100 
REPORT ON A SKULL FROM 
in Nyeri District, west of Kenya, and on the edge of the forest 
on the Aberdare Range. The Italian missionary who made 
the discovery relates that the bones were six feet below the 
surface, and that charcoal was found with them. 
The peculiar features of the circumstances are that although 
the remains are almost certainly those of a Kikuyu native, 
yet the representatives of that tribe do not now usually occupy 
such elevated localities, and in fact are not known to live at 
an elevation higher than 7000 feet, i.e. 1000 feet lower than the 
site of the interment. The evidence in favour of assigning 
the hones to a Kikuyu skeleton is very strong, and is drawn 
from the characters of the lower jaw. From that bone the 
lower incisor teeth had been removed long before death. 
Artificial removal of these teeth is very characteristic of 
Kikuyu natives. But they do not usually inter their dead. 
As, however, an exception to this statement is to be made in 
respect of eminent persons and aged females, the skull in 
question (since it comes within the latter category) is still 
probably of Kikuyu origin. 
Having regard to all these points, the inference is drawn 
that the bones have been interred for many years, and must 
be regarded as ancient in more senses than one. But the bones 
are stained by vegetable juices, and from what is known of 
the locality I consider that the antiquity of the remains is not 
extraordinarily great. The conditions would probably not 
admit of the preservation of such remains for any very pro- 
tracted period. The fragile condition of the bones shows 
that no appreciable degree of mineralisation has been attained. 
These remarks are necessary in order to show that, although 
this may be described as an ancient Kikuyu skull, that designa- 
tion is not intended to suggest a high degree of antiquity in a 
geological sense. 
From such general considerations I now pass to the 
characters of the several bones. 
II. Descriptive 
The specimens comprise (a) a cranium with the mandible, 
(b) a fragment of a left scapula. 
