342 LECTORE XII. 



The Romanic skull (fig. 126) maintains also here a sepa- 

 rate position. The high arching of the forehead, the uniform 

 curvature of the vertex, the steep descent of the occiput, 

 the compactness of the base, the acclivous direction of the 

 upper jaw and the mastoid processes, distinguish it at the 

 first glance ; and, viewed in profile, it appears almost as the 

 polar opposite of the stone skull. The position also of the 

 foramen magnum, which is not seen in our drawings, is more 

 backward in the Romanic skull than in the stone- and Lapp- 

 skulls. 



The Lapps present thus in their cranial structure a greater 

 affinity with the stone-period people than with the Romanic- 

 type; and the latter must have undergone a much greater 

 alteration than the former, if both types are to be derived 

 from the primitive people of the northern stone-period. 



There can be no doubt that during the stone-period, as it is 

 called by archgeologists, when metals were unknown, the north 

 had attained to a certain degree of civilisation. This is partly 

 proved by the finished tools made of stone, bones, and wood, 

 found in the peat bogs, and by the old graves, all of which 

 bear a common character, being a chamber formed of large 

 stone blocks, in which the corpse was deposited or placed in a 

 crouching position. Upon this chamber large masses of stone 

 were heaped, and thus arose those large mounds which attract 

 the attention of the traveller in the northern plains, mounds 

 frequently overgrown with high trees — oaks or beeches. In 

 many places, besides Switzerland, the custom prevails for 

 wayfarers to place upon the grave of one accidentally killed a 

 stone or a handful of earth. Possibly, a similar custom may 

 have obtained among the ancient stone-peoples, and may have 

 contributed to these accumulations above the graves. 



Whether bronze was introduced by a distinct race, or whether 

 the art of making it was discovered by the stone-jDeople, must 

 for the present remain undecided. No skulls of the bronze 

 age have as yet been discovered, probably from the custom 

 then prevalent of burning the bodies and preserving the ashes 

 along with the arms and other tools of the deceased. It was 

 at the iron period that the burial of bodies recommenced. 



