OBSERVATIONS ON THE CRANIA FROM THE STONE GRAVES IN TENNESSEE. By LUCIEN CARR. [From the Eleventh Annual Report of the Peabody ifuseum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Cambridge. 1S78-] Curator of the Peabody Museum of American A rcheeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Mass. OBSERVATIONS ON THE CRANIA FROM THE STONE GRAVES IN TENNESSEE. By LUCIEN CARR. [From the Eleventh Annual Report of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Cambridge. 1878.] OBSERVATIONS ON THE CRANIA FROM THE STONE GRAVES IN TENNESSEE. By Lucien Carr. On page 224 of this Report will be found the measurements of sixty-seven crania collected, during the past year, by Messrs. F. W. Putnam and Edwin Curtiss, in the course of a series of explorations undertaken for the benefit of the Peabody Museum. These crania are all from the valley of the Cumberland, and, with but few exceptions, are from the immediate neighborhood of the city of Nashville, Tennessee. Except in one instance (Museum No. 11,918), they were all taken from stone graves, and a large majority of these graves were found in mounds. In fact, the mounds, themselves, were composed almost entirely of these graves arranged in layers, from three to five deep ; and the one skull,- an orthocephalic-mentioned above, which seems to have been an exception to the general style of burial, was taken from one of these mounds, where it was found lying between two such graves. Of these mounds, the one at Greenwood near Lebanon, Tennessee, formed one of a group that stood within an earthen enclosure; whilst the others, marked on the table as being "near Nashville," were situated on the open plain without any such surrounding embankment at present existing. The graves are elsewhere described at length, by Mr. Putnam, and without repeat- ing what he has so well said, we may be pardoned for insisting upon the fact that there was nothing in the manner of their con- struction, in the condition of the remains, or in the character of the very peculiar pottery and of the ornaments and implements of stone, bone, and shell found with them to indicate that the people who died and were buried here had belonged to different races, or even to different tribes of the same race, unless, perchance, the difference in the form of the skulls should be taken as evidence of such diversity. Similar graves are not unfrequent in the eastern section of the State and the adjoining portions of Virginia, and they are found, usually on the level and singly or in groups of 361 362 three or four, in regions as far apart as Kentucky1 and Georgia, and Missouri2 and New Jersey ;3 whilst in point of time, they are said to have been in use in southern Illinois, among the Kickapoo Indians,4 within the memory of men now living, or but recently dead. They have also been found, elsewhere, in mounds,5 but never it is believed in layers, piled one on top of the other gnd constituting as in this case almost the entire bulk of the mound.6 Mr. Lyon did, it is true, in the course of his explorations in Union County, Kentucky, open mounds that contained rows of dead bodies, arranged in tiers, but they were not buried in separate stone graves. In only one or two instances did he unearth bodies that "appeared to have been covered by slabs of the stone forming the pavement set up slanting toward the body with the ends of opposite stones resting against each other, thus roofing the body in." 7 This would give a sort of triangular, or tent-like shape to the stone coffin, instead of the usual rectangular, or box-like form common in other localities ; but aside from this difference in construction, there is nothing to suggest the idea of a different race of people, 1 During the course of several summers' service in the field as archaeologist to the Kentucky Geological Survey, I have repeatedly found such graves, either singly or in groups of three or four, in East Tennessee, southwestern Virginia and in the Green river district of Kentucky. Sometimes they are marked by small cairns, but usually there is nothing but an enclosure of small stones, set on edge and projecting but slightly above the surface,, to indicate their presence. In the choice of these burial places there does not seem to have been any method, other than the proximity to stone, suitable for use in building them. I have found them at all levels, from the bottom lands of the river valleys to the tops of the hills; but never far from some outcropping ledge of rock that could be used in. their construction. In Powell's Valley, Virginia, extending almost its entire length, there is such a ledge of outcropping limestone, on and near which these graves are quite common, though they were not found else- where in the valley. There are, however, in that region numerous caverns, many of which contain human remains. The skulls found in them and in the caves of Kentucky, as is elsewhere noted, do not differ materially from those taken from the stone graves. See also Smithsonian Report for 1870, p. 377. 2 Jones' Antiquities of the Southern Indians, pp. 213, et seq. New York, 1873. 3 Dr. C. C. Abbott, of Trenton, writes me that " there is a stone grave in the neigh- borhood of the Delaware water-gap, which is described in a guide book to that local- ity by L. W. Brodhead." See, also, Mr. E. A. Barber, quoted in Popular Science Monthly for Sept., 1877, p. 638. 4 Professor Charles Ran, quoted in Antiquities of the Southern Indians, p. 220. New York. 1873. 6 Smithsonian Report for 1870, pp. 378 and 402. ' , ' 6 The mounds opened by Dr. Joseph Jones, with results precisely similar to those obtained in the course of these explorations, were in this immediate locality and thus confirm the statement. For a most interesting account of the valuable work done by Dr. Jones, see "Explorations of the Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee," published by the Smithsonian Institution. Washington City, 1876. 7 Smithsonian Report for 1870, pp. 363 whilst the many points of resemblance notably in the shape and size of the prevailing form of cranium, in the manner in which the dead were buried in layers, though not always, or even generally in stone graves, and, last but not least, in the character of the articles found in them, leave but little doubt as to the identity of the people who built these mounds and buried in these graves. As to whom they were, or to what race they belonged, history and tradition are alike silent; but it is a singular coincidence, to say the least, that the city of Nashville, the centre as it were of this class of remains, stands on the very site of a former Shawnee village8 and that this same tribe of Indians, or their congeners9 can be shown, on un- doubted historic authority, to have occupied each one of the above- mentioned localities in the course of their erratic and checkered career. I am not, however, prepared to assert that they were in the habit of burying their dead in stone graves, or even in mounds, though such customs were common enough among their neighbors.10 This much seems necessary by way of thoroughly understanding the circumstances under which this exceedingly valuable collection was made. Turning now to the crania and grouping them accord- ing to their most obvious characteristics, it will be found that 1st, All are more or less prognathic, and 2d, That there are twenty-nine that show marks of "posterior flattening" to a greater or less extent, and thirty-eight that are either normal, or else the amount of distortion in them is so very slight that it is not believed it will materially affect the general accuracy of the measurements. Flattened posteriorly, the term generally used in describing this particular class of skulls, is not altogether satisfactory, for the reason that it seems to indicate a certain sameness in the distortion, 8 Ramsey. History of Tennessee, p. 79. Charleston, 1853. 9 The Kickapbos, who occupied the section of southern Illinois in which these graves are found, are included among the Western Lenape, under which head the Shawnees are also placed. Archaeologia Amer: Vol. II, p. 60. 10 Since this article was in type, I have had an opportunity of examining a skull found on Big Shawnee Island, in the Delaware River, a few miles above the Water Gap, and forwarded to the Peabody Museum by Dr. Abbott of Trenton. In shape and size, and even in the manner and amount of the posterior flattening to which it had been subjected, there is absolutely no appreciable difference between it and many of the specimens in the collection, now under consideration. As the Shawnee Indians occu- pied each of these localities, at different times, in the course of their wanderings, and, so far as we know, no other one nation ever did, why may not this be regarded as an important link in the chain of evidence that points to this unfortunate people as the Moundbuilders of the Cumberland Valley? 364 or flattening, as well in kind as in degree, and to imply that the pressure necessary to produce it had been designedly applied, when, in point of fact, it is probable that nothing was farther from the truth. Still it is accepted for the want of a better term, though it might, perhaps, be more accurate to say of this form of cranium, that the distortion was the result of pressure undesignedly applied. This may seem to be rather a sweeping assertion, but it is believed to be justified by a study of this collection and a comparison of the different specimens with those from Peru that show marks of posterior flattening. So similar are the effects of this process found to be, that but for the difference in capacity, amounting to lllcc11 in favor of the Tennessee crania, and the accidents of dis- coloration, etc., resulting from the circumstances of burial, a selec- tion might be made from the posteriorly flattened crania of these widely separated localities, that would be absolutely indistin- guishable. With but slight alterations, the language applied to one might be safely used in describing the other. Undoubtedly, if only the more aggravated cases of distortion be considered - those for instance in which the occipital and parietal bones have been flattened into one plane and that plane pushed far forward of a vertical line, as in Museum, No. 12,799,- no craniologist would feel justified in describing it as the result of accident, or the effect of force undesignedly applied. But if, on the contrary, we begin at the other extreme - at those cases in which the distortion, at best but very slight, is only revealed by the development more or less unequal of one or the other of the parietals, or perhaps by a slight flattening of the occiput just above the protuberance - and carefully note the intermediate steps by which one form insensibly merges into the other, it will be found impossible to draw other than an arbitrary line of demarcation between them. The same causes that produced one must have produced the other ; and if, as is generally admitted, the less distorted forms may have been caused by the manner in which the child was strapped to the cradle board,12 or even by the habit of "laying the child to sleep from earliest infancy on its side with a persistent adherence to one 11 The average capacity of fifty-six crania from Peru, is 1230c-c =75 c. inches. Fourth Annual Report Peabody Museum, p. 18. 12 Morton, Crania Americana, p. 115. London and Philadelphia, 1839. Dr. Thurnam in Memoirs read before the Anthropological Society of London. Vol. I, p. 157, etc., etc. 365 side,"13 there does not seem to be any good and sufficient reason why in those cases in which the distortion is greater, the same causes, operating for a longer period, may not have produced the same results. It is, after all, but a question of time and the amount of force exerted, and any attempt to fix a point beyond which it can be affirmed that this pressure was applied for the deliberate purpose of producing a certain form of distortion, must be arbitrary. Bearing upon this point, though the evidence is negative and not entitled to much weight, is the fact that in all this class of skulls the different forms of distortion seem to have been produced at random. There is no effort to attain any particular form, as it is fair to assume there would have been, if any such had been recog- nized as a type of beauty, or mark of honor. Nowhere is there any apparent unity of design, any evident application of force for a specific purpose ; but on the contrary, we find just such a confu- sion of forms as might be expected to result from the hap hazard practice of strapping babies to a cradle-board. In some of the skulls, all the bones of the posterior portion of the head are more or less flattened ; in others, it may be one or both of the parietals with, perhaps, the upper portion of the occiput; whilst again in others, the right, or left half of the occipital with the adjoining part of the parietal seems to have been forced forward, thus giving to the skull, when seen from above, a decidedly lop-sided appearance. Amid such confusion, it is impossible to effect any classification save upon the very indefinite, general basis of "pos- terior flattening." This may mean very much, or it may be found to signify very little ; but in either event it is to be regarded as ac- cidental and cannot be accepted as a race or tribal characteristic. Certainly it was not so considered by the early chroniclers, since nowhere, so far as the writer knows, is there any evidence that it was ever, intentionally, practised by any of our American In- dians. If it had ever obtained to any extent among them, it is hardly possible that it would have escaped all mention on the part of writers who have left us any quantity of evidence as to the intentional depression of the frontal and the means taken to bring 13 Wilson, Prehistoric Man, Vol. II, p. 226. London, 1876. " Sometimes the flatten- ing inclines to the right, sometimes to the left side; - a difference, perhaps, due to the custom of the mother as to suckling the child at the left or right breast." Dr. Thurnam, Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, Vol. I, p. 157. " I have observed the effects of pressure in flattening the occiput, in white infants, who, during protracted illness, have lain longin one position." Jones, Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, p. 117. 366 it about. We have accounts, it is true, any number of them, of the application of pressure to both the frontal and occipital, at one and the same time, and it is possible that a moderate amount of pressure applied anteriorly, as was the case among the Choctaws, might aggravate the parieto-occipital distortion ; but nowhere do we find any account of the application of force to the back of the head alone, for the purpose of moulding that particular portion of the head into some desired form. For these reasons it is believed that this custom of flattening the head posteriorly, whether found in Peru, Europe, or the Mississippi valley, is simply accidental,- the result of pressure undesignedly applied,-and can only be regarded as evidence of the extensive use of the cradle-board, but as furnishing no proof, beyond this, of the antiquity or identity of the people among whom it is found to have existed. Whilst upon this point, it may, perhaps, be as well to state that there is not in this entire collection a single skull showing indis- putable evidence of an attempt to depress the frontal, or to flatten the head anteriorly. Two, and only two of them, exhibit the least trace of this process, and in them it is so exceedingly faint as to require some aid from the imagination in order thorougly to believe that the attempt was ever made. In all the others, the foreheads though somewhat retreating and in many instances far from sym- metrical, are more or less rounded or arched, and apparently never felt the pressure of a sand bag,14 or any other method of depres- sion.15 This fact would seem to exclude from the list of possible builders of these stone graves, the Natchez,16 Chickasaws,17 Choctaws18 and any and all other tribes in which the custom of intentionally depressing the frontal can be shown to have prevailed. Granting that either of these tribes buried here, and it does not seem within the bounds of probability that a collection of this size could have been gathered together without containing a percentage of skulls showing the particular form of distortion which they are known to have practised. That there might be no chance of mistake, careful comparison has been made with crania from Peru, 14 Adair, History of the American Indians, p. 284. London, 1775. 18 Du Pratz, History of Louisiana, Vol. II, p. 162. London, 1763. 18 History of Louisiana, 1. c. 17 Memoir of the Sieur de Tonty, French's Historical Collections of Louisiana, Part I, p. 60. 18 Adair, Hist. Amer. Indians, p. 284. Bartram's Travels, p. 517. Philadelphia, 1791. 367 the Northwest Coast and the Ohio valley, in which this depression of the frontal is marked, and it is not believed that the two forms can ever be confounded. It is, indeed, true that the method by which this particular form of distortion is brought about, and which we find described in Adair19 Du Pratz,20 and others of the early writers, does also, sometimes, cause a flattening of the poste- rior portion of the head similar to that found in the skulls taken from the stone graves, but it also causes a flat retreating foiehead, and a levelling or depression of the parietals along the line of the sagittal suture, that differs as widely as possible from the rounded forehead and the high, arched crest of the other. In a word, the two forms are separated by the whole extent of the impassable gulf that exists between the accidental compression or forcing forward of some portion of the posterior part of the head and that intentional depression, or forcing backward of the frontal, which results from the application of force exerted deliberately and for the attainment of a specific purpose. But it is unnecessary to pursue this branch of the subject farther, especially as there is no intention of entering into a discussion of the question, who con- structed these graves? The theme is tempting, and at some future time it may occupy our attention, but for the present it must suffice to protest, however feebly, against the fallacious style of investigation that is wont to assume the identity of race from the accidents of a custom. Returning from this long digression and dividing the crania according to the features that distinguish the sexes, we find among the thirty that are sufficiently perfect for us to take their capacity, that there are seventeen which are probably those of females and thirteen, of males. All are adults with perhaps one exception, and that one, to judge from the dentition, may be any- where from fifteen to twenty years of age. The mean capacity of the seventeen females is 1250 ,c-, of the thirteen males, 1459, leav- ing a balance of 209c-c- in favor of the latter. The mean capacity of the whole is 1341, which is less than that of the American Indian, 1376cc-, but greater than the Peruvian, which is only 1250cc-, and agrees closely with the average of the collection, made by Dr. Jones, in this same neighborhood. These differences and resemblances, however, can be best seen when the measurements »1. c. p. 284. 2°1. c. Vol. II, P.1C2. 368 are arranged in tabular form, and for this reason we have brought them together in Table I, adding other measurements that are of interest, and including crania from other localities. TABLE I. MEAN MEASUREMENTS OF CRANIA.21 1 22 Mean of 67 Crania from stone graves in Tennessee. 1341 be § BT 166 s £ 64 141 4= bp 40 142 'eg .852 .854 c 7S 2 £ 91 Flattened posteriorly 2 Mean ot 21 Crania from stone graves in Tennessee. 1335 21 165 21 143 141 .872 .854 cc 3 Mean of 38 Crania from a mound in Ken- tucky. 1313.33 37 165.4 38 142.28 36 132 .857 .769 92.7 4 Mean of 10 Crania from Caves in Ken- tucky and Tennessee. 2 1382 10 168 8 110 143 .831 .823 ■90 a 5 23 Mean of Crania from Mounds in Unit- ed States. 30 1374 1 18 168 116 145 78 139 .867 .821 6 Mean of 18 Crania from Florida. 1375.7 16 173.5 1 0 145 135.6 .830 .777 98.47 7 Mean of 103 Crania from Santa Barbara, California. 1248 175 136 129 .779 .741 98 8 Mean of 50 Urania from Islands olf San- ta Barbara, Cal. 1326 184 133 128 .723 .680 88 9 New England. 179 136 136 .759 .759 10 Iroquois. 185 137 137 .740 .740 11 Algonquin. 184 141 136 .766 .739 12 Algonquin - Lenape. 180 140 137 .777 .761 13 Esquimaux. 184 132 138 .717 .750 14 Tschuktchi. 176 135 137 .767 .778 21 The measurements given in this table are taken as follows: -No. 2 from Jones' Abo- riginal Remains of Tennessee, p. 109; No. 5. from the Check List of the Army Nled- ical Museum; Nos. 9,10,11,12,13.14, from Wilson's Prehistoric Man, Vol. II, p. 197, and the rest from crania in the collection of the Peabody Museum. 22 The small figures over the line in this and the succeeding columns, running from left to right, refer to the number of Crania measured. These measurements are given: - Capacity in cubic centimetres; length, breadth, etc., in millimetres. iS The check list from which this average was prepared, was issued by the Army Medi- cal Museum for use during the International Exhibition of 1876, at Philadelphia. 369 In the above table and thus far in our study of the collection, we have dealt altogether with mean measurements, or with those divisions that could be easily noted by the eye. This method of proceeding is sufficiently accurate for the purpose of comparing Since then there have been numerous additions to the collection, though they are not included in the above table of Mean Measurements. I am indebted to Dr. G. A. Otis for the following interesting memorandum, showing the distribution and distortion of the Mound Crania now in that collection:-"There are 174 Crania from Mounds in the collection of the Army Medical Museum, 57 of which are normal, 104 flattened, and 13 fragments, the normal and abnormal character of which can- not be ascertained. They were collected in the following localities: LOCALITY. Normal. Flattened. Fragments. Total. Dakota . . 18 18 Wisconsin 2 2 Iowa . . 5 1 6 Illinois . 3' 3 Indiana . 5 5 California 4 2 6 Utah . . 1 4 5 Missouri . 1 1 Kentucky 6 21 3 30 Virginia . 1 1 Tennessee 1 6 7 Mississippi 3 44 1 48 Louisiana i 6 7 Alabama 1 1 Florida . 12 17 5 34 57 104 13 174 Report Peabody Museum, II. 24. 370 the capacity, etc., but it fails to give us anything like a correct idea of those measurements that vary with the amount of distor- tion, or of the differences between the groups of skulls that go to form each one of the above averages. For instance, in group No. 1 of the above table, we have the mean breadth of the Tennessee crania given as and the index of breadth as .852, or .852 of the length, assuming that to be a thousand. This brings the entire collection within the class of brachycephalic,24 or short heads, and is unquestionably accurate so far as it goes. It belongs, however, to that class of half truths that are sometimes as pernicious as error itself, insomuch as it omits all mention of the fact that there is a large percentage of these skulls, which must be ranked as among the long or the oval heads, or in scientific nomenclature, among the dolichocepliali or the orthocephali. These groups are separate and distinct, and should be kept so in any comparison that aims at accuracy, otherwise the cephalic index becomes a variable quantity, and the classification of the same skulls will vibrate from short to long, accordingly as one or the other form may be made to preponderate. To obviate this difficulty as far as possible, it is proposed to divide these crania into the three groups according to their relative proportions of breadth and length. Apparently this is a very simple process, and if all the skulls were perfectly normal and symmetrical it would give us results that are absolutely accurate. But the reverse of this is the case with the collection now before us, and consequently we are met, at the very outset of our classification, with the startling fact that in a collec- tion that contains a percentage of distorted skulls, absolute accu- racy is unattainable, for the reason that there is no method by which the extent of such distortion can be measured. It will not do to trust to the eye alone, because due allowance cannot always be made for what may be termed the personal equation of the person making the measurements. In taking the cubic contents of a skull, this can be equalized by giving the average of a series of measurements ; but should it become necessary, at any time, to pronounce upon the amount of distortion in any particular skull, 24The classification, omitting the subdivisions, is that adopted by Dr. Thurnam Professors Huxley, Dawkins and other English authorities, and may be found in Cave Hunting," by VV. Boyd Dawkins, p. 190. London, 1874. I. " Dolichocephali, or long skulls with cephalic index at or below .73. II. Orthocephali, or oval skulls with cephalic index from .74 to .79. III. Brachycephali, or broad skulls with cephalic index at or above .80." 371 in order to effect a classification according to that standard, the eye cannot always be trusted as a sure and safe guide. The want of symmetry in crania is so very general, and in many of those that have been flattened posteriorly the extent of the distor- tion. even when it is admitted to be present, is so exceedingly small, that probably no two craniologists would agree in their judgment as to a number of skulls. Even the same person might, not unlikely, find it difficult to reconcile the decisions of one day with those of another. The callipers, it is true, can be trusted to give us the precise present status of any skull, i. e., whether dolichocephalic, brachycephalic, or belonging to some one of the intermediate subdivisions; but it is powerless to estimate the extent of the compression, often very slight, by which the rela- tive proportions of any given skull may have been so changed as to transfer it to a class to which it did not originally, rightfully belong. That this is an incident of frequent occurrence will not be denied by any one who has ever had occasion to note the imper- ceptible stages by which these different forms of skull grade into each other. But small as the amount of this distortion in each case may be, and however slight its effect on the general average, yet, as it always acts in one direction and its force is cumulative, a moment's reflection will show that it may become a prolific source of error. Thus, whilst a very slight amount of posterior flattening may sometimes suffice to transform a dolichocephalic skull into an orthocephalic, or an orthocephalic one into a brachycephalic, yet by no possibility can it ever reverse the process and transform a brachycephalic skull into a dolichocephalic, or even into an ortho- cephalic of high grade. The tendency is always in one and the same direction, and its effect is ever to increase the number of short, or of oval heads at the expense of those that are longer. Recognizing these difficulties in the way of attaining accuracy in classification, and at the same time feeling the necessity of eliminating certain exaggerated cases of distortion from the calcu- lations, it has been thought desirable, as a temporary expedient, to establish a purely arbitrary fourth class or flattened skulls, to which is relegated all those having an index of .900 and over. There may be and probably are, perfectly normal skulls with an index equalling this, but in all such cases, it has been the aim to keep them apart, and to confine this class of flattened skulls to those in which the judgment of the eye and the verdict of the calipers are 372 found to be in accord. It must not, however, be inferred, that this group includes all the most aggravated cases of distortion, or that all the crania in the other classes are entirely free from such malformation. Take for instance a brachycephalic skull with a high index,say .880, and having fixed the point of distortion at .900, it will evidently r< quire a much less amount of posterior flattening to bridge over this interval than to carry an orthocephalic skull with low index up to the limit of brachycephalism, or say from .7.50 to .800. This is evident in theory, and though in practice it is perhaps difficult or impossible to verify it, as there are no known methods of measuring the extent of the flattening, still, as a fact, there are crania in the orthocephalic and brachy- cephalic groups, in which the deformity, measured by the eye, seems as great, though not always displayed in the same direction, as is to be found in the average of the flattened skulls. Neither must it be supposed that all the crania in the other classes are free from marks of posterior flattening. Probably not a third of the whole collection can be said to be perfectly normal, and certainly not the half, even of that number, would be pronounced symmetrical. Still, in the case of those classed as dolichocephali and orthocephali, the extent of the flattening is exceedingly small and as it is usually above, or on one side of the occipital protu- berance, through which and the glabella our measurement of length is taken, it is not believed that it will materially affect the accu- racy of the result. Among the brachycephali, such immunity is not claimed. Some of them are undoubtedly normal or but very little flattened, whilst others exhibit marks of distortion to a greater or less extent. It is even probable that some skulls natu- rally orthocephalic may have been transferred to this class by this process. Be this as it may, it is believed that the subdivision of this group by limiting the range of distortion, has narrowed the chances of error, and that the measurements are a close approximation to the truth. Still, as a matter of fact, it must be admitted that the process of flattening the skull posteriorly does shorten and broaden the head, and, consequently, it may have raised the cephalic index of this group though not, it is believed, to any very great extent. As to the fourth class or flattened skulls, distortion, among them, "goes without the saying." It must not be forgotten, however, that this subdivision is purely ar- bitrary and is introduced merely for the purpose of elucidating 373 some points that will arise hereafter. If it be considered objec- tionable, the last group, No. 4, of flattened skulls may be left out of our calculations altogether. The effect of this will be, simply, to tone down the contrasts of the brachycephali (No. 3) with the other classes of skulls (Nos. 1 and 2), and thus strengthen any conclusions that may be based on such contrasts. Table II.-Mean Measurements of 67 Crania from Stone Graves in Tennessee. No. of Crania. Capacity. Length. Breadth. Height. Index of Breadth. Index of Height. Width of Frontal. Index of Breadth. 1 Dolichocephali. 5 2 1325 5 184 5 132 3 142 .716 .775 5 94 .730 and under. 2 Orthocephali. 18 6 1346 18 172 16 134 141 .775 .819 18 89 .740 @ .800 3 Brachycephali. 29 15 1284 165 28 141 18 142 .856 .865 29 90 .800 @ .900 4 Much Flattened. 15 7 1461 15 156 15 152 8 145 .973 .907 15 93 .900 and over. An examination of the above table will show that there are in this collection five (5) dolichocephalic, eighteen (18) orthocephalic, twenty-nine (29) brachycephalic and fifteen (15) that we have classed as flattened skulls. They range from a cephalic index of .716 among the dolichocephali to .856 among the brachycephali, or accepting the classification of the English authorities, from the subdolichocephalic to a high grade of brachycephalism. Names, however, are of but little import; the one, central fact is to be found in the presence, in these graves, of skulls which, after exclud- ing those tabulated as distorted or much flattened, are shown by their measurements to belong to the two extremes of classification, and which cannot be brought into the same group without doing violence to all ideas of craniology. If the terms dolichocephalism and brachycephalism mean anything, then those two forms of skulls are found here, and there is no method of measurement sufficiently elastic to include them both under one head. This fact is by no means new or novel, though it has not been many years since Dr. Morton and anthropologists of his school stoutly main- tained the uniform brachycephalic type of crania among all the 374 American aborigines except the Esquimaux. Of late years, how- ever, the contrary opinion, so ably advocated by Dr. D. Wilson, has been steadily gaining ground, and to day there is but little hazard in saying that it is generally received. But the evidence, furnished by a study of this collection, seems to lead still farther, and we are required not only to admit the existence of different forms of skulls, as there well might be in different tribes, but also to conclude that they are to be found among the same people, or people living under the same tribal organization, much after the fashion in which they are, to day, known to exist among the com- posite peoples of our great commercial cities. This is hardly in accord with the opinions generally held as to the purity of race, in prehistoric times,25 but it seems impossible to avoid the conclusion, if it be admitted that the fact that these skulls were found buried together indiscriminately, in the same style or set of graves, in the same mound, and so far as we can judge, at or near the same time, is any proof that they belonged to people of the same tribe and race. In the case of Museum No. 11,860, the evidence is even stronger, as in this instance a normal dolichocephalic skull and a brachy- cephalic one, slightly flattened posteriorly, were found buried in the same stone grave, in a mound, and under circumstances that make it impossible that the interments could have been made at different times. This mode of burial could hardly have taken place except among members of the same family or gens, or at least members of the same tribal organization, and the argument as to the probable identity of race is certainly of equal weight. It is, of course, possible that the skulls which are found to differ so widely from the prevailing type, may have belonged to members of different tribes. The custom, almost universal among the American Indians, of absorbing the remnants of conquered tribes,26 would account for much of this diversity, and as they lived in a constant state of warfare,27 their opportunities in this 26"This" (variation of skull form) "is due to our very abnormal conditions of life, and to the mixture of different races brought about by the needs of commerce, as in Manchester and Vienna, as is pointed out by Mr. Bradley. In prehistoric times neither of these causes of variation made themselves seriously felt. There was little if any peaceful movement of races, but war was the normal con- dition, and society was not sufficiently advanced to remove man from the influence of bls natural environment." W. Boyd Dawkins, Cave Hunting, p. ISO. London, 1874. 26 Du Pratz, History of Louisiana. Vol. II, p. 157. Arch. Amer., Vol. II, p. 95. 27 "We cannot live without war. Should we make peace with the Tuscaroras, we must immediately look out for some other, with whom we can be engaged in our beloved 375 line must have been magnificent. If to this be added the fre- quency of adoption28 and intermarriage,29 a strong case is made out in favor of this explanation. But admitting all that can be said in its favor, and it may still be doubted whether these factors are of sufficient importance to produce the immense results here seen. Out of a total of sixty-seven crania which, taken as a whole, belong distinctly to the brachycephalic type, there are twenty-three, or over thirty-three per cent, that cannot be consid- ered as coming within that group. This is a large percentage, and it may well be questioned whether it is not too great to have been produced save by causes that must have been at work through a long series of years, or upon an exceptionally large scale. Upon this point, however, speculation is idle. Craniolo- gists may well differ as to how this state of affairs was brought about, but as to the main fact.- the existence of different forms of skulls, even among people living under the same tribal organi- zation- there cannot be two opinions, in view of the rapid accu- mulation of evidence within the past few years. But whilst this classification of crania according to the cephalic index gives us the relative measurement of breadth and length, and of course varies as either member of the proportion is increased or diminished, it does not furnish the actual breadth or height of any skull, or even the mean of the whole. To ascertain these we must again go to the tables, and referring to the measurements as given above, we find that the breadth ranges from a mean of 132mra. among the dolichocephali, to 152 among those that are distorted, or in class 4. As has been said before, the crania in Nos. 1, 2 and 3, show but little if any marks of distortion, and consequently the measurements there given may be accepted as a close approximation to accuracy. In No. 4, however, or among the flattened crania, this state of affairs no longer exists, and whilst the figures there do not give ns any idea of the original form of these skulls, yet they do accurately indicate the present meas- urements, and, by comparison, may help us to form some concep- tion of the effects of this method of distortion. That it increases occupation." Reply of the Cherokees to an offer to bring about a pacification between them ami the Tuscaroras. Ramsey, History of Tennessee, p. 83. Charleston, 1853. Archaeologia Amer., Vol. IV, p. 90. Schoolcraft, Vol. II. p. 84, etc., etc. 28 "Captives taken in war were either put to death, or adopted into some gens. Women and children taken prisoneis usually experienced clemency in this form." Morgan, Ancient Society, p. 80. New York, 1877. 29 Tecumseh was the son of a Shawnee father, and Creek mother. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes of the United States. Vol. V, p. 45. 376 the width of the skull can be seen at a glance. Compared with the brachycephali, the class that is nearest to them in shape and size, the mean breadth of the crania in this group is (11) eleven""", greater, and these figures may be considered as representing roughly the measure of the distortion of these skulls in this par- ticular direction. Among themselves, the variation is great, though diminished by the limitations arbitrarily fixed on the class as a whole. It extends from 140""". to 169, and the cephalic index ranges from .900 to 1.019, though the broadest skull is not always the one having the highest index. In this collection there are two that are broader than they are long, or with an index of over a thousand. A third, with an index even greater than either of these, amounting to 1233. has been omitted from our calculation, as, after a careful examination, it was thought that possibly the length might have been shortened by post mortem compression. On this point, it is proper to state that the utmost care has been observed, though in those cases in which the point of posthumous deformation coincides with that of cradle-board distortion, it is, sometimes, difficult to say exactly how much is due to one cause and how much to the other, admit- ting that both have been instrumental in modifying the original form of the skull. In the present collection there are three such coincidences, but for reasons given above, when treating of poste- rior flattening, it is not believed that the distortion has been such as to impair the correctness of the measurements. As a rule, the conditions of burial in stone graves or coffins, are such as to protect these skulls from any very great amount of superincumbent weight, whilst, as a matter of fact, in those instances in which the mal- formation seems to have been brought about by a comparatively slight pressure acting upon a body rendered soft and pliant by incipient decay, the process is found to have been altogether too effectual; as that portion of the cranium, which is supposed to have been subjected to the pressure, is usually, entirely missing. But this whole question of posthumous distortion is as yet but imperfectly understood. Perhaps the most that can be said is, that given certain conditions and it is almost sure to follow. Dr. George A. Otis, Curator of the Army Medical Museum, speaking of some crania that had been exhumed from the Vicksburg mounds by Surgeon Ebenezer Swift, U. S. Army, says in a private note to the writer, "the skulls were so soft that they would assume almost any shape given them on exhumation. Many of them were sent 377 to Washington in the wet clay in which they were found and I had scalar demonstration of the facility with which post mortem deformation was possible." There is no higher authority on matters craniological than the accomplished Curator of the Army Medical Museum, and whilst fully admitting the force of this statement, I feel great hesitancy in venturing to intimate a doubt as to whether there may not be some danger of overrating the fre- quency with which the conditions necessary to bring about post mortem distortion are supposed to occur. Within a few weeks, the writer has had occasion to examine the very valuable collection of crania now in the Peabody Museum, and out of one hundred and fifty skulls dug from graves in California and the islands off its Southern Coast, there is not one that shows any marks of posthumous distortion, though the evidence of posterior flattening is more or less common. In the same collection, there are one hundred and two skulls from Italy, some of them antedating the Christian Era. Among these are a few with the peculiar lop-sided appearance found in crania from Peru and the valley of the Ohio, which is supposed to be one of the forms of distortion resulting from the use of the cradle-board, but no marks of post mortem deformation. This is of course negative evidence again, but in view of the fact that these skulls, selected at random, were buried under circumstances as likely to produce a posthumous change of shape as any that we can expect to find, may it not be considered as one of those rare instances in which it is permitted to argue the general scarcity of a form from its absence within certain, com- paratively narrow limits? But there is no intention of entering upon this matter, and even the little that has been said has been with a view of showing that we were fully aware of the possibility of error resulting from this cause, rather than from any desire oi' expectation of influencing opinion either way. Thanks to the friendly word of caution from Dr. Otis, and to the circumstance of the interments in stone graves, it is believed that danger of error in this direction has been reduced to a minimum ; and this opinion is confirmed by the fact that the few specimens in this collection, in which the distortion can by any possibility be sup- posed to have resulted from causes acting after death, can be duplicated by others from Peru and elsewhere, which, so far as we are able tq. judge, are absolutely free from any and all such indica- tions of post mortem pressure. Referring to the measurements of height, we find that among 378 the flattened crania (class 4) it is 3mtn. greater than among either the dolichocephali or the brachycephali, both of which are higher than the orthocephali. At first, it was thought that this slight in- crease of height might be due to the process of flattening the head posteriorly, as suggested by Dr. Morton30 and Prof. Busk.31 But on a careful study of the collection, it was found that this group was largely composed of male skulls, and it is believed that this supe- riority may, possibly, be due to that fact. This conclusion is borne out by a comparison of this collection with that obtained by Dr. Jones,32 from the same neighborhood, in which the height of the much flattened crania, or those having an index of over .900, is found to be 4mm. less than the brachycephali, the group nearest to it, whilst that is smaller than the orthocephali, thus precisely re- versing the results obtained above. It is possible, that in this latter instance, the inferiority may be due to the predominance of female skulls, just as, in the former case, a preponderance of male skulls turned the balance the other way. On this point we are in the dark, as there is no division of these crania, by Dr. Jones, on the basis of sex, though the importance of this element as a factor in swelling or diminishing the aggregates within certain limits, cannot be over estimated. Dividing his collection accord- ing to the formula given above and reducing his figures to the metric system, we find the following results, which are of much interest for purposes'of comparison. Table III.-Mean Measurements of Dr. Jones' Collection of 21 Crania from Stone Graves in Tennessee. ** w to w Much Flattened Brachycephali. O o o (D £ Dolichocephali. 00 00 O» No. of Crania. 1323 1387 1261 k Capacity. 5 & -I Length. -I 4-• w 00 4- H Breadth. co s 03 M Height. co Ot § to Index of Breadth. 1 4- go p Index of Height. With an index at or over .900. 30 Crania Americana, page 116. Philadelphia and London. 1839. 31 Journal of the Anthropological Institute for April, 1873, p. 92. 32 Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, p. 110. 379 In the above table it will be seen that the dolichocephali are altogether wanting, and that the percentage of orthocephali is something less than in table II. The mean measurements, how- ever, as given above and in Table II correspond very closely, as was to have been expected, when it is remembered that the two collections were made in the same neighborhood, and consist so far as we can judge, of the remains of the same people. There are, however, some minor differences, as will be seen by comparing the two tables, but it is believed that they can be accounted for by the accidental grouping of the crania on the basis of sex. Thus for instance, the capacity of the orthocephali in table III is found to correspond most closely, not with the same group in table II, but with the brachycephali, and as this latter class is largely com- posed of females, it is fair to presume that there exists a similar state of affairs among the former. Other resemblances and con- trasts will doubtlessly be found, growing out of a comparison of these measurements, but it is believed that they admit of ready solution, and therefore do not call for any special mention on our part. There are, however, other features connected with these crania which are worthy of attention, though not, perhaps of any ethnical significance. Some are anatomical, others the result of morbid conditions, and others, again, may be partly due to the custom of flattening the head posteriorly. Thus, of the 67 crania in this collection, we find that Wormian Bones are developed in twenty-one, or nearly thirty- three per cent., distributed as follows: two among the dolicho- cephali, seven among the orthocephali, six among the brachy- cephali, and six among those we have classed as much flattened. If to this number be added the five each, among the orthocephali (2) and the much flattened (4), and the six found among the brachycephali (3) in which this suture was so very irregular and complicated as to show a decided tendency to the development of these extra bones, the percentage will be largely increased. In nine of these twenty-one, the number of extra or intercalated bones is limited to one,- the Inca bone as it is called,- situated at the apex of the occiput. In this shape it is found in three in- stances among the orthocephali, four among the brachycephali and one each among the flattened skulls and the dolichocephali. In the latter specimen besides the Inca bone at the apex of the occi- 380 put and wormian bones in the lambdoidal suture, there is also an extra suture connecting the lower posterior angles of the two parietals, thus dividing the occiput into two parts of which the upper is the larger. In two others, making twenty-three in all so affected, numbered respectively No. 11,889 and 11,921, these extra bones are found in the coronal suture, near the crossing of the temporal ridge. In the latter specimen there were two such irregu- larities, one on each side ; in the former, only one and that on the left side. It is rare that they are found in this suture, though there are specimens in the Peabody Museum from Peru and the Northwest Coast, the latter much flattened anteriorly, that have such intercalated bones, similarly placed. Whilst there can be no doubt that the ratio of these bones in the crania of this collection, is very large, yet they are distributed throughout the different groups so evenly and in such manner that the process of flattening the head posteriorly cannot be said, in this instance, to have had any effect in increasing their development. Sutures.- In eighteen the coronal suture (usually on both sides) does not extend below the temporal ridge, and the spheno-frontal and spheno-parietal is obliterated, so that at or near the point of union, complete ossification has taken place, and the parietal, frontal and sphenoid form but a single bone. This peculiarity is not confined to any age, or sex, or form of skull, but is distributed throughout the different groups, with the percentage largely in favor of the dolichocephali, as all five of those skulls are so af- fected. A similar condition of affairs is found in seven of the one hundred and fifty Californian, and in fourteen of the one hundred and two Italian crania examined. In sixteen, we find one or more of the sutures closed, as follows : in eight, the coronal and sagittal are both obliterated, either wholly or in part; in six, the sagittal alone ; in one, the coronal; and in one, all three are closed. Among the dolichocephali, two have the coronal and sagittal so affected, and in one, the sagittal alone is closed. So far as we can tell, the crania in this latter group belonged to people much beyond the prime of life, and to this fact, no doubt, may be ascribed the closing of the sutures. In one skull, No. 12,303, the squamosal suture is closed ; a thin scale of bone seems to have grown over it, and on this, in high relief, is impressed' much of its irregular outline. In the three skulls Nos. 11,824, 12,797 and 14,003, that show marks of the greatest compression, 381 each having a cephalic index of over one thousand, and being respectively one, the skull of a youth, and the other two, of persons in the full vigor of manhood, all three of the sutures are open. Small bony tumors are found in the outer opening of the ear, in seven of the brachycephali, and in two among the flattened skulls of class four ; but they are not present in either of the other groups. This percentage, a little more than one in seven, is greater than Prof. Wyman found among the Peruvian crania, in which it existed in one in 41'25, or among Europeans, among whom it is said by Dr. C. J. Blake to be found in about five out of a thous- and.33 There is also more or less difference in the shape of the outer opening of the ear, a fact to which my attention was called by my friend, Dr. H. P. Walcott, of Cambridge, to whom I am in- debted for many valuable suggestions. In some, it is almost cir- cular, whilst in others it is more or less elliptical in form. This may be due to natural causes,34 though in some instances it is difficult to believe that the opening has not been somewhat nar- rowed by posterior pressure. Still this conclusion would not be warranted by the facts, as there are crania in this collection, very much flattened posteriorly, in which it does not exist, just as there are others, that are normal, in which it is found. Three of these crania show evidences of a diseased condition. In one, a youth, No. 11,970, there are marks of severe inflamma- tion, by which the apex of the occipital and the adjacent parts of both parietals, were much affected. A bony excrescence, or rather a series of them running into one another, and forming a united whole, covers all that portion of the head and completely effaces the lambdoidal and inter-parietal sutures, so far as the inflammation extends. In No .12,308, there is found in the upper part of the occiput and extending almost entirely across it, about 20mra- below the apex, a line, or belt, 16inm. broad, of small holes, something like those in the top of a pepper box. These holes or indentations extend through the outer table and spongy portion of the bone of the skull, but do not penetrate through the inner table. The adjoin- 33 Seventh Annual Report of the Peabody Museum, p. 15. 34 The meatus auditorus externus, which is circular in young subjects, and some- what oval in adults." Sharpey & Quain. Anatomy. Edited by Leidy. Vol. I, p. 157. Philadelphia, 1849. 382 ing part of the left parietal for a space measuring 42n,m. long by 24mm. broad, is affected in the same manner. In No. 14,001, complete anchylosis has taken place between the occipital condyles and the superior articular surfaces of the atlas bone. Some of these crania possess anatomical features of special interest. No. 12.297 was much broken at the time it was taken out of the grave and was not mended until within the past few days, too late to tabulate its measurements with those of the other crania from this region. It is the calvarium of an adult, probably a male, and measures 152"'m. in length, 152 in breadth, 144 in height. Width of frontal 92. Index of breadth 1,000. Wormian bones are found in the lambdoidal suture. The frontal suture is persistent and this is the only skull in the entire collection, in which it is. Along the line of this suture, from the glabella to the point of intersection with the coronal, there is an angular or roof-shaped arrangement of the two parts into which the frontal is divided, very similar to the formation that is frequently found at the junc- tion of the parietals in the New England and some other groups of Indians. This skull is flattened posteriorly. In No. 12797 there is an additional suture beginning at a point on the lambdoidal suture 46mm. above the posterior inferior angle of the left parietal, and extending along the temporal ridge for 52mm., throughout which distance it continues open. At this point it trends downwards, and though faint can still be traced for a farther distance forward of 50n,m., or to a point within 24,rm. of where the coronal bends forward to join the sphenoid, when it is obliterated. Just back of this point a short suture, 12mm. long, unites it with the squamosal. The sphenoid suture is almost per- fectly horizontal, extending forward from the upper anterior angle of the temporal bone, to where the transverse suture crosses the malar bone. By this arrangement of the sutures we have two extra bones intercalated between the parietal and temporal bones of the left side, extending along their entire length. At the junc- tion of this extra suture with the lambdoidal, there is a well developed wormian bone, as there is also on the right side where a section of that parietal, in the shape of a trapezoid, is cut off by an extra suture, squamosal in character, which unites the upper posterior angle of the right temporal, with a point on the lamb- 383 doidal suture 20mtn. above its junction with the additamentum suturcp, squamosce. Attention is also called to the extraordinary capacity of this skull, which, after careful measurement, is found to amount to 1825cc- This is 273 more than No. 13,323, which is nearest to it, and 741 larger than the smallest on the list. In other words the capacity of the smallest is less than 60 per cent, of this one. Some idea may be formed of its unusual size, when it is remembered that it is 275c,c-35 larger than the average Euro- pean, and that the largest healthy European skull on record, only exceeds it by 43ec-36 Large as this skull undoubtedly is, it does not stand alone. In the collection of Dr. Jones to which we have so often had occasion to refer,37 there is one that measures 103 c. inches or 1688cc-; the Army Medical Museum38 has one from a mound in Illinois with a capacity of 1785, and Schoolcraft39 speaks of "an untamed Shawnee brain that rises to 104 c. inches" or 1704cc- It must not be forgotten, however, that this is an ana- tomical characteristic, and that unless "the quality of the brain can be represented at the same time as the quantity, brain meas- urement cannot be assumed as any indication of the intellectual position of races, any more than of individuals."40 It may, indeed, be true, as recent researches seem to show,41 " that a superior race contains more of voluminous crania than an inferior," and that "the difference between the largest and snlallest brains among modern Parisians is three times that observed in the negro;" but to infer the superiority of a race (whatever that may mean), from the presence of one or all of these characteristics in their crania, would involve certain other admissions that cannot be sustained by the facts. Judged by this standard, the moundbuilder of the Cumberland valley would rank very high in the scale of develop- 36Seventh Annual Report of the Peabody Museum, p. 10. "The largest crania measured, 1550 c. c. . . . is a little larger than that of the average European." 86 Lyell. Antiquity of Man, p. 89. London, 1873. 37 Exploration of the Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, p. 110. Published by the Smithsonian Institution. Washington, 1876. 38 Check list of Preparations and Objects in the section of Human Anatomy of the United States Army Medical Museum. Washington, 1876. 39 Schoolcraft. Indian Tribes of the United States. Vol. II, p. 330. 40Fourth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum, p. 11. 41 Experimental researches on the variations of volume of the cranium, etc., by M. Le Bon, quoted in Nature, for July 18,1878. " Among 100 modern Parisian heads, there are about eleven with a cranium of 1700 to 1900 cubic centimetres: in the same number of negro heads not one will be found of such size. The weight of 100 masculine Pari- sian brains of the present, varies between 1000 and 1700 grammes, the volume, between 1300 and 1900 cubic centimetres, etc., etc." 384 nient-far ahead of the ancient Peruvian, who was, confessedly, among the most civilized of the American aborigines, but whose skull in point of capacity, did not exceed that of the Australian or the Hottentot.42 This conclusion, however, legitimate though it be, is not borne out in the story of those nations, as revealed by the spade and pick-axe ; but it will serve to show the uncertain nature of the ground that must be occupied by any one who en- gages in the vain effort to conjure up the vision of an extinct civili- zation, by a study of the crania of the people among whom it was developed. 42 Fourth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum, p. 11.