THE CRANIOLOGY OF THE PEOPLE OP SCOTLAND. 181 



Mr Alexr. 0. Curle has recently described* a cairn near Sunningdale, Suther- 

 landshire, which showed indications of four horns. It enclosed a chamber 8 feet 

 9 inches long and 7 feet broad, formed of seven large upright slabs arranged to form 

 a domed roof. A passage ran from one eud of the chamber for about 12 feet towards 

 the surface of the cairn. The chamber contained decayed human bones, a flint 

 scraper and a fragment of pottery neolithic in character. 



Craniology. Table I. 



Well-preserved specimens of the skulls from neolithic interments are unfortu- 

 nately few in number, but from those specified in Table I the following general 

 characters may be stated. 



The crania varied in maximum length : five ranged from 196 to 201 mm., five 

 from 183 to 187 mm. ; the mean length of the series was 191 '8, which is a high 

 average when compared with modern male Scottish skulls, f The breadth ranged 

 from 134 to 144 mm. and the mean was 139"8, much below the mean of the 

 modern specimens. The height ranged from 128 to 139 mm. and the mean was 

 133 '2, almost the same as in the modern skulls. The horizontal circumference ranged 

 from 517 to 545 mm. and the mean was 528'7, almost equal to the modern male 

 skulls. The cubic capacity taken in four male crania gave a mean 1480 c.c. 



The cephalic (length-breadth) index was obtained in ten skulls, the mean was 

 72*8: seven were less than 75, numerically dolichocephalic; three were from 75*2 

 to 76, or approximately meso-dolichocephalic ; not one was brachy cephalic or meso- 

 brachycephalic. The vertical (length-height) index computed in six skulls ranged 

 from 6 5 "7 to 73*1, with the mean 69*3 ; in each it was less than the cephalic, and 

 no cranium was high, hypsicephalic. 



In general configuration the cranium was an elongated ovoid, moderately arched 

 but not ridged on the vertex, the side walls flattened, the parieto-occipital slope not 

 steep, the occipital point behind the inion ; the forehead somewhat retreating, the 

 glabella and supraciliary ridges well marked, the nasion a little depressed, the 

 characters therefore are, like the proportions, dolichocephalic. 



For the facial measurements the proportion of the complete length to the 

 breadth could be taken in only two specimens ; the nasio-mental index had a 

 mean 92 '3, high-faced or leptoprosopic ; in four specimens the maxillo-facial index 

 worked out at from 45'9 to 52*2, the mean being 50*1, also leptoprosopic. The 

 gnathic index computed by Flower's method was in each specimen orthognathous. 

 The nasal index was not platyrhine, but either leptorhine or mesorhine. The orbital 

 index, as is customary, varied, ranging from 72 to 95'1 ; only one was rounded, mega- 



* Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. xliv, 1910. The Reports of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments in the 

 Counties have recently added examples of chambered cairns in Sutherland and Caithness, also long cairns in 

 Galloway, and notably one in Berwickshire at Byrecleugh, Longformacus. 



t The references in the text to modern Scottish skulls apply to those described in Part I, vol. xl, of this Memoir. 



