ON SKULLS OF HORSES FROM THE ROMAN FORT AT NEWSTEAD. 559 



The 534 mm. skull closely resembles in its main features the skull of a typical Arab 

 imported some years ago from India, which measured 55*5 inches. In this Arab the 

 height at the withers was 2 '7 times the length of the skull, from which it may be 

 inferred that the Roman horse with an Arab-like skull measured, when alive, about 56*8 

 inches at the withers, i.e. over 14 hands. 



The broad skull, 547 mm. in length, obviously belonged to the Forest type — the 

 type to which belong many of the stout, short-necked, round-quartered, deer-stalking 

 ponies of the Scottish Highlands. In typical Highland ponies, as in Arabs, the height is 

 frequently 2*7 times the length of the skull. It may hence be assumed that the broad- 

 faced Roman horse measured, in round numbers, 58 inches (14"2 hands) at the withers. 



The 560 mm. skull obviously belonged to a horse of the Steppe type with, per 

 haps, a trace of Forest blood. To make allowance for this admixture I multiplied the 

 560 mm. skull by 2*5 instead of 2'4, which gives a height at the withers of 55 inches 

 or 13 '3 hands. 



As the very long skull seemed to belong to a cross-bred animal of a long-limbed 

 high- withered type, the length (582 mm.) was multiplied by 2*6, which gives a height 

 of 59 '5 inches or just under 15 hands at the withers. 



Assuming that these measurements are fairly accurate, it follows that at, or about, 

 the end of the first century the Roman auxiliaries stationed at Newstead had in their 

 possession horses varying from 12 to 15 hands. 



The Varieties of Horses in the Newstead Fort. 



The height of the Newstead horses having been approximately fixed, the question 

 arises — Does a careful examination of the skulls from Newstead support the view 

 arrived at from a superficial examination, viz., that there were three perfectly distinct 

 varieties of horses in this Roman fort in the south of Scotland about the end of the first 

 century, and that representatives of these three varieties are still living ? Never before, 

 as far as I can learn, has there been a like opportunity for studying the horses of 

 Europe during the first and second centuries, and seldom before when horse skulls were 

 under consideration has the possibility of the multiple origin of domestic horses been 

 taken into consideration. 



A detailed study of the Newstead skulls implies making use of the methods of the 

 anthropologist. For some years craniological measurements have played an ever- 

 increasing part in the classification of mammals ; but a method has not yet been 

 devised, and is hardly likely ever to be devised, capable of being applied to all groups 

 of mammals. 



In studying a collection of skulls, the chief object in view is to find out in what 

 respects they essentially agree with or differ from each other and from skulls of 

 allied races or varieties. 



By making too many measurements the differences are apt to be obscured ; 



