals diverge at a more 

 abrupt angle, tlie cheek-bones are high, and the lower jaw projects, giving the face 

 an aspect of ferocitj-, which contrasts unfavourably with the mild features of the 

 earlier stone-using people. 



On the whole, then, the researches of archseological anatomists tend to prove 

 that this country was tenanted in ante-historic or pre-Roman times by two peoples 

 who were ethnically distinct from each other. It is difficult to resist the tempta- 

 tion of applying this to the ethnogeny of Wales. Does it not seem probable that 

 the early short race of long-skulled, mild-featured, stone-using people may have 

 been the ancestors of the swarthy Silurians of Tacitus ; while the later tall race 

 of round-skulled, rugged-featured, bronze-using men may have represented the 

 broad-headed, Keltic-speaking folk of history ? At any rate, the evidence of 

 craniology does not run counter to this hj^Dothesis. For Dr. Beddoe's observa- 

 tions on head-forms in the West of England have shown that ' heads which are 

 ordinarily called brachycephalic belonged for the most part to individuals with 

 light hair,' while the short dark-haired people whom he examined were markedly 

 dolichocephalic.^ At the same time it must be admitted that his observations lend 

 'no support to the view that the Keltic sljiill has been or would be narrowed by an 

 admixture of the Iberian type.' It should not, however, be forgotten that the 

 same observer, in referring to a collection of crania from the Basque country pre- 

 served in Paris, says ' the form of M. Broca's Basque crania was very much that of 

 some modern Silurian heads.' ^ 



According to the view advocated by Thurnani we have a right to anticipate 

 that the oldest skulls found in this country would be of dolichocephalous type ; 

 and such I believe to be actually the case. Dr. Barnard Davis, it is true, has 

 stated in the Crania Britannica that the ancient British skull must be referred to 

 the brachycephalic type ; and such an induction was perfectly legitimate so long as 

 the craniologist dealt only with skulls from the round barrows or from similar 

 interments. But the long-barrow skulls examined hy Professor RoUeston,* and 

 the Cissbury skulls recently studied by the same anatomist,^ are decidedly doli- 

 chocephalic, as also are all the early prehistoric skulls which have been found of 

 late years in France. While referring to craniology in this country, I may perhaps 

 be allowed to remark that the eminent Italian anthropologist. Dr. Paolo Mante- 

 gazza, in a suggestive paper which has just appeared in his A-aluable journal, the 

 ArcMvio per VAntropologia, has referred to the Englishman's contempt for cranio- 

 logical work — work but little worthy of the practical spirit of the Anglo-Saxon 

 race.^ No doubt it is desirable to increase the number of our observations, but still 



' Mem. Anthroj?. Soc. Lond. vol. iii. 1870, p. 73. 

 ' lUd. vol. ii. 1866, p. 350. 

 3 lUd. p. 356. 



* ' On the People of the Long Barrow Period,' Jotirn. Anthroj}. Inst., vol. v. 1876, 

 p. 120. 



* JMd. vol. vi. 1877, p. 20; vol. viii. 1879, p. 377. 



^ The whole passage so amusingly refers to the national idiosyncrasies of cranio- 

 logists, that it is well worth reproduction. ' In Francia, Broca, il pontefice massimo 

 deir ipercraniohffia moderna, col suo ardore eternamente giovanile, non studia piil 

 i crani, ma i cervelli ; in Germania si prendono ancora misure sui teschi, ma con 

 ratiotmbile ohsequio, quasi si dovesse adempiere ad un dovere noioso ; in Inghilterra 



