THE CRANIOLOGY OP THE PEOPLE OP SCOTLAND. 209 



except in three specimens, two of which were mesognathons, one prognathous ; the 

 mean of the entire series was 9 4 '5. 



In the series of nasal indices one skull was platyrhine, nine were leptorhine, 

 fifteen were mesorhine, and the mean, 48"9, was on the confines of the mesoleptorhine 

 groups. The orbital index varied in amount : in three the orbits were open and 

 rounded, megaseme above 89 ; in seventeen the transverse diameter was wide in 

 relation to the height, microseme, index below 84 ; six were mesoseme ; the mean 

 index of the series was microseme, 81 '4. The palato-maxillary index also had a 

 wide range : three were dolichuranic, long relatively narrow palates, index below 110; 

 fourteen w T ere brachyuranic, relatively broad palates, and of these seven were hyper- 

 brachyuranic, index above 120 ; two were mesuranic ; the mean index of the series 

 was 1185, brachyuranic. 



From* the number of specimens which have been described or referred to in this 

 section, one is justified in summarising the general characters of the skulls or heads 

 of the people of the bronze age as follows : — 



The crania were round-headed, brachycephalic ; the vertex was relatively flattened 

 and the height of the skull from basion to bregma was definitely less than the 

 breadth ; the back of the head was flattened and in several approached the vertical ; 

 the length of the face was low in relation to the breadth between the zygomata ; 

 the upper jaw was almost vertical, orthognathous, not projecting ; the nose was 

 relatively narrow, and not widened transversely at the nostrils ; the orbits were 

 variable, though frequently the breadth was great in relation to the height ; the 

 palate was frequently short and relatively wide ; the capacity of the cranium was 

 ' such as to associate it with the general standard of modern Europeans. 



An absolutely sharp line, as regards period of time, cannot be drawn between the 

 neolithic people and those of the bronze age, who to some extent overlapped in 

 their occupancy of Scotland ; skulls either dolichocephalic or approximating thereto 

 have been occasionally found in short cists. It would seem therefore that some 

 of the skulls found in short cists, described in Sir Daniel Wilson as kumbe- 

 cej)halic, were of the neolithic race. Flakes and arrow-heads of flint, worked stone, 

 bone and horn, the characteristic substances from which neolithic man found his 

 implements and weapons, have not infrequently been found in these cists. Both 

 peoples practised cremation and inhumation. Both manufactured a rude pottery 

 and enclosed examples in their graves, though in their characters the urns of the 

 neolithic period, rounded at the bottom, differed from those of the bronze age. 



Caves and Rock Shelters. Table VI. 



In referring the brachycephalic skulls to the bronze age, and the dolichocephalic 

 skulls to the polished stone age, one has been guided by the character of the 

 tombs, the grave goods which they contained, the position of the body and the 



