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bronze and other articles of this era, I have also alluded to 
implements of a rude and primitive type, fewer in number, 
and if I may judge from what specimens were exhumed in 
mv presence, all occurring beneath the bronze ornaments ; 
and lastly the remains of a human skull, considerably lower 
still. These must point to a period long anterior to the 
Fourth century, which was in all probability the last 
time when these caves formed the places of abode of a half- 
civilized race of people, while the former may appertain to a 
pre-historic age. 
Thinking that the formation of the skull might 
afford some indication as to this early race of man, 
Mr. O'Callaghan and myself carefully compared the parietal 
bones with those in the skulls of an ancient Egyptian, a 
Mexican from the burial-ground of Cuzco, the ancient capital 
of Peru, a Roman disinterred near York, and a modern 
European, and found that the situation of the lambdoidal 
suture did not correspond with that in any of these ; and 
what was more remarkable, the right side was considerably 
less in size and much more flattened than the left, but 
whether this is an accidental malformation, or the effects of 
artificial pressure, cannot be determined. Mr. Farrer informs 
me that the skulls obtained by him from the same cave were 
all considered as early British. I am not aware, however, 
whether these exhibited the same peculiarity, or that any 
indications of such a custom having been practised by these 
people has been discovered, which would point to a remote 
or aboriginal race. The Caribs compressed the frontal bone, 
while the early Mexicans produced deformity on the back 
part of the head, by pressing the occipital bone, the lamb- 
doidal suture, and the adjoining portions of the parietal 
bones, sometimes to the right, and sometimes to the left, so 
as to cause one side of the head to be much higher than the 
other. This deeply interesting physical peculiarity may be 
