Note 1893 — THE ETHNOLOGY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN (continued 2)

Thirty years ago, however, Mr. J. R. Mortimer (Journ. Anthr. Inst., vi, 1877, pp. 328-34) said, ‘My computation of the stature of these two types of men—the brachycephalic and the dolichocephalic—is the very reverse of’ Thurnam’s; and he stated that of ten skeletons found in round barrows of the Yorkshire Wolds between Driffield and Aldeborough, five, of which the cephalic indices ranged from 70 to 75, averaged 5 ft. 9⅖ in. in height, while five others, the indices of which ranged from 79 to 94, averaged only 5 ft. 5 in. The barrows, however, although no bronze was found in them, contained not only ‘drinking-cups’ but also ‘food-vessels’ (Anthropologia, i, 1873-5, pp. x-xi); and it may be concluded that they belonged to the Bronze Age. Rolleston (Brit. Barrows, p. 654, n. 2) was therefore justified in presuming that the tall dolichocephali who were buried in them belonged to ‘a mixed race’; and, he said, ‘the effect of crossing ... is very usually to increase the size of the mixed races.’ Still, the low stature of Mr. Mortimer’s brachycephali is remarkable; and we shall see that they belonged to a distinct race, of which other examples have since been exhumed.