Note on the distortions which present themselves in the crania of the ancient Britons / by Joseph Barnard Davis.

  • Davis, Joseph Barnard, 1801-1881.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Note on the distortions which present themselves in the crania of the ancient Britons / by Joseph Barnard Davis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    REPRINTED EROM THE NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW. July, 18G2. Note on the Distortions which present themselves in the Crania of the Ancient Britons. By Joseph Barnard Davis, M.R.C.S. Engl. E.S.A. &e. During the lengthened and minute investigation of ancient British skulls, to which I have been impelled by the preparation of the “ Crania Britannica,” I have been frequently struck with a peculiar flatness in the occipital region prevailing among them. It often extends over a good part of the panetals, about the posterior portion of the sagittal suture, and over the upper part of the occipital bone. Hence I have denominated it parieto-occipital flatness. The most peculiar and characteristic, normal form of these crania, which is very general, exhibits a shortness of the whole calvarium. This form must not be considered universal, yet it has prevailed among tribes far apart, if not deserving to be looked upon as different races. Such natural shortness has been found to be so common as in a material degree to mask the parieto-occipital flatness, to which allusion is now made. Another complication was early perceived in the occur- rence of posthumous distortion, to which the skulls of the ancient Britons, like those of other people, are liable. The crania of those who were buried under tumuli have become singularly deformed by the pressure of the superincumbent earth, acting constantly upon a moist and slightly plastic body like the spheroidal skull. Others, whose remains were enclosed in cists, kistvaens, and cromlechs, were mostly defended from the mechanical influences which produced posthumous deformation. Still the effects of this kind of compres- sion are often evident in the occipital region. Hence they serve to interfere with our appreciation of that deformity which manifests itself in the parieto-occipital flatness. It was only after witnessing many examples in which both kinds of distortion were present, and observing that they -were not coincident, but quite independent of each other, that their real distinctness became fully apparent. In some ancient British crania of young subjects, preserved in the Bateman Museum, the original parieto-occipital flatness is observed, and at the same time another distinct and non-coincident flattening, generally on one side of the occipital region, which is clearly post- humous. To this subject I have directed attention in the Descrip- tion of the Newbigging Skull in the “ Crania Britannica,” plate 21, p. (4) ; and more at length in the Description of the Green Lowe Skull, plate 41, p. (2). In the examples enumerated in these places both the two kinds of deformation manifest themselves, and, since they do not correspond, it is obvious that they have no relation to each other—one has been produced before and independently of the other. It has long appeared to me most probable that the parieto-occipital