254 PRINCIPAL SIR WILLIAM TURNER ON 



inhumation, but subsequently became general and gave a marked character to their 

 interments. In the early occupancy of Britain their weapons and tools resembled 

 those of their neolithic predecessors, but bronze was introduced later and came into 

 use. which has led to the expression bronze-age people being applied to them. In 

 stature they were, as a rule, taller than their predecessors, though in some localities 

 shorter skeletons have been observed. Their crania were shorter and relatively 

 broad, brachycephalic or round-headed, though in some of the short-cist and round- 

 barrow burials a proportion of longer skulls occurred. The face was low in relation 

 to breadth, the jaw not projecting, the nose narrow. We do not definitely know 

 the colour of the skin, hair, au,d eyes, though, on the supposition that they were 

 derived from the Mid-European Alpine stock, the hair was probably dark-brown or 

 black, the eyes brown or hazel, and the skin a pale brunette. The round-heads for 

 more than a thousand years had occupied Britain from the English Channel to the 

 Pentland Firth and from the North Sea to the Atlantic, though their remains are more 

 abundant on the east than on the west side of the island. They were a most important 

 factor, which persisted during later invasions and is in evidence at the present day. 



Next in succession were the Celts, derived apparently from G-aul and the country 

 of the Belgae. The stock may at first have been brachycephalic, but through an 

 intermixture with a preceding neolithic race in their own area, and perhaps also 

 with North European tribes bordering on Mid-Europe, they became a mixed people. 

 They did not possess therefore a uniform type of skull, and in addition to dolicho- 

 cephali and brachycephali had examples of the intermediate or mesocephalic type. 

 The jaw did not project, the nose was narrow, and the face was not relatively broad. 

 They constituted, and still form, an important element in the people of both North 

 and South Britain, who derived from them recognisable physical characters. 



The Norsemen, from the three Scandinavian countries of Northern Europe, were 

 dolichocephalic, though, from the presence of brachycephalic centres on the sea coast of 

 both Norway and Sweden, the invaders had possibly brought with them a proportion 

 of round-headed comrades. Their stature was tall, skin and hair fair, eyes blue. 



The Anglo-Saxons were in large measure of Norse descent, though the Saxon 

 element had doubtless undergone some intermixture with Mid-European people. 



Owing to constant intermarriage and crossing amongst these races in the course 

 of centuries, it has become difficult to discriminate in the densely populated areas of 

 the British Isles the several strains of blood. Where the inhabitants are fewer in 

 number and through local conditions scattered and relatively isolated, evidence of 

 descent from an original stock, or stocks, can be traced. From the intermarriage 

 and crossing a mixed and virile people have been evolved, endowed with physical 

 frames capable of great endurance ; provided with and acting under the governance 

 of brains of energy, quality, and volume, which have enabled them to gain and 

 retain a dominant position amongst the nations. 



