Haddon — Neolithic Cist Burial at Oldbriclge, Co. Meath. 577 



Norma verticalis. — This skull most nearly resembles Sergi's sphe- 

 noides rotundus, that is, it is wider than the more typical sphenoides, 

 and has the elevations rounded off, especially in the occipital part, 

 which is globular; it is phsenozygous. 



Norma lateralis. — In the side view the skull agrees with Sergi's 

 sphenoides latus,^ except that in the Irish specimen the forehead is 

 more retreating and the superciliary arches more prominent. 



The following taken from the "Crania Britannica" (n. 1865, 

 No. 55) is the only record I can discover of this find: — "About the 

 year 1840 a small cist was opened at a depth of 4 feet in the Phoenix 

 Park, not far from the two cromlechs previously discovered there. It 

 was of a domed shape, and constructed of small stones, closed at the 

 top with a larger one. It contained a skeleton, the major part of 

 which was placed at the bottom of the ci.st, with the long bones crossed 

 and the calvarium at the top, the lower jaw upon it. This skull was 

 presented to the Museum of Trinity College by the late Dr. Eobert 

 Ball." 



Ancient CEANitru: from Cotjnty Tteone. 



In the Grattan Collection there is a cast of a cranium, which is 

 labelled "liTo. 2. — Kistvaen, county Tyrone, Mr. Bell's Collection." 

 Unfortunately there is no further information about this interesting 

 specimen, which evidently belongs to a well-marked racial type. 



The original was apparently perfect, except for a fracture, with an 

 average breadth of about 60 mm., which extends from the right squa- 

 mosal obliquely over the vertex to the left frontal. The glabella and 

 supra-ciliary ridges are prominent, the forehead is high and broad, the 

 frontal eminences are well developed, and the frontal region of the 

 cranium is well filled both dorsally and laterally. The high curve 

 of the frontal, as seen in the norma lateralis, is carried evenly 

 backwards to the middle of the sagittal suture, the anterior portion 

 of which appears to form a slight median keel ; between the prominent 

 parietal eminences there is a sagittal groove, and the obelion is flattened. 

 The lateral parietal regions are well filled. There is a slight bulging 

 of the occipital squame. The squamosals are swollen ; the mastoids 

 appear to be moderately large. The face has prominent cheek-bones, 

 and appears broad, but it is really leptoprosopic. The index 57 may, 

 however, be somewhat too high, as the bizygomatic breadth could 

 not be actually measured ; and I estimated it at 130, with a note that 



^ "The Varieties of the Human Species " (English translation published by 

 the Smithsonian Institution, p. 34, fig. 11). 



