FOOTNOTES:
[191] Archæol. Scot. vol. iii. p. 299.
[192] Archæologia, vol. viii. p. 429. Plate XXX. fig. 6.
[193] Ancient Wiltshire, Plates II. and XII.
[194] Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. i. p. 237.
CHAPTER IX.
CRANIA OF THE TUMULI.
Notwithstanding the zeal with which English archæologists have pursued their investigations among the remains of primitive sepulchral deposits, scarcely anything has yet been done towards obtaining a collection of facts in relation to the size and form of the skulls, and the general characteristics of the skeletons of their constructors. In this, as in so many other respects, the archæologists of Sweden and Denmark have set us an example well deserving of imitation, and have shewn the essential dependence of Archæology on the kindred sciences, with which it has heretofore failed to effect a hearty alliance in Britain. Had Sir Richard Colt Hoare examined the osteology of the tumuli of Wiltshire with the same patient accuracy and precision which he devoted to their archæology, a most important basis would have been furnished for ethnological research. Now, however, that such investigations are recognised as coming within the legitimate scope of archæological inquiry, we may hope ere long to ascertain by such evidence somewhat of the characteristics of the aboriginal race of the Stone Period, and also to obtain an answer to the inquiry,—Was the Bronze Period superinduced on the Primeval one by internal improvement and progression, or was it the result of the intruded arts of a superior race? This, it is manifest, can only be determined by an extensive series of observations, since physiologists are generally agreed in admitting that the physical characteristics of races have been largely modified, and even entirely altered, by a change of circumstances. The nomadic Turkish tribes, for example, spread through central Asia, still exhibit the broad-faced, pyramidal skulls which Dr. Prichard has assigned to the nomadic races, while the long civilized European Turks have become closely assimilated to other European races, and possess the characteristic oval skull.[195] "The greater relative development of the jaws and zygomata, and of the bones of the face altogether, in comparison with the size of the brain, indicates, in the pyramidal and prognathous skulls, a more ample extension of the organs subservient to sensation and the animal faculties. Such a configuration is adapted, by its results, to the condition of human tribes in the nomadic state, and in that of savage hunters."[196] Two important points, therefore, which remain to be determined in relation to the British tumuli are, whether the forms and proportions of the skulls of their builders indicate the existence of one or of several races? and next, whether the changes in the forms of the crania are sudden and decided, or are gradual, and pass by an undefined transition from the one to the other? It will be found in the succeeding section that archæological evidence clearly points to a transitional state from the Stone to the Bronze Period, such as is at least altogether irreconcilable with the idea of the sudden extermination of the aboriginal race. It at the same time no less distinctly points to the existence of a native population in Britain long anterior to the earliest historic indications of the Arian nations passing into Europe.
To these early races, which we describe loosely as primitive, or as aboriginal or primeval, Dr. Prichard has suggested the application of the conveniently indefinite term "Allophylian," which suffices to characterize them as distinct from the well ascertained primitive races, without meanwhile assuming any hypothetical origin for them. It remains to be seen whether the archæologist may not be able to supply, in a great degree, the desired information in relation to the habits, arts, and social condition of these unknown races:—
"The Allophylian nations," Dr. Prichard remarks, "appear to have been spread, in the earliest times, through all the most remote regions of the old continent,—to the northward, eastward, and westward of the Indo-European tribes, whom they seem everywhere to have preceded; so that they appear, in comparison with these Indo-European colonies, in the light of aboriginal or native inhabitants, vanquished, and often banished into remote and inaccessible tracts, by more powerful invading tribes. The latter, namely, the Indo-European nations, seem to have been everywhere superior in mental endowments. Some tribes, indeed, had retained or acquired many characteristics of barbarism and ferocity; but with all these they joined undoubted marks of an earlier intellectual development, particularly a higher culture of language as an instrument of thought, as well as of human intercourse. If we inquire into the degree of improvement in the arts of life which the Indo-European nations had attained at the era of dispersion from their primitive abode, or from the common centre of the whole stock, an investigation of their languages will be our principal guide. It gives us strong grounds for a belief that their advancement in useful arts had been comparatively small. The primitive ancestors of the Indo-European nations were probably ignorant of the use of iron and other metals, since the terms by which these are denoted are different in different languages, and must, as it would appear, have been adopted subsequently to the era of separation. Nothing can be more unlike than gold, χρυσος, and aurum; than silver and argentum; than ferrum and σιδηρος. Other considerations may be advanced to confirm this opinion, that the use of metals was unknown to the earliest colonists of the west.... But though unskilled in many of the most useful arts of life, the Arian people appear to have brought with them a much higher mental culture than the Allophylian races possessed before the Arian tribes were spread among them. They had national poetry, and a culture of language and thought altogether surprising, when compared with their external condition and habits."[197]
The religion which consists in mere fetisses, charms, spells, and talismans is in like manner ascribed by Dr. Prichard to these Allophylian nations; in contradistinction to the Eastern doctrine of metempsychosis, with the coincident belief in a system of retributive justice, and the distinct recognition of a future state, which appear to have been common to all the Arian nations, and to have been further developed by their being confided to a distinct order, caste, or priesthood. Of the former races the modern Fins, Lappes, and Esquimaux still remain as characteristic examples. Of the latter, the historic Celtæ, Scandinavian and German-Teutonic races are sufficiently illustrative, while the modern Hindoos are a living evidence of the south-eastern migration of the same great branch of the human family. But of the degree of civilisation of the Arian nomades when they reached the western shores of Europe, or of the state in which they found the countries which they colonized, we as yet know almost nothing; and it still remains to be determined whether they entered into peaceful possession of unpeopled wastes, or won them from primitive Allophylian nations. On these points archæological observation may be expected to throw some light. The irregular or systematic arrangement of the cist, the provisions for the future occupation and welfare of the deceased, and all the peculiarities of primitive sepulchral rites, more or less clearly indicate the arts and habits of those by whom they were practised, and still more, the ideas entertained by them in relation to a future state.
Of the Allophylian colonists of Scandinavia, Professor Nillson assigns to the most ancient the short or brachy-kephalic form of cranium, with prominent parietal tubers, and broad and flattened occiput. To this aboriginal race he conceives succeeds another with a cranium of a more lengthened oval form and prominent and narrow occiput. The third race, which Scandinavian antiquaries incline to regard as that of the bronze or first metallic period, is characterized by a cranium longer than the first and broader than the second, and marked by greater prominence at the sides. The last Professor Nillson considers to have been of Celtic origin. To this succeeded the true Scandinavian race, and the first workers of the native iron ore.[198] Professor Eschricht assigns to the crania from the barrows of the oldest Danish series an ample and well-developed form, with the forehead vaulted and tolerably spacious, and the nasal bones prominent. In a skull described by him the zygomata appear large and angular, and the cranium has somewhat of a pyramidal form. The eyes have been deeply set, and the eyebrows are strongly prominent. One of the most remarkable features in these skulls is their round form, approaching to a spherical shape.[199]
The type of the old Celtic cranium is considered by Professor Nillson as intermediate to the lengthened and shortened oval, or the true dolicho-kephalic and brachy-kephalic forms, and in this conclusion Dr. Thurnam coincides. Dr. Morton describes the Celtic head as "rather elongated, and the forehead narrow and but slightly arched; the brow low, straight, and bushy; the eyes and hair light; the nose and mouth large; and the cheek-bones high."[200] Such characteristics differ decidedly from those of the early barrows. Dr. Prichard, however, hesitates to accept the conclusions adopted by Scandinavian ethnologists, attaching it may be too slight importance to the strictly archæological evidence on which they are to some extent based. He remarks in reference to the description of the skulls of the most ancient Scandinavian barrows:—"They are probably the crania of Celtic races; in Denmark of Cimbrians. The tombs containing ornaments of the precious metals are referred to a later age; but it is uncertain as yet whether they belonged to the same race as the former."[201] One marked difference has hitherto existed between the systems of several of the chief continental ethnologists and those of England, which has somewhat influenced the conclusions of each. While continental investigators into the phenomena of various races have set aside the idea of one primitive stock,—some of them even assuming the primal existence of numerous distinct and independent human races,—British ethnologists, with Dr. Prichard at their head, have held fast by the Adamic history, and in maintaining the origin of all the races of man from one pair, have also given its full force to the influence of external circumstances in modifying the physical peculiarities of each race. That the progress of a people in civilisation must be accompanied with a corresponding improvement in their intellectual faculties and also in their physical conformation is now generally admitted. Long time, however, is required even under the most favourable circumstances, for any very decisive modification affecting the form and features of a whole people, so that the sudden intrusion of a foreign race must be no less readily discernible from their crania than from novel arts or sepulchral rites. Nothing has yet been done by Scottish archæologists with a view to ascertain the physical conformation of the primitive native races; and the small contribution now offered as a beginning, is founded on too limited data to be of very great avail, except perhaps in opening up the subject and leading to more extended observation. Fortunately a few skulls from Scottish tumuli and cists are preserved in the Museums of the Scottish Antiquaries and of the Edinburgh Phrenological Society. A comparison of these with the specimens of crania drawn by Dr. Thurnam from examples found in an ancient tumular cemetery at Lamel Hill, near York, believed to be of the Anglo-Saxon period, abundantly proves an essential difference of races.[202] The latter, though belonging to the superior or dolicho-kephalic type, are small, very poorly developed, low and narrow in the forehead, and pyramidal in form. A striking feature of one type of crania from the Scottish barrows is a square compact form. Though full in the middle-head, these are by no means deficient in the forehead; but it will be observed from the first class of examples in the following table of measurements, that they are generally of small relative size,—a fact which has been frequently noted, even by casual observers, when seeing them in situ, and contrasting their dimensions with the disproportionate size of the skeleton. The system of measurement employed in the following table is chiefly that adopted by Dr. Morton in his "Crania Americana," and the terms are used in the sense explained by him under the head "Anatomical Measurements," (p. [249].) From the fractured and very fragile state of many of the skulls, it was impossible to attempt the measurement of their internal capacity by the ingenious process employed by Dr. Morton. The last column in the table is accordingly found by adding the longitudinal and vertical diameters and the horizontal periphery. This is not assumed as affording any test of the actual capacity of each cranium, but only as a fair relative approximation and element of comparison. Owing to the undetermined form of the processes in several of the crania and the imperfection or total absence of the facial bones, from their greatly decayed state, the additional measurements marked * are given as less liable to error. Some of them, such as the inter-mastoid arch and inter-mastoid line, taken from the upper root of the zygomatic process instead of from the points of the mastoid processes, are also, perhaps, preferable as more uniform and precise.[203]
The full value of such investigations, and even their precise bearing and the conclusions legitimately deducible from them, may probably be matter of dispute, but there can be no question that a general distinctive cranial conformation is clearly discoverable in modern nations, and is even very markedly observable between the different races of the British Isles. Given a sufficient number of examples of each class, the experienced eye would at once discriminate between the modern European Fin, Germanic Teuton, and British Celt. The conclusion appears therefore inevitable, that if we find in the ancient tumuli like variations in physical form, systematically reducible to two or more classes, we are justified in assuming the existence of diverse primitive races, and of seeking in the accompanying relics for indications of their peculiar arts and customs, as well as of their relative positions as contemporary or successive occupants of the country.
| No. | CRANIA. | Longitudinal Diameter. | Parietal Diameter. | Frontal Diameter. | Vertical Diameter. | Inter-Mastoid Arch. | * Inter-Mastoid Arch, from Upper Root of Zygomatic Process. | Inter-Mastoid Line. | * Do. from Upper Root of Zygomatic Process. | Occipito-frontal Arch. | * Do. from Occipital Protuberance to Root of Nose. | Horizontal Periphery. | * Relative Capacity. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| i. | Mexican, | 6.8 | 5.5 | 4.6 | 6. | 15.6 | ... | 4.4 | ... | 14.6 | ... | 19.9 | 32.5 | |
| ii. | " | 6.4 | 5.7 | 4.5 | 5.4 | 14.6 | ... | 4.5 | ... | 13.5 | ... | 20.2 | 31.10 | |
| Primitive Dolicho-kephalic, or Kumbe-kephalic. | 1. | Cist, Aberdeenshire, | 7. | 5.4½? | 4.9? | 4.10 | 13.11 | 11.5 | 3.6½ | 4.8½ | 13.9 | 12. | 20.4 | 32.2 |
| 2. | " Fifeshire, | 7. | 4.8 | 4.4 | 5.3 | 13.2 | 11. | 4.1 | 4.10 | 14. | 11.11 | 19.6 | 31.9 | |
| 3. | " Cockenzie, East-Lothian, | 6.11 | 5.3 | 3.11 | 5. | ... | 12. | ... | 4.8½ | 14.4 | 11.4 | 19. | 30.11 | |
| 4. | " " | 7. | 4.11 | 4.4 | 5.3 | 13.8 | 11.4½ | 4.1 | 4.10 | 13.10 | 11.3 | 16.7½ | 28.10½ | |
| 5. | " " | 6.6 | 4.1? | 4.11 | 4.2? | 13.2 | 11.3 | ... | 4.8? | 13.11 | 12. | 19. | 29.6 | |
| 6. | " Stonelaws, East-Lothian, | 7.3 | 5.4 | 4.6 | 5.2 | 14.3 | 11.9 | 4.4 | 5.0½ | 14.8 | 12.3 | 20.8½ | 33.1½ | |
| 7. | Cairn, Fifeshire, | 7.5 | 5.2 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 14.3 | 12. | 3.7 | 4.10½ | 14.3 | 12.3 | 20.7½ | 33.2½ | |
| 8. | Tumulus, Newbattle, | 7.9 | 5.6 | 4.9 | ... | ... | 12.3 | ... | 5.6 | 15.6 | ... | 21.3 | ... | |
| 9. | " Montrose, | 7.3 | 5.8 | 4.3½ | 4.9 | 14. | 11.9 | 3.8½ | 5. | 14.2 | 11.9 | 20.7 | 32.7 | |
| Brachy-kephalic. | 10. | Cist, Montrose, | 7. | 6.1 | 5.3 | 5.8 | 15.9 | 13.1 | 4.4 | 5.9½ | 15.2 | 13.3 | 21. | 33.8 |
| 11. | Moss, Kilsyth, | ... | 5.7½? | 4.4 | 5.5 | 14.6? | 12.2? | 4.1 | ... | ... | ... | 21.? | ... | |
| 12. | " Linton, | 6.6 | 5.1 | 4.1 | 4.9 | 13.5 | 11.3 | 3.9 | 4.6 | 13.6 | 11.9 | 18.7½ | 29.10½ | |
| 13. | " " | 6.7 | 5. | 4.1 | 4.11 | 13.4 | 11.3 | 3.10 | 4.6 | 13.8 | 11.10 | 19.7 | 31.1 | |
| 14. | Cist, Ratho, | 6.10 | 6. | 5.1 | 5.6 | 15.7 | 12.11 | 4.2 | 5.7 | 14.11 | 13. | 20. | 32.4 | |
| 15. | " Linlithgow, | 7.2? | 5.6 | 4.9 | ... | 14.10 | 12.7 | 4.6 | 5.5 | ... | ... | 20.6 | ... | |
| 16. | Roman Shaft, Roxburghshire, | 7.3 | 5.4 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 14.7½ | 12. | 5.3½ | 5.6 | 14.4 | 12.9 | 20.6 | 33.1 | |
| Celtic. | 17. | Tarbert, Kintyre, | 7.9 | 5. | 4.10 | 5.6 | 14.9 | 11.11 | 4. | 5.4 | 15.5 | 13.6 | 21.3 | 34.6 |
| 18. | Sea-Shore, Argyleshire, | 7.6 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 5.1 | 14.8 | 11.3 | 3.11 | 5.3 | 14.6 | 12.11 | 20.4 | 32.11½ | |
| 19. | Harris, Hebrides, | 7.3 | 5.3 | 4.5 | 5.4½ | 14.5 | 12.4 | 3.11½ | 4.9 | 14.9 | 12.9 | 20.10 | 33.5½ | |
| 20. | Iona, " | 7.5 | 5.6½ | 5.0½ | 5.6 | 14.11½ | 12.3 | 4. | ... | 14.9 | 12.6 | 20.10 | 33.9 | |
| 21. | " " | 7.3 | 5.6½ | 4.4 | 5.6 | 14.8 | 12. | 4.1 | 5.3 | 14.5 | 12.10 | 20.2 | 32.11 | |
| 22. | " " | 7.2 | 5.7 | 4.5 | 5.6 | 14.9 | 11.10 | 4.3 | 5.6 | 14.4 | 12.6 | 20. | 32.8 | |
| 23. | " " | 7.3½ | 5.7 | 4.6 | 5.2 | 15.? | 12.4? | ... | ... | 14.8 | 12.6½ | 19.10½ | 32.4 | |
| 24. | " " | 7.2 | 5.5 | 4.6 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 12.10 | 20.7 | ... | |
| 25. | Knockstanger, Caithness, | 7.8 | 5.6 | 4.3½ | 5.3 | 14.4 | 11.8 | 4.7 | 5.6 | 14.6 | 12.7 | 20.11 | 33.10 | |
| 26. | Inch Columb Kill, Ireland, | 7.9 | 5.7 | 5.3 | 5.6 | 15.7 | 13.3 | 4.0½ | 5.4 | 16.4 | 14.4 | 21.11 | 35.2 | |
| 27. | Celtic Type (?) Edin. Phrenol. Museum, | 7.11 | 5.5 | 4.9 | ... | ... | 12. | ... | 5.1 | 15.5 | 13.9 | 21.6 | ... | |
| Medieval. | 28. | Tumular Cemetery, North Berwick, | 7.6½ | 5.9 | 4.7 | 5.6 | 15.2 | 12.3 | 3.11 | 5.2 | 15. | 12.3 | 21.5 | 34.5½ |
| 29. | " " | 7. | 5.7 | 4.0½ | 4.8 | 13.8 | 11.4 | 3.6 | 4.9 | ... | 12.3 | 19.9 | 31.5 | |
| 30. | " " | 7.3½ | 5.10 | 4.11 | 5.7 | 15.5 | 12.3 | ... | 5.9 | 15. | 13. | 21.7 | 34.5½ | |
| 31. | Castle Bank, Edinburgh, | 7.6 | 5.4 | 4.11 | ... | 14.3 | 12. | 4.3 | 5.5 | ... | 12.6 | 20.1 | ... | |
| 32. | Flodden Wall, Edinburgh, | 7.6 | 5.4 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 14.6 | 12.2 | 4.2 | 5.1 | 15.6 | ... | 20.11 | 33.7 | |
| 33. | Old St. Giles's, Edinburgh, | 7.3 | 5.6 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 14. | 11.9 | 4.2½ | 5.5 | 14.4 | 12. | 20.2½ | 32.6½ | |
| 34. | " " | 7.6 | 5.6 | 4.7 | ... | 14.7 | 12. | 4.1½ | 5.1 | 15. | 12.10 | 20.8 | ... | |
| 35. | " " | 6.11½ | 5.6 | 4.4 | 5. | 14.5 | 12. | 3.7½ | 4.9 | 14. | 11.9 | 19.10 | 31.9½ | |
| 36. | " " | 6.6 | 5.3 | 4.2 | 4.11 | 13.3 | 11.3 | 3.10½ | 4.10 | 13.3 | 11. | 18.7 | 30. | |
| 37. | " " | 6.11 | 5.9 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 15.2 | 12. | 4. | 5.7 | 14. | 12.2 | 20.5 | 32.5 | |
| 38. | " " | 7.3 | 5.7 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 14.7 | 12.1 | 4. | 5. | 14.7 | 12.7 | 20.2 | 32.9 | |
| 39. | Constitution Street, Leith, | 7. | 5.9 | 4.9 | 5.3 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 3.10½ | 5.0½ | 14.3 | 12.5 | 20.3 | 32.6 | |
There is no primitive race known to us which seems so fit to be selected as a type and standard of comparison in relation to cranial development, as the Aztecs or ancient Mexicans. They were the last dominant race among numerous native tribes, who, progressing from the rudimentary Stone Period, were excluded from influences such as those which in Europe superseded the ages of stone and bronze by the more perfect arts of civilisation. These changes archæologists are now agreed in associating with the introduction of iron. But if in this latter point also the parallel be admissible, then we must less conceive of the more perfect arts of civilisation being superinduced on those of the Archaic Period, than of the Allophylian nations being themselves superseded. More extended observations on the physical characteristics of these races will probably, to a great extent, determine this. Two skulls selected from Morton's Crania Americana are placed at the head of the table, and will afford a very satisfactory comparative estimate of the cranial capacity of the races of the Scottish tumuli. No. i. is figured in Plate XVII. of Dr. Morton's valuable work, from which it will be seen that it decidedly belongs to the Brachy-kephalic class of Retzius, which again nearly corresponds with the pyramidal division of Dr. Prichard. It is thus described by Dr. Morton:—"With a better forehead than is usual, this skull presents all the prominent characters of the American race—the prominent face, elevated vertex, vertical occiput, and the great swell from the temporal bones upward." No. ii. is figured in Plate XVIII. of the same work, and closely corresponds to it in type. It is described as "a remarkably well characterized Toltecan head from an ancient tomb near the city of Mexico, whence it was exhumed, with a great variety of antiques, vessels, masks, ornaments," &c. These, therefore, afford a fair comparative criterion of the capacity of the tumuli builders of Britain for the practice of arts analogous to those in which the later American races so greatly excelled at the epoch of the Spanish Conquest; and it will be seen that the comparison is, upon the whole, in favour of the superior intelligence of the British Brachy-kephalic race, as indicated by the cerebral mass and frontal development. No. 1. is an exceedingly interesting example of a skull of the Stone Period, in the Antiquarian Museum. It was found in 1822 in a rude cist in the parish of Banchory-Devenich, Aberdeenshire. On the top of the head is a hole nearly circular, rather more than an inch in diameter, which there can scarcely be a doubt was caused by the death-blow. In each corner of the cist lay a small pile of flint flakes.—No. 2 was taken from one of thirty cists found near Fifeness, in 1826, and described in a previous chapter.—Nos. 3, 4, and 5 were obtained from a group of rude cists discovered in the neighbourhood of Cockenzie, East-Lothian, in 1840. Nos. 3 and 4, as well as the two previous examples, are in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries. No. 5 has been obtained from J. M. Mitchell, Esq., who was present when the graves at Cockenzie were opened, and is here figured as a characteristic example of the class. No relics were found along with these remains, but the cists were of the primitive circumscribed dimensions, and presented the rudest characteristics of early sepulture.—No. 6 is a skull in the Edinburgh Phrenological Museum found on the farm of Stonelaws, East-Lothian, where a number of rude primitive cists have been exposed in the course of agricultural operations. Some of these lie east and west, with the heads at the west end, according to Christian practice, but others are irregularly laid; and the example here noted was found with the head at the east end of the grave.—No. 7 was obtained from a cist discovered under a large cairn at Nether Urquhart, Fifeshire, in 1835. An account of the opening of several cairns and tumuli in the same district is given by Lieutenant-Colonel Miller, in his "Inquiry respecting the Site of the Battle of Mons Grampius."[204] Some of them contained urns and burnt bones, ornaments of jet and shale, and the like early relics, while in others were found implements or weapons of iron. It is selected here as another example of the same class of crania.—No. 8 was found in a cist under a tumulus opened at Newbattle, East-Lothian, in 1782. This, there can be little doubt, was the large encircled tumulus in the immediate vicinity of the Abbey, which was found to cover a cist nearly seven feet long. The cranium is well proportioned and of unusually large dimensions, and probably pertained to a chief of gigantic stature.—No. 9 is from a tumulus at Montrose. The whole of these, more or less, nearly agree with the lengthened oval form described by Professor Nillson as the second race of the Scandinavian tumuli. They have mostly a singularly narrow and elongated occiput; and with their comparatively low and narrow forehead, might not inaptly be described by the familiar term boat-shaped. It is probable that further investigation will establish this as the type of a primitive, if not of the primeval native race. Though they approach in form to a superior type, falling under the first or Dolicho-kephalic class of Professor Retzius' arrangement, their capacity is generally small, and their development, for the most part, poor; so that there is nothing in their cranial characteristics inconsistent with such evidence as seems to assign to them the rude arts and extremely limited knowledge of the British Stone Period.
No. 5. Cockenzie Cist.
No. 7. Nether Urquhart Cairn.
No. 10 is an exceedingly characteristic example of an entirely different type of cranium. It was obtained under very remarkable circumstances, more particularly detailed in a subsequent chapter. On the demolition, in 1833, of the old Town Steeple of Montrose, a building of great antiquity, it was found that at some depth beneath its ancient foundations there lay the sepulchres of a much more remote period. Mr. William Smith of Montrose, remarks in a communication sent to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1834, along with the donation of an urn:—"The accompanying urn or vase is one of four of the same description found about the beginning of April 1833 below the foundation of the Old Steeple in Montrose, beside the skeleton of a human body,—two of them being at each side of the head, and two near the feet.... Exactly below the foundations of the Old Steeple the skeleton was discovered, with the vases disposed about it as mentioned. It measured six feet in length. The thigh bones, which were very stout, and the teeth, were the only parts in good preservation. The skull was a little wasted, and was given to the Rev. Mr. Liddell, of Lady Glenorchy's Chapel, who intended to present it to Mr. Combe of the Phrenological Society."[205] The skull, of which the measurements are given in No. 10, is the same here referred to, presented to the Phrenological Museum by the Rev. Mr. Liddell. It is a very striking example of the British Brachy-kephalic type; square and compact in form, broad and short, but well balanced, and with a good frontal development. It no doubt pertained to some primitive chief, or arch-priest, sage, it may be, in council, and brave in war. The site of his place of sepulture has obviously been chosen for the same reasons which led to its selection at a later period for the erection of the belfry and beacon-tower of the old burgh. It is the most elevated spot in the neighbourhood, and here his cist had been laid, and the memorial mound piled over it, which doubtless remained untouched so long as his memory was cherished in the traditions of his people.—No. 11 was found in a moss near Kilsyth, Stirlingshire. It is nearly black, and quite firm and sound, from the action of the peat. Its general characteristics clearly belong to this second group, but it has been injured in parts, and apparently subjected to great pressure, so as to render some of the measurements doubtful.—Nos. 12 and 13 are skulls found at different times, at a considerable depth, in a moss at Linton, Peeblesshire.—No. 14 is a very characteristic example of the Brachy-kephalic type of cranium. It was found in a cist under a tumulus in the parish of Ratho, Mid-Lothian, and alongside of the skeleton stood a small rude clay urn, within which lay several bronze rings.—No. 15 is also a good example of the same type. It was obtained, in 1849, from a cist partly hollowed out of the natural trap rock on the farm of East Broadlaw, in the parish and county of Linlithgow. It was covered with two unhewn slabs of stone, and measured internally about six feet long. The skeleton was in good preservation, and lay at full length. Only a few inches of soil covered the slabs with which it was inclosed. No relics were found in the cist, but some time prior to its discovery a bronze celt and spear-head were turned up in its immediate vicinity.
No. 10. Old Steeple, Montrose.
No. 15. Linlithgow Cist.
Few as these examples are, they will probably be found, on further investigation, to belong to a race entirely distinct from those previously described. They correspond very nearly to the Brachy-kephalic crania of the supposed primeval race of Scandinavia, described by Professor Nillson as short, with prominent parietal tubers, and broad and flattened occiput. In frontal development, however, they are decidedly superior to the previous class of crania, and such evidence as we possess seems to point to a very different succession of races to that which Scandinavian ethnologists now recognise in the primitive history of the north of Europe. Our data are as yet too few to admit of our doing more than noticing these indications of the evidence that has been produced, in the hope that it may stimulate to the further prosecution of this interesting branch of primitive ethnology.
No. 16 is a cranium chiefly interesting from the circumstances under which it was found. During the construction of the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway, in 1846, extensive Roman remains were brought to light in the vicinity of the village of Newstead, Roxburghshire. These are described in a subsequent chapter. In the progress of the work the excavators exposed a group of circular shafts, or well-like pits, varying from three feet to about twenty feet in depth. They were filled with black fetid earth, intermixed with bones of animals, Roman pottery, mortaria, amphoræ, Samian ware, &c., whole and in fragments. In one of these shafts was found the entire skeleton of a man, standing upright, with a long iron spear at his side, and various specimens of Roman pottery in the debris with which the pit was filled.[206] Of the period, therefore, to which the cranium belongs, there can be no doubt, though no sufficient evidence exists to determine whether it pertained to a Roman legionary, or a contemporary native Briton. The latter is, perhaps, more probable. The skull is of moderate size, but exceedingly well proportioned, the teeth are in perfect preservation, with the crowns very little worn, and the markings of all the muscles are unusually strong and well defined.
No. 16. Roman Shaft, Newstead.
The succeeding group of crania, Nos. 17-27, afford a fair average criterion of the Celtic type.—No. 17 is a skull dug up in a cave on the sea-coast, at the Mull of Kintyre, Argyleshire, near to where tradition affirms a battle to have been fought between the natives and an invading host of Northmen.—No. 18 is in like manner a memorial of Scandinavian aggression, and is marked in the catalogue of the Phrenological Museum as the skull of a Dane. It was dug out of the sand on the sea-beach, near Larnahinden, Argyleshire, where a party of Danes are believed to have landed and been defeated. It exhibits some remarkable measurements, especially in the small proportion of the vertical diameter; and a comparison of its various dimensions with those of the Roman skull, No. 16, brings out very distinctly the points of disagreement of two essentially different forms of crania. No. 18, however, is not to be accepted as a good Celtic type. The best medium form of the Celtic cranium is No. 20, which appears, in so far as the present amount of observation admits of such conclusions, to be a fair standard of this important class of crania. It forms one of a very interesting group of skulls in the Phrenological Museum. No. 19 was brought from Harray, near Lewis, and Nos. 20-24 from Iona. The whole of these were presented to the Society, in 1833, by Mr. Donald Gregory, Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and they are each marked by him as the "Skull of a Druid from the Hebrides." They were no doubt obtained during the operations carried on by the members of the Iona Club, thus described in the introduction to the Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis:—
"In order to celebrate the institution of the Club, a meeting was held in the island of Iona, upon the 7th day of September 1833, permission having been obtained from His Grace the Duke of Argyle, the President, to make such excavations in the island as the Club might deem necessary. A search was made in the ancient cemetery called Relig Oran, for such tombstones as might in the process of time have been concealed by the accumulation of rubbish. The result of these operations was, that a considerable number of finely carved tombstones was brought to view, which none of the inhabitants had ever seen before."
The sepulchres of the Scottish kings were also explored, which were used for the last time as a royal cemetery when Macbeth was interred there beside his Queen Gruoch, the daughter of Bodhe,—as a record in the St. Andrew's Chartulary informs us was the unromantic name of Lady Macbeth.[207] Mr. Donald Gregory was secretary of the Iona Club, and one of the ablest Celtic scholars of his day. The designation which he affixed to the crania brought from Iona may be accepted as undoubted evidence of their having been found under circumstances which afforded proof of their high antiquity; though it is not necessary to assume from this that they had pertained to Druids. Most probably nothing more was intended by the epithet which Mr. Gregory applied to them, than to indicate, in the briefest manner, that he believed them to have belonged to the native population prior to the introduction of Christianity in the sixth century, when Columba landed at Innis nan Druidheanach, or the Isle of the Druids, as Iona is still occasionally styled by the native Highlander. The crania thus brought from the venerable centre of Celtic civilisation may not unreasonably be looked upon as furnishing characteristic types of the oldest historical race of the north of Europe.—No. 25 is also a good Celtic cranium, though less true to the type than No. 20, from its excess in longitudinal diameter. It was dug up at Knockstanger, Caithness, at a spot where a number of the Clan Mackay were interred, after being defeated in a battle fought with the Sinclairs in 1437. To these have been added No. 26, a skull in the Phrenological Museum, brought from an ancient cemetery at Inchmore, or Columb Kill, county of Longford, Ireland; and No. 27, a cast of a skull in the Phrenological Museum, marked as the Celtic type, and described as one of a series of skulls "selected from a number of the same tribe or nation, so as to present, as nearly as possible, a type of the whole in the Society's collection."[208] It is characterized in the printed catalogue as a "Long Celtic Skull," but would not, I think, be accepted by ethnologists as at all typical of the true Celtic cranium. It falls decidedly under the class designated by Professor Retzius as Dolicho-kephalæ, and is introduced in the table of measurements chiefly as furnishing useful elements of comparison. Contrasted with No. 20, it will be seen that it is 7.11 to 7.5, exceeding the latter in longitudinal diameter by 6/12, or half an inch, while in parietal diameter it falls short of it by 3/24. The difference is equally in favour of the true Celtic cranium, No. 20, in other measurements of breadth, including the frontal diameter and the inter-mastoid arch. This mode of comparison is still more remarkable and characteristic when the same skull, No. 27, is placed alongside of No. 10, a good example of the Brachy-kephalic class, the excess in the one set of measurements being fully balanced by a corresponding diminution in the others. The proportions of these Scottish Celtic crania entirely agree with the assumed type already referred to, as recognised by the ablest ethnologists. Professors Nillson and Retzius, and Dr. Thurnam, all concur in describing the type of the old Celtic cranium as intermediate to the true Dolicho-kephalic and Brachy-kephalic forms. Dr. Norton Shaw also recognises the same characteristic proportions, and refers in evidence to a skull in the museum of Dr. Buckland, which was found in a tin mine in Cornwall at a depth of 500 feet.[209]
Returning to the table of measurements.—No. 28 is a skull in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries. It was found in what appears to have been an ancient tumular cemetery, at North-Berwick, East-Lothian, from whence also a specimen of early medieval pottery, figured in a later chapter, was procured. Many ancient relics have been obtained at the same place, including a circular silver fibula, apparently of the Anglo-Saxon era. A large surrounding area appears to have been used as a burial ground, probably for many centuries, as the encroachments of the sea frequently expose human bones, and the skeletons may be occasionally discerned in the newly exposed strata, after an unusually high tide.—Nos. 29 and 30 are crania in the Phrenological Museum from the same locality. Of these No. 29 is a markedly inferior example of cranial development. While all the measurements are small, the frontal diameter is inferior to that of No. 12, the smallest of all the Brachy-kephalic examples, which it exceeds in longitudinal diameter by half an inch. So extremely poor is the frontal development of this skull, that its diameter at the zygomatic processes is barely 3.5½. It is only introduced here in order to afford a series of examples selected without any reference to theory.
Tower in the Vennel, Edinburgh.
The remaining skulls with which these are classed may be regarded as a fair series of examples of medieval Scottish crania.—No. 31 was found in 1828, in a deep cutting about midway up the south side of the rock on which Edinburgh Castle stands, during the construction of a new approach to the old town. Beside it were several large boars' tusks, and an iron weapon greatly corroded.—No. 32 was obtained in 1829, in digging the foundations of a school built in the Vennel of Edinburgh, on the site of part of the town wall, erected immediately after the disastrous battle of Flodden in 1513. The woodcut represents the ancient tower, which still remains, almost the last remnant of the civic fortifications reared at that memorable crisis in Scottish history, and the relic which is here associated with these venerable defences is not without features appropriate to the stern memorials of that epoch. The skull has a deep gash, apparently from the blow of a sword or axe, and pertained, we may presume, to some old civic warder of the Scottish capital, slain at his post on the city wall.—Nos. 33-38 were all discovered in the course of excavations made to the south of the old Parliament House at Edinburgh in 1844, for the purpose of building new court-houses, when several ancient oak coffins and other early relics were brought to light.[210] They lay alongside of the earliest city wall, built by James III. in 1450, and within the Nether Kirkyard of St. Giles', which appears to have fallen into disuse in the reign of Queen Mary. To these are added No. 39, a skull found in digging a drain in Constitution Street, Leith, probably within the ancient limits of St. Mary's Church-yard, which was bounded on that side by the ancient town wall, razed to the ground immediately after the siege of Leith in 1560. These crania, it should be added, are apparently all males, with the exception of No. 4, and perhaps also No. 36.
Such are the elements from which it has been attempted to deduce some conclusions of general import in regard to the successive primitive races that have occupied Scotland prior to the era of authentic historic records. The data are much too few to justify the dogmatic assertion of any general inferences, or to admit of positive answers to the questions naturally suggested by the conclusions arrived at by Nillson and Eschricht in relation to the races of Scandinavia. They include, however, all the examples that could be obtained, and are in so far valuable as trustworthy examples of the cranial characteristics of Scottish races, that they have been selected from various localities, by different individuals, with no single purpose in view. It is difficult, however, even after obtaining the proper crania, to determine the most trustworthy elements of relative proportion. Dr. Walter Adam, who had the advantage of studying under both Dr. Barclay and Mr. Abernethy, carried out an extensive series of measurements of crania, chiefly from examples found in the catacombs of Paris, and preserved in the University Museum there. These I now possess, through the kindness of Dr. Adam, and he remarks in writing to me on the subject:—"So far as appeared, precision could only be obtained by referring every dimension to the compression of the zygoma; the measurement being seven-eighths of what I consider the normal transverse of at least the Caucasian cranium; that is, of half the length of the head—the long-admitted statuary scale." Owing to the imperfect state of the zygomata in the great majority of skulls from the tumuli, this measurement is unfortunately rarely attainable. Next in importance, however, is one of the additional ones in the table, marked as the inter-mastoid line, from the upper root of the zygomatic process. The relative proportions of this and of the parietal diameter, when compared with the longitudinal diameter, afford the most characteristic elements of comparison between the different types. Another interesting element of comparison appears to consist in the relative proportions of the parietal and vertical diameters. So far as appears from the table of measurements, the following laws would seem to be indicated:—In the primitive or elongated dolicho-kephalic type—for which the distinctive title of kumbe-kephalic is here suggested—the parietal diameter is remarkably small, being frequently exceeded by the vertical diameter; in the second or brachy-kephalic class, the parietal diameter is the greater of the two; in the Celtic crania they are nearly equal; and in the medieval or true dolicho-kephalic heads, the parietal diameter is again found decidedly in excess; while the preponderance or deficiency of the longitudinal in its relative proportion to the other diameters, furnishes the most characteristic features referred to in the classification of the kumbe-kephalic, brachy-kephalic, Celtic, and dolicho-kephalic types. Not the least interesting indications which these results afford, both to the ethnologist and the archæologist, are the evidences of native primitive races in Scotland prior to the intrusion of the Celtæ; and also the probability of these races having succeeded each other in a different order from the primitive colonists of Scandinavia. Of the former fact, viz., the existence of primitive races prior to the Celtæ, I think no doubt can now be entertained. Of the order of their succession, and their exact share in the changes and progressive development of the native arts which the archæologist detects, we still stand in need of further proof; and the assumed primeval position of the kumbe-kephalic race of Scotland is advanced here only interrogatively, and with the view of inducing others to take up the same interesting inquiry. The subject demands much more extended observation before any such conclusion can be dogmatically affirmed concerning the primitive Scottish races. We have also still to obtain the proofs of that abrupt change from the one form to the other, only to be procured as the result of numerous independent observations, but which can alone satisfactorily establish the fact of the intrusion of new races. The same evidence may also be expected to show whether the primitive race was entirely superseded by later colonists. If the Allophylian aborigines were not exterminated, but were admitted to share in the superior arts of their conquerors, some proof may yet be recoverable of the gradual progression in physical conformation as they abandoned the nomadic and wild hunter state for a pastoral life, so that they were not finally extirpated, but interfused into the mixed race which now occupies the country, as we know was to some extent the case, at a later period, with its Celtic population.
Not only in the annual operations of the agriculturist, but also in the deliberate researches of the archæologist, hundreds of tumular crania have been disinterred. Of these, however, scarcely any note has been taken, nor can we hope to obtain sufficient data for the determination of the interesting questions involved in the investigation till its importance is more generally recognised. A few facts, however, have been noted from time to time, some of which, in the absence of more precise observations, may help to throw light on the physical characteristics of the primitive British races. With this view, therefore, the following additional notices are selected.
In 1825 one of the singular northern circular forts usually styled burghs, situated at Burghar, in the parish of Evie, Orkney, was explored by the son of the resident clergyman, when there was found within the area a human skeleton, a rude bone comb of most primitive fashion, and part of a deer's horn. The comb, which is now preserved in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries, is figured in another chapter; it measures four inches in length, and could not readily be surpassed in the rudeness of its construction or attempts at ornament. Along with this curious relic, the skull was forwarded to Edinburgh by Alexander Peterkin, Esq., but it is described in his communication as then in fragments, and has not been preserved. Mr. Peterkin remarks of it,—"Although the upper part of the skull be separated into two parts, you will observe on joining them together that it is of a very singular conformation. The extreme lowness of the forehead and length backward, present a peculiarity which may be interesting to phrenologists."[211] This, therefore, would appear to have belonged to the primitive Kumbekephalæ.
Other observations on the physical characteristics of the remains found in primitive Scottish sepulchres are much less definite. Alexander Thomson, Esq. of Banchory, remarks in a communication to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, describing two urns found in a cist on his estate in Aberdeenshire:—"The skeleton was far from entire, but there were fragments of every part of it found. The teeth are perfectly fresh, and from the appearance of the jaws, the skeleton must be that of a full-grown person, though of small size. I was told that the skeleton lay quite regular when first found."[212] It may be presumed that in this case, as in other examples of the physical conformation of the primitive race, the smallness of the head was not a precise criterion of the dimensions of the skeleton. Another correspondent describes a cist discovered by the plough on the farm of Farrochie, in the parish of Feteress, Kincardineshire, within which was found a small urn and upwards of one hundred beads of polished black shale:—
"The interior of the tomb measured three feet in length, two feet in breadth, and twenty inches in depth. The top, sides, and ends were each formed of one stone, and at each corner the end of a flat-stone, set on its edge, was introduced angularly between the stones of the sides and ends. The slab that formed the cover of the tomb measured three feet eight inches in length, by three feet two inches in breadth. The body had been laid upon its right side, with the face towards the south. The limbs had been bent upwards, and it was observed when the tomb was opened that one of the leg bones had been broken near the middle. The length of the leg bones was eighteen inches, and that of the thigh bones twenty inches, with very strong joints. The skull appeared to be small in proportion to the other parts of the body. In both jaws the teeth were complete and in beautiful preservation. The ribs and other small bones crumbled into dust soon after they were exposed to the air. The urn was lying in the tomb as if it had been folded in the arms of the corpse."[213]
Dr. Prichard remarks in reply to the question,—Was there anything peculiar in the conformation of the head in the British or Gaulish races? "There are probably in existence sufficient means for deciding this inquiry in the skulls found in old British cairns or places of sepulture. I have seen about half a dozen skulls found in different parts of England, in situations which rendered it highly probable that they belonged to ancient Britons. All these partook of one striking characteristic, viz., a remarkable narrowness of the forehead compared with the occiput, giving a very small space to the anterior lobes of the brain, and allowing room for a large development of the posterior lobes. There are some modern English and Welsh heads to be seen of a similar form, but they are not numerous."[214]
The crania already noticed from the Scottish tumuli, it is obvious, include two greatly differing types, one of which, at least, cannot with strict propriety be described as either remarkably narrow or very small in the forehead, when compared with the occiput. The description of Dr. Prichard will, however, be frequently found applicable to those of the brachy-kephalic type, examples of which, it may be presumed, have fallen under his notice. The peculiar characteristic of the primeval Scottish type appears rather to be a narrow prolongation of the occiput in the region of the cerebellum, suggesting the term already applied to them of boat-shaped, and for which the name of Kumbekephalæ may perhaps be conveniently employed to distinguish them from the higher type with which they are otherwise apt to be confounded. Dr. Thurnam remarks,—"The few crania which I have myself seen from early British tumuli, correspond very much with Dr. Prichard's description. They had, for the most part, a shortened oval form; ample behind, and somewhat narrow and receding in the forehead. The cranium from the undoubtedly British tumulus at Gristhorpe, near Scarborough, has this general form; it is, however, unusually large, and not deficient in frontal development; its form, too, is in some respects fine, particularly as regards the full supra-orbital region, and the high and fully developed middle head."[215] The Rev. Abner W. Brown, vicar of Pitchley, Northamptonshire, furnished to the Archæological Association in 1846 an interesting account of some British Kistvaens found there under very remarkable circumstances. The name of the locality is spelt in Doomsday-book Pihtes-lea and Picts-lei, terms sufficiently suggestive of the Celtic Picts or Ffichti of the north. "The skeleton which we have endeavoured to preserve," the writer remarks, "is that of a muscular well-proportioned young man, probably five feet nine inches high. The teeth are fine; the wisdom teeth scarcely developed. The facial line in some of the skulls appeared to be very fine. This skull exhibits the peculiar lengthy form, the prominent and high cheek-bones, and the remarkable narrowness of forehead which characterize the Celtic races, and distinguish theirs from the rounder, broader skulls, and more upright facial line, of the Teutonic tribes."[216] It is obvious, however, from the above description, that the ancient crania of Pihtes-lea differ greatly from the true Celtic type, and correspond rather to the Kumbekephalæ. The whole circumstances attendant on their discovery indicate their belonging to a very remote era. The venerable church of Pitchley, an edifice still retaining original work of the beginning of the twelfth century, having begun to exhibit alarming symptoms of decrepitude, was carefully repaired and restored, even to the foundations. In reconstructing one of the principal pillars, the startling fact was brought to light, that the Norman builders had laid the foundation of the pillar in ignorance of a rude hollow cist lying directly underneath, with only about a foot of soil between. Other portions of the edifice were discovered to have been, in like manner, unconsciously founded above the graves of an elder race, and it at length became apparent that the ancient churchyard was entirely superimposed on a still older cemetery. "Below the foundation, though above the level of the kistvaens, there were common graves; in one of them was the skeleton of a beheaded person lying at full length, the head placed upon the breast, one of the neck-bones having apparently been divided." Pitchley Church belonged, even before the Conquest, to the Abbey of Peterborough. It was probably one of the earliest English sites of a Christian church; yet the British or Saxon graves of the upper tier, made in ignorance of the older cists below, had become sufficiently consolidated at the date of the Norman foundation to admit of the building of a solid and durable fabric above them. The cists lay nearly east and west, the bodies at full length, lying on their right sides, with the faces looking to the south, and the arms crossed in a peculiar way—the right arm across the breast, with its hand touching the left shoulder, and the left arm straight across, so that its hand touched the right elbow.[217] Both Norman and Roman coins were found near the surface; deeper down lay fragments of coarse unglazed British and also of Roman pottery, and close to, or within one of the cists, a rude oblong amethyst, about an inch long, perforated lengthwise. In another were small pieces of charcoal, and a fragment of British pottery; and in a third an unusually large tusk of a wild boar. Mr. Brown, conceiving the position of the bodies to prove the introduction of Christian sepulchral rites, supposes these cists to have belonged to the Christians of Romanized Britain, before the Saxon invasion. It seems more probable that they pertain to that far older era which preceded the singular Pagan rites accompanying the circumscribed cist. The cranial characteristics appear to confirm this idea, and it is only on such a supposition that we can conceive of the establishment of the graveyard upon the site, in entire ignorance of the primeval cemetery buried beneath the accumulated debris of later generations. Another skeleton, found near Maidstone, in a circumscribed cist of peculiar construction, and undoubtedly of Pagan origin, is thus described by the Rev. Beal Post:—"The state of the skull, from the sutures being much obliterated, shewed the individual to have been about seventy years of age; the form of the skull also shewed that he did not belong to the present race which possess the island, but to the Celtic division of the European family. It was very narrow in the front part, and low in the forehead, exhibiting but little development of the intellectual faculties, while the organs of self-preservation, and other inferior organs in the hinder parts of the skull, were strongly developed. The bones seem to be those of a person about five feet seven inches high, the thigh-bone being seventeen inches long, and the other bones in proportion. The teeth, apparently, had been every one in a sound state. None of those found were in a state of decay, even incipiently so."[218] In both of these interesting examples it is obvious that the term Celtic is loosely applied in contradistinction to Saxon or Teutonic, and in accordance with the preconceived idea that the Celtæ are the primeval colonists of Britain. The forms of these crania appear clearly to lead to a different conclusion. Such are some of the observations heretofore made on the physical characteristics of the primitive Briton. Scanty as they are, they possess considerable value to us in the attempt to recover the lost chapters of his history. Imperfect as the development of the intellectual faculties appear to have been, there is sufficient evidence to justify the conclusion, that the races of the tumuli, whether regarded as Allophylian or Celtic, were abundantly capable of civilisation, and possessed a cerebral capacity fully equal to that of nations which have carried the practical and decorative arts far in advance of a mere archaic period.
One characteristic feature observed in the skulls of various tumuli is the state of the teeth. It is rare to find among them any symptoms of irregularity or decay. Sir R. C. Hoare remarks of those of Wiltshire,—"The singular beauty of the teeth has often attracted our attention; we have seldom found one unsound or one missing, except in the cases of apparent old age. This peculiarity may be easily accounted for. The Britons led a pastoral life, feeding upon the milk of their flocks and the venison of their forests; and the sweets of the West Indies were to them totally unknown." In the tumular cemetery at North Berwick, the teeth of the skulls, though sound, were worn, in most cases completely flat, like those of a ruminating animal. Dr. Thurnam remarks the same to have been the case with the teeth examined by him in those of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Lamel Hill; and it is also observable in an under jaw found along with other remains of a human skull, an iron hatchet, and several large boars' tusks, in a deep excavation on the south bank of the Castlehill of Edinburgh. The jaw, with the accompanying relics, are in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries. The same peculiarity is referred to, as observed in a remarkable discovery of human remains in the Kent's Hole Cave, near Torquay, made by the late Rev. J. MacEnery during his geological researches in that locality. As the account of this discovery, which is accompanied with details of great value to the archæologist, has only been recovered through the zeal of Mr. Edward Vivian, since the death of the author, and printed in a local periodical,[219] it is extracted here at considerable length. It was to Mr. MacEnery's researches that Buckland and others of the earlier modern geologists owed their most valuable data; and some of the rarest palæontological specimens in the British Museum originally belonged to his private collection. Kent's Hole is referred to by Professor Owen, in his History of British Fossil Mammals, as "perhaps the richest cave depository of bears hitherto found in England." The roof is clustered with pendant cones of stalactite, and the floor thickly paved with concretions of stalagmite, the accumulations of many centuries, which have sealed down the floor hermetically, and preserved the relics both of the geologist and the archæologist safe from disturbance, and protected from decay.
"The floor we found, at our first visit, covered, through its whole extent, with a darkish mould, varying in depth from a few inches to a foot. It only dates since the cavern became a popular place of resort, and the further progress of the stalagmite in open situations was interrupted by the trampling of visitors. In the vestibule were found, deep imbedded in it, those curiously shaped pieces of oak to which the appellation of Druids' sandal was given,[220] together with a quantity of decomposed animal and vegetable matter, the remains of fires and feasts, mingled with rabbit bones....
"At the hazard of unnecessarily charging the thread of my narrative with seemingly frivolous particulars, I proceed to note down the characters presented by its general aspect, no less than its contents, before it was altered by those operations which have since left no part of it in its virgin state. It is only on a just appreciation of all their circumstances that a true estimate can be founded of those facts which should serve as the basis of all reasoning on its nature and history.
"The floor of the entrance, except that it had the appearance of being broken up, offered nothing remarkable to detain us; we shall have occasion to return to it presently. Not so the lateral branch by which it communicates with the body of the cavern on the left. Under a ledge on the left was found the usual sprinkling of modern bones, and, in the mould beneath, which had acquired the consistence of hard clay, were fragments of pottery, calcined bones, charcoal, and ashes; in the midst of all were dispersed arrow-heads of flint and chert. The ashes furnished a large proportion of the mould.
"In the same heap were discovered round slabs of roofing slate of a plate-like form, some crushed, others entire. The pottery is of the rudest description, made of coarse gritty earth, not turned on a lathe, and sunbaked; on its external margin it bears zigzag indentations, not unlike those represented on the urns found by Sir Richard Hoare in the barrows of Wiltshire. These fragments, there seems no reason for doubting, are the remains of cinerary urns which once contained the substances scattered around, and to which the slates served for covers.
"At a short distance, nearer the entrance, were found, in a continuation of the same mould, articles of bone of three sorts; some of an inch long, and pointed at one end, or arrow-heads; others about three inches long, rounded, slender, and likewise pointed. Conjecture was long busy as to their destination—they were thought by some to be bodkins, by others for confining the hair, like those ornaments used by the women in Italy; lastly, they were supposed, with more probability, to be a species of pin for fastening the skin in front which served savages for garments. The third article does not seem so easy to explain; it is of a different shape, quite flat, broad at one end, pointed at the other, the broad part retains the truncated form of a comb, the teeth of which were broken off near their root; whether it was used as a comb, or for making nets for fishing, is not clear. There was only this solitary one found, and two of the former, but several of the first, with a quantity of bone chips. All three bore marks of polish.
"Nearer the mouth are collected a good number of shells of the muscle, limpet, and oyster, with a palate of the scarus. This, as well as the nacker of oysters which was thickly disseminated through the mould, served, as they do at the present day among savages, most probably for ornament. The shell-fish may have furnished bait for fishing. The presence of these rude articles render it probable that they were collected here by the ancient aborigines, who divided their time between the chase and fishing in the adjacent sea.
"Close to the opposite wall, in the same passage, buried in black mould, I found a stone hatchet, or celt, of sienite, the only one found in the cavern. Another of the same material, but of a different shape, I found shortly after not far from the cavern near Anstis Cove, which labourers engaged in making the new cut had just thrown up with the mould.
"As we advanced towards the second mouth, on the same level, were found, though sparingly, pieces of pottery. The most remarkable product of this gallery were round pieces of blue slate, about an inch and a-half in diameter and a quarter thick. They may have served, like the Kimmeridge coal, for money. In the same quarter were likewise found several round pieces of sandstone grit, about the form and size of a dollar, but thicker and rounded at the edge, and in the centre pierced with a hole, by means of which they seem to have been strung together like beads. Clusters of small pipes or icicles of spar, such as depended from the roof at our first visit, we saw collected here in heaps, buried in the mud. Similar collections we had occasion to observe accompanied by charcoal, throughout the entire range of the cavern, sometimes in pits excavated in the stalagmite. Copper ore—with these various articles in the same stuff was picked up—a lump much oxydized, which the late Mr. Phillips analyzed, was found to be pure virgin ore.
"Having taken a general survey of the surface of the floor, we returned to the point from which we set out, viz., the common passage, for the purpose of piercing into the materials below the mould. Here in sinking a foot into the soil, (for of stalagmite there remained only the broken edges adhering to the sides of the passage, and which appeared to be repeated at intervals,) we came upon flints in all forms, confusedly disseminated through the earth, and intermixed with fossil and human bones, the whole slightly agglutinated together by calcareous matter derived from the roof. My collection possesses an example of this aggregation in a mass consisting of pebbles, clay, and bone, in the midst of which is imbedded a fine blade of flint, all united together by sparry cement.
"The flints were in all conditions; from the rounded pebble as it came out of the chalk, to the instruments fabricated from them, as arrow and spear-heads, and hatchets. Some of the flint blocks were chipped only on one side, such as had probably furnished the axes, others on several faces, presenting planes corresponding exactly to the long blades found by their side, and from which they had been evidently sliced off; other pebbles still more angular and chipped at all points, were no doubt those which yielded the small arrow-heads. These abounded in by far the greatest number. Small irregular splinters, not referrible to any of the above divisions, and which seem to have been struck off in the operation of detaching the latter, not unlike the small chips in a sculptor's shop, were thickly scattered through the stuff, indicating that this spot was the workshop where the savage prepared his weapons of the chase, taking advantage of its cover and the light.
"I have discovered in this passage precisely similar arrow-heads to those which I detected in an urn from a barrow presented to me by the Rev. Mr. Welland.
"With the exception of the Boar spear [of iron] and a blade of the same metal found not far from it, very much rusted, all the articles in the mould or in the disturbed soil consisted of flint, chert, sienite, and bone—such primitive substances as have been in all countries and down to the present, used by the savage for the fabrication of his weapons, whether for the chase or battle.
"At a still greater depth, near the common entrance in the passage, lay extended lengthwise in the ordinary position of burial, the remains of a human skeleton much decayed; two portions only of the jaw and some single teeth, with the mouldering vertebræ and ribs, were all that remained. As in the case of the flint knife mass, already described, there adhered to the jaw portions of the soil on which it lay, and of the stalagmite which partly covered it.
"The teeth were so worn down that the flat crowns of the incisors might be mistaken for molars,[221] indicating the advanced age of the individual. M. Cuvier, to whom I submitted the fragment in 1831, was struck with the form of the jaw. He pronounced it to belong to the Caucasian race. He promised to bestow particular notice on it, but death, unhappily for science, put a stop to his labours. All the specimens, together with a collection of fossil bones, the third I had presented to the museum of the Jardin des Plantes, I transmitted to him before I quitted the continent, and they may be found among his effects. The skeleton lay about a foot and a half below the surface; from the tumbled state of the earth, the admixture of flags of stalagmite, added to the presence of flint articles and pieces of slate, it was manifest that the floor had been dug up for the reception of the body, and that it was again covered over with the materials thrown up from the excavation. The earthy covering consisted of the red soil, containing fossil bones mixed up with recent mould, the mound of earth outside the mouth, at the right hand, was thrown up from the passage to render it more accessible. It was precisely that which covered the human skeleton, and contained the admixture of human and fossil relics.
"Previous to the disturbance of the floor for the admission of the body, it would appear, from the presence of flags of stalagmite in the rubble, that it was covered with a continuous crust, the edges indeed of which still adhere to the sides. It further appears from the repetition of similar crusts, as indicated by the broken edges at the sides, that there were periods of repose which allowed new floors to form, marking clearly their repeated destruction and renovation at intervals of time.
"With the exception of single teeth and an occasional rib or vertebra in charcoal, which may have possibly belonged to the same subject, there were no other traces of human remains."[222]
The peculiarity in the teeth of certain classes of ancient crania above referred to is of very general application, and has been observed as common even among British sailors. The cause is obvious, resulting from the similarity of food in both cases. The old Briton of the Anglo-Roman period, and the Saxon both of England and the Scottish Lothians, had lived to a great extent on barley bread, oaten cakes, parched peas, or the like fare, producing the same results on his teeth as the hard sea-biscuit does on those of the British sailor. Such, however, is not generally the case, and in no instance, indeed, to the same extent in the skulls found in the earlier British tumuli. In the Scottish examples described above the teeth are mostly very perfect, and their crowns not at all worn down. In that marked No. 5, one of those found at Cockenzie, the under jaw has been preserved, and in it the wisdom teeth are only partially developed, indicating the age of the individual. The perfectly formed teeth are not much more worn than those which had never pierced the gums.
The inferences to be drawn from such a comparison are of considerable value in the indications they afford of the domestic habits and social life of a race, the last survivor of which has mouldered underneath his green tumulus, perchance for centuries before the era of our earliest authentic chronicles. As a means of comparison this characteristic appearance of the teeth manifestly furnishes one means of discriminating between an early and a still earlier, if not primeval period, and though not in itself conclusive, it may be found of considerable value when taken in connexion with the other and still more obvious peculiarities of the crania of the earliest barrows. We perceive from it, at least, that a very decided change took place in the common food of the country, from the period when the native Briton of the primeval period pursued the chase with the flint lance and arrow, and the spear of deer's horn, to that comparatively recent period when the Saxon marauders began to effect settlements and build houses on the scenes where they had ravaged the villages of the older British natives. The first class, we may infer, attempted little cultivation of the soil. Improving on the precarious chances of a mere nomadic or hunter life, we have been led to suppose, from other evidence, that the early Briton introduced the rudiments of a pastoral life, while yet his dwelling was only the slight circular earth-pit, in-covered with overhanging boughs and skins. To the spoils of the chase he would then add the milk of his flock of goats or sheep, probably with no other addition than such wild esculents, mast, or fruits, as might be gathered without labour in the glades of the neighbouring forest. But the social state in the British Isles was a progressive one. Whether by the gradual improvement of the aboriginal race, or by the incursion of foreign tribes already familiar with the fruits of agricultural labour, the wild pastoral or hunter life of the first settlers was exchanged for one more suited to call forth the social virtues. The increase of the population, whether by the ingress of such new tribes, or by the numerical progression of the first settlers, would of itself put an end to the possibility of finding subsistence by means of the chase. Thus it might be from the inventive industry which privations force into activity that new wants were first discovered, new tastes were created, and satisfied by the annual harvests of golden grain. The ploughshare and the pruning-hook divided attention with the sword and the spear, which they could not supplant; and the ingenious agriculturist devised his oaken querne, his stone-rubber, or corn-crusher, and at length his simple yet effective hand-mill, which resisted, during many centuries of change and progress, all attempts to supersede it by more complicated machinery. Dr. Pettigrew, in communicating the results of a series of observations on the bones found in various English barrows, remarks,—"The state of the teeth in all of them indicated that the people had lived chiefly on grain and roots."[223] The dry, hard oaten cake of the Scottish peasant, which may have been in use almost from the first attempt at cultivation of the favourite national grain, would probably prove as effective as any of the presumed vegetable foods for producing such results. We need not, at any rate, evidence to satisfy us that the luxuries which have rendered the services of the dentist so indispensable to the modern Briton were altogether excluded from the regimen of his rude forefathers.
Sir Richard Colt Hoare commences the great work which has secured for him so distinguished a place among British archæologists, with the motto—"We speak from facts, not theory." While seeking to render the facts of Scottish Archæology fully available, it is my earnest desire to follow in the footsteps of a leader so proved. The inferences attempted to be deduced from such facts as have been accumulated here, with a view to discover some elementary principles for the guidance of Scottish archæologists, are such as appear naturally and logically to follow from them. Still they are stated apart from the premises, and those who have followed thus far ungrudgingly in exploring the primeval sepulchres of Scotland, will find no difficulty in pausing ere they commit themselves to the same guidance in seeking also some glimpses of the native hearth and pastoral inclosures, and of the evidences of that inventive skill which succeeded to such simple arts. We would fain reanimate the ashes in these long buried urns, and interrogate the rude British patriarch regarding a state of being which for centuries—perhaps for many ages—pertained on these very spots where now our churches, palaces, and our homeliest dwellings are reared, but which seems almost as inconceivable to us as that other state of being, to which we know the old Briton, with all the seed of Adam, has passed.
It may appear to some a service of little value, the unrolling of these "mute inglorious" records. Yet somewhat is surely gained when we reach the beginnings of things, and substitute for the old historic mist-land of myth and fable, a coherent and intelligible, though dry and somewhat meagre array of facts and legitimate deductions. It is no longer needful, however, to defend the object of our research. It is to some extent the same which the ethnologist is pursuing by a different route; though the palæontological investigations of the archæologist have yet to establish their true value in the estimation of men of science by the nature of their results. For this we wait in hope. I would only meanwhile repeat, that we cannot be justified in concluding any knowledge which once existed to be utterly lost beyond recall; and if the geologist has been able to recover so much from annals that seemed to have been folded up and laid aside ere this race was summoned into being to people a renovated world, surely we ought not to despair of being yet able to fill up our meagre outline with many details which shall satisfy the severest demands of inductive philosophy, and rest their claims to acceptance not on theory but on fact.