312 



Uote on pwmra |Jemams 



iisiotaii bg feral pt-fitas, §■€$., f.f at 

 JBmrbjata, Kiltg|t«. 



By J. G. Garson, M.D., V.P.A.L, Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy at 

 Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, London. 



HROUGH the kind invitation of General Pitt- Rivers I have 

 had an opportunity of examining the human remains recently 

 excavated by him at Woodyates, Wiltshire, and of comparing them 

 with the specimens he obtained a few years ago from the Romano- 

 British villages of Woodcuts and Rotherley. 



Before my visit to R.ushmore each specimen had been carefully 

 measured, the sex accurately determined, and the stature of the 

 individual estimated by General Pitt-Rivers, who kindly placed at 

 my disposal all the results of his investigations. Having satisfied 

 myself that these measurements and calculations were correctly 

 made and quite as reliable as any I could make, I devoted the time 

 at my disposal to studying the descriptive characters and comparing 

 the various series of skulls from the above-mentioned places with 

 one another. The data, therefore, on which the present communi- 

 cation is based, are derived from General Pitt-Rivers' measurements 

 and my personal observations of all the specimens referred to in it. 



A cursory survey of the Woodyates specimens, when placed side 

 by side in line, was sufficient to show me that they differed in some 

 respects from those found in the villages of Woodcuts and Rotherley, 

 which I had previously examined soon after their discovery. It was 

 also sufficient to show that among the individual specimens com- 

 posing the series there existed a considerable range of variation in 

 the size and proportions of the different parts of the skull. In other 

 words, I could readily see that the remains were not those of a 

 homogenous group of persons, but of individuals presenting as great 

 diversities in their physical characters as would be found to exist in 

 a series of persons taken from different families at the present day. 

 Further examination of the specimens and of the measurements 



