The chief features as pointed out by the above-named author, are: the elevated vertex, flattened occiput, great inter-parietal diameter, ponderous bony structure, salient nose, large jaws and broad face. These he pronounces to be characteristics of the American cranium. Dr. Wilson has shown that Dr. Morton has contradicted his own previous definition of what that type is as well as the description given by Humboldt.[232] The propriety of selecting any single cranium as typical of the Mound-builders would be as questionable in this connection as it was for Dr. Morton and the authors of the Types of Mankind to designate the Scioto Mound skull as a type of the American cranium. Until within a few years but few genuine mound skulls were accessible, and considerable suspicion was reasonably attached to the genuineness of several, including three or four of the so-called mound skulls in the Crania Americana. Recent explorations have brought to light a large number, of unquestioned genuineness. The Peabody Museum alone possesses 300, and of these 200 were exhumed by Prof. F. W. Putnam.
From a number of measurements only is it possible for us to approximate the type of the mound skull. We have already referred to the low type skulls secured by Gen. H. W. Thomas from a mound in Dakota Territory.[233] Unfortunately we are without measurements, but from the description we observe that the forehead is decidedly receding, and the orbital ridges are excessively developed. The inferior maxillary is of unusual prominence and much more massive, as is the entire bony structure, than in the common Indian cranium. Another cranium of similar characteristic was exhumed from the great mound on the River Rouge near its junction with the Detroit River, Michigan, by Mr. Henry Gillman. From this mound several crania were taken, of which one (though evidently adult) presented the hitherto, I think I may say, unprecedented feature of its capacity being only fifty-six cubic inches. The mean given by Morton and Meigs of the Indian cranium is eighty-four cubic inches, the minimum being sixty-nine cubic inches. This cranium, forwarded with other relics to the Peabody Museum, presents (though in no wise deformed) the further peculiarity of having the ridges for the attachment of the temporal muscle only .75 of an inch apart, in this respect resembling the cranium of the chimpanzee. It is rarely that in human crania those ridges approach each other within a distance of two inches, while they vary from that to four inches apart.[234] Eight crania were exhumed by Mr. Gillman from the great mound on Rouge River, which furnished him the following measurements:
DIMENSIONS, ETC., OF CRANIA EXHUMED FROM THE GREAT MOUND, RIVER ROUGE, MICHIGAN.
| No. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity (Approximate).[235] | |||||||||
| Circumference. | |||||||||
| Length. | |||||||||
| Breadth. | |||||||||
| Height. | |||||||||
| Breadth of Frontal. | |||||||||
| Index of Breadth. | |||||||||
| Index of Height. | |||||||||
| Index of Foramen Magnum. | |||||||||
1.[236] | 18.65 | 19.00 | 7.30 | 6.00 | 5.35 | 4.02 | .822 | .733 | .465 |
2.[237] | 18.10 | 19.50 | 7.30 | 5.20 | 5.60 | 3.60 | .712 | .767 | .547 |
3. | 18.00 | 19.50 | 7.00 | 5.40 | 5.60 | 3.95 | .777 | .800 | .500 |
4. | 18.47 | .... | 7.20 | 5.40 | 5.77 | 4.07 | .763 | .801 | .479 |
5.[238] | 16.54 | 18.50 | 6.90 | 4.70 | 4.94 | 3.74 | .681 | .716 | .... |
6.[239] | 18.23 | 22.40 | 6.80 | 5.80 | 5.63 | 4.63 | .853 | .828 | .397 |
7.[240] | 18.82 | .... | 7.60 | 5.62 | 5.60 | 4.01 | .739 | .736 | .473 |
8. | 15.93 | 18.00 | 5.35 | 5.03 | 5.55 | 4.08 | .940 | 1.037 | .605 |
Means. | 17.84 | 19.48 | 6.93 | 5.40 | 5.50 | 4.01 | .786 | .802 | .495 |
| No. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontal Arch. | ||||||||
| Parietal Arch. | ||||||||
| Occipital Arch. | ||||||||
| Longitudinal Arch. | ||||||||
| Length of Frontal. | ||||||||
| Length of Parietal. | ||||||||
| Length of Occipital. | ||||||||
| Zygomatic Diameter. | ||||||||
1.[236] | 12.15 | 12.00 | 11.65 | 14.00 | 5.50 | 4.40 | 4.10 | .... |
2.[237] | 11.80 | 12.75 | 11.50 | 15.35 | 4.95 | 5.50 | 4.90 | 4.20 |
3. | 12.65 | 12.20 | 10.30 | 14.60 | 5.00 | 4.75 | 4.85 | .... |
4. | 12.10 | 12.00 | 11.10 | 13.45 | 4.75 | 5.40 | 4.30 | .... |
5.[238] | 11.20 | 10.25 | 11.30 | 13.95 | 4.50 | 4.75 | 4.70 | 5.00 |
6.[239] | 11.10 | 13.15 | 11.00 | 14.85 | 5.40 | 4.60 | 4.85 | 5.00 |
7.[240] | 11.50 | .... | .... | .... | 5.10 | .... | .... | .... |
8. | 11.90 | 12.80 | 11.30 | 13.90 | 4.90 | 4.90 | 4.10 | .... |
Means. | 11.80 | 12.16 | 11.16 | 14.30 | 5.01 | 4.90 | 4.54 | 4.93 |
Note.—The fragments of a cranium, consisting chiefly of a very retreating frontal, and presenting traits of a low and brutal character, reminding one of the Neanderthal skull, were found underneath the above tabulated crania.
We observe that only three of these crania are brachycephalic, while the remaining five, and the mean of all, fall under the class of dolichocephalic crania, according to our classification. Mr. Gillman would call some of them Orthocephalic, and the mean of the eight crania giving a cephalic index of .786 and .802 as an index of height might properly be so classified. The same gentleman exhumed from an ancient mound on Chambers Island, Green Bay, Wisconsin, six crania, which as to type were equally divided into long and short skulls, while the mean cephalic index, .817, assigned them to the brachycephalic class. The long skulls were not far removed, however, from the dividing line between the classes (.80). The energetic and intelligent labors of Dr. R. J. Farquharson of the Davenport, Iowa, Academy of Sciences, has placed within our reach measurements upon twenty-five mound crania.[241] The following are the most important measurements in inches:
| CRANIA. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horizontal Circumference. | |||||
| Longitudinal Diameter. | |||||
| Transverse Diameter. | |||||
| Internal Capacity. | |||||
| Cephalic Index or Ratio of Diameter. | |||||
| Mean of Nine Crania from Albany, Ill. | 19.8 | 6.8 | 5.1 | 68. | .768 |
| Mean of Eleven from Rock River, Ill. | 20.15 | 7.0 | 5.4 | 74.48 | .771 |
| Mean of Four from Henry County, Ill. | 19.5 | 7.0 | 5.2 | 74.47 | .743 |
| One from Davenport | 19.5 | 7.0 | 5.25 | 76.20 | .752 |
This table introduces a new feature into the investigation in hand; the brachycephalic or the near approximation to the short skull is displaced by a mean cephalic index of .758, indicating the well-marked dolichocephalic type. The mean internal capacity 73.3 inches falls considerably below the mean of mound crania as measured by Squier and Davis, Wilson and others, from localities farther south.
The mean results of Dr. Farquharson’s measurements[242] show a greater vertical than transverse diameter, a peculiarity of most Mississippi mound skulls, distinguishing them from Peruvian crania. In the Ohio Valley the brachycephalic type is quite decided, though the general features of high receding forehead, flattened occiput, and great transverse diameter, establish their relationship to all other North American mound crania yet discovered. Three Ohio Valley mound skulls, as to the genuineness of which no suspicion can be entertained, namely the Scioto Mound cranium and two crania from the Grave Creek Mound, give the following measurements in the mean: Longitudinal diameter, 6.5 inches; parietal diameter, 6 inches; vertical diameter, 5.5 inches, and 90.7 as their cephalic index. The mean internal capacity, though not obtainable with any degree of accuracy, in this instance is no doubt from eight to ten cubic inches greater than in the Davenport crania. With the general characteristics alike, minor differences may in most instances be attributed to artificial pressure. A valuable collection of mound crania was made in Kentucky for the Smithsonian Institution and the Peabody Museum, by Mr. S. S. Lyon, and is thoroughly reliable as a basis for measurements. Professor Wyman, in the Fourth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum, describes them as follows: “The twenty-four crania measured (Table VIII) show a mean capacity of 1313 cubic centimetres, which is greater than that of the Peruvians, but less than that of the North American Indians generally (viz., 1376 cubic centimetres, or 84 cubic inches). They differ also from those of the ordinary Indians in being lighter, less massive, in having the rough surface for muscular attachments less strongly marked. * * * In proportions they present a very considerable variation among themselves. Assuming the length of the skull to be 1.000, the breadth ranges from 0.712 to 0.950 of the length. The average proportion is 0.857, which places them in the short-headed group.”