476 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1919. 
developments. The peoi^le of this period buried their dead in the 
contracted or " fetus-in-utero " position, with the body lying on its 
side. With the body were buried various mortuary offerings, par- 
ticularly pottery. The multitude of objects known as a result from 
this period permits us to recognize the influence on the population 
of southwestern, western, northwestern, and northern, besides 
southern and southeastern cultures. There was evidently a very free 
contact with the outside world. 
Besides cultural influences, however, there were also during this 
period actual influxes of other people. It has been found that skulls 
from burials showing objects of nordic culture are dolichocephalic, 
while those of burials showing a strong influence of western cultures 
are brachycephalic, in addition to which there were mixed elements. 
The population assumed a considerable heterogeneity. The preva- 
lent cranial type was probably the dolichocephalic, but accompanied, 
there are some reasons to believe, not with blond but rather dark hair 
and eyes. 
THE BRONZE CULTURE. 
On the basis of the final " transitional " neolithic period and under 
the influence of additional contacts there next developed in the Czecho- 
slovak territories, approximately about 1200 B. C, the " older bronze 
culture." The body was buried in the contracted position, was sur- 
rounded by stones, and with it were placed various forms of pottery, 
nicely shaped and with characteristic decorations. In addition there 
are also bronze armlets and pins, bronze or gold rings and earrings, 
amber-bead necklaces, characteristic bronze axes, and bronze daggers. 
Large burial grounds and a multitude of valuable burial offerings 
show that the people of this period lived in larger settlements, had 
trade relations with the north as well as the south of Europe and 
enjoyed considerable prosperity. 
This older bronze culture, while extending beyond the borders of 
Bohemia, found its highest development in the center of that coun- 
try. The skeletal remains from this period show people of higher 
stature, which may perhaps be explained by generally better living 
conditions. The skulls are prevalently oblong (dolichocephalic) 
and elliptical, with more or less marked parietal prominence. The 
population may be regarded in the main as the result of a fusion of 
the various ethnic elements of the transitional period. 
THE MOUND CULTURE OF SOUTHWESTERN BOHEMIA. 
The older bronze culture lasted according to the estimates of 
Czech archeologists up to the eighth century B. C. About that time 
the people of Bohemia became subject to the influence of two new 
outside ethnic elements which penetrated into the country, one from 
