THE CKANIOLOGY OF THE PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND. 175 



graves of the bronze age. The skull founci in 1782* near Newbattle Abbey, Mid 

 Lothian, was obtained from a large encircled, conical tumulus, thirty feet high and 

 ninety feet in circumference, in which was exposed a cist nearly seven feet long- 

 containing the skeleton of an aged man. The cranium, 197 mm. long, was in the 

 norma verticalis ovoid and elongated, vertex somewhat flattened, slope to parietal 

 eminence moderate, sides almost vertical, parieto-occipital slope gradual, occipital 

 squama bulging behind a strong inion. The base was broken and the height 

 could not be taken. The cephalic index 72-1 was dolichocephalic, which harmonised 

 with the form of the cranium. The glabella and supraciliaries were prominent, the 

 facial frontal receded, nasion not depressed, bridge of nose narrow feebly projecting, 

 nasal index 38*2, narrow, leptorhine ; orbits rounded, index 95*1, megaseme. Lower 

 jaw absent. The cavity of the cranium could, though the base was broken, hold 1500 

 c.c. of water, but when entire a larger quantity. (Table I, figs. 2, 3, p. 176.) 



A skull was obtained in 1835 at Nether Urquhart, Fife, from a cist under a 

 large cairn which contained two chambers, one of which was six feet long. It was 

 edentulous, with the alveoli absorbed and the sutures much obliterated. The sex was 

 doubtful, but probably male. The cranium was elongated, ovoid, vertex moderately 

 arched, steep slope from sagittal line to parietal eminences, parieto-occipital slope 

 gradual, occipital squama bulged behind feeble inion, height less than breadth ; 

 cephalic index 73 '8, vertical index 68-4, form and proportion dolichocephalic. The 

 facial frontal much receded, glabella and supraciliaries well marked, nasion 

 depressed, bridge of nose feeble, nasal bones short narrow, nasal index 53 '3 platy- 

 rhine, transverse diameter of orbit in excess of vertical, index 737, low microseme. 

 Cranial capacity 1380 c.c. Lower jaw absent. (Figs. 4, 5, 6.) 



Archaeology. 



An important advance was made nearly half a century ago when Dr Joseph 

 Anderson described f his exploration in Caithness of a remarkable group of cairns 

 containing chambers, access to which had been provided by a long passage. Some 

 of the cairns had a pair of horn -like prolongations at each end, and these cairns 

 were divided into a long and a short group. The floor of the chambers consisted 

 of blackish clay, charcoal and ashes, imbedded in which were fragments of burnt 

 bones, human and animal, with, in some cases, chips of partly worked flint, arrow- 

 heads and one example of a polished granite hammer. Broken pottery was some- 

 times found consisting of portions of round-bottomed vessels. 



On the surface of the floor of the chambers were unburnt human skeletons 

 much broken. From the character of the contents of the chambers these cairns 



* Wilson, Prehistoric. Annals, pp. 56, 168. This skull, and that from Nether Urquhart, Fife, at one time in 

 the Phrenological Museum, are part of the collection of the Henderson Trust now lodged in the Anatomical Museum 

 of the University. 



t I'ror. Soe. Antiq. Scot., vol. vi, 1868; vol. vii, 1870; Memoirs Anthrop. Soc. London, vol. iii, pp. 216, 266, 

 18(0 ; Scotland in Pagan Times, Rhind Lectures, 1886, 



