CRANIOLOGY OF PEOPLE OF INDIA. 99 



the nasion was not de]3ressed ; the bridge of the nose was not very prominent ; the nasal 

 spine of the superior maxillae was moderate ; the floor of the nose in some specimens 

 was separated from the incisive region by a sharp ridge. The mean nasal index was 

 497, mesorhine, to which group three specimens belonged : one was leptorhine, one 

 platyrhine. The mean gnathic index was 9 8 '7, mesognathous, to which group three 

 specimens belonged, but two were orthognathous. The mean orbital index was 85 '9, 

 mesoseme, to which group two skulls belonged ; one was megaseme ; two were micro- 

 seme. The relative length and breadth of the palato-alveolar arch showed great varia- 

 tion : two skulls were dolichuranic ; one mesuranic ; two brachyuranic. In all the face 

 was chamaeprosopic. 



No skull was metopic. The cranial sutures were simple. In two specimens the 

 lambdoidal suture contained Wormian bones ; in one there was a right epipteric bone ; 

 in two the infra-orbital suture was present. The crania were cryptozygous. The mean 

 cranial capacity of two males was 1174 c.c, and of two females 1179 c.c. ; each skull 

 was microcephalic. 



Comparison of Aboriginal Crania. 



Before proceeding to consider the relations, as regards race, which the Dravidian 

 and Kolarian-speaking tribes bear to each other, it will be advisable to examine the 

 evidence of the possible presence in India of a people more ancient even than the present 

 wild tribes of the hill districts. From time to time objects have been found, which, 

 from the material of their construction and the simplicity of the workmanship, would 

 point to the existence in India of people who manufactured and employed tools and 

 implements of stone. 



In 1842 Dr W. H. Primrose found at Lingsoo-goor* ne ar a tumulus on which the 

 mess-house of the Hyderabad contingent was built, knives and arrow heads made of 

 cornelian, jasper, agate, and chalcedony. 



In 1863 Mr R. Bruce Foote discovered in the Madras Presidency, in situ, in beds 

 of a red ferruginous clay mingled with sand and gravel, and at an elevation of 300 feet 

 above the sea, chipped implements formed of quartzite.t Stone implements have also 

 been obtained by other collectors in Orissa, Mirzapore, Jubbulpoor, and the South 

 Mahratta country. Although formed of quartzite and not of flint, Sir John Evans J 

 considers that, as far as general form is concerned, they are identical with the imple- 

 ments from European river-drifts, and he regards them as belonging to palaeolithic times. 

 Mr F. Swynnerton states § that quartzite implements of palaeolithic type have been 

 found on the surface of the ground at Raipur. 



Sir John Evans has recorded a worked arrow head from India in the possession of Pro- 

 fessor Buckman which belonged to the late Stone age. A number of arrow heads, with 



* Meadows Taylor in Journ. Ethno. Soc, London, N.S., vol. i. p. 175, 1869. 



t Geological Magazine, vol. xi. p. 503. 



I Ancient Stone Implements, 2nd ed., p. 651, London, 1897. 



§ Journ. Anthro. Inst., 1899, vol. ii. p. 141. 



VOL. XL. PART I. (No. 6). P 



