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that the skeleton was interred with "its knees
up," i.e. in the lateral couched posture, but whether right- or
left-sided is not known. There was no accompanying archæological
evidence.
The skull.
This, after careful restoration, reveals itself as the very imperfect
skull of an adult, middle-aged male. The vault alone is preserved,
together with the greater part of the two temporal bones: the mandible,
lacking one ascending ramus, is also present, as also a piece of the
hard palate (represented by two maxillary fragments) and some upper
teeth.
Evidence of the male sex is seen in the well-developed
supraciliary ridges (confluent mesially), the slope of the brow, the
configuration of the stout external angular processes of the frontal
bone, the size and robustness of the (right) mastoid process and the
emphatic secondary markings upon the little that remains of the planum
occipitale. In general the vault is long and narrow: the cephalic index
is 72·5 (i.e. dolicocephalic).
A metopic suture is present. The frontal sinuses are
capacious; they extend mainly vertically and laterally and but little
into the orbital roof. The frontal eminences are moderately prominent
and the frontal bone exhibits a median "keeling". The minimal
frontal diameter is about 100 mm.; the maximum (glabella-occipital)
length is 189 mm.; the biparietal breadth is 127 mm., being exceeded by
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bi-asterionic, which is 137 mm. The parietal
eminences are fairly prominent, the two parietal "fields"
being separated by a distinct obelionic median groove, which ends at the
lambda. From the asterion the vault tapers rapidly backwards, and the
small, prominent occiput projects as a well-circumscribed
"boss" from the rest of the skull. The right
temporo-mandibular joint shows no signs of osteo-arthritic disease. The
mastoid processes are of the highly pneumatic variety.
The maxillary (palatal) fragments show nothing noteworthy;
the remaining maxillary teeth show considerable crown-wear, with local
enamel-denudation, but are well formed and healthy.
The mandible lacks the left ascending ramus and the
condylar part of the right. Each ascending ramus is relatively narrow;
the horizontal ramus is long and narrow, terminating in a very prominent
mental region. Mandibular secondary markings are everywhere emphatic. A
full complement of teeth remained in situ at death; these all
(especially molars 1 and 2) manifest severe crown wear with some
denudation of the enamel, as well as tartaric incrustation upon their
lingual aspects. They are, however, free from all signs of caries,
pyorrha or other disease.
The pelvic fragment is relatively uninformative.
The left femur measures 1' 6 5/8" in length. This
would give the individual an approximate height of 5' 8 1/4". |