Page:Archaeologia volume 38 part 1.djvu/109

This page needs to be proofread.

Cemetery at Brighthampton. 93 I cannot conclude this report without again recording my obligations to Mr. Stone, who rendered me throughout the most effective assistance, not only in ex- tricating the reliques from the compact soil in which they were imbedded I may say concreted but also in the restoration of such objects as were recovered in a damaged or fragmentary condition. I have the honour to be, my Lord, Your Lordship's faithful servant, J. Y. AKERMAN. To the Earl Stanhope, Pres. 8. A. &c. &c. &c. POSTSCRIPT. PROFESSOR QTJEKETT of the Royal College of Surgeons has favoured me with the following remarks on the Crania and other remains found in these graves. Jaw from Grave 31. This jaw presents certain peculiarities worthy of notice. On the left side the ascending ramus has been broken off a little behind the process for the attachment of the temporal muscle, which is termed coronoid; this is unfortunate, as in all probability something peculiar would have been discovered in the other process, which is the articular one, to account for the curious manner in which the teeth have been worn. On comparing the jaw with that of a man seven feet high, many of the measurements agree; whilst the great peculiarity consists in the position of the rami. In this jaw the ascending ramus is placed at right angles with those containing the teeth, whilst in the recent one the same processes are inclined at an angle of 110 degrees; and when the horizontal rami are placed on a level surface the front part or chin stands up at right angles to the level plane, and the teeth are also vertically situated ; but in the recent jaw the parts are inclined at the same angle of 110 degrees. This peculiarity seems more or less characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race, as in the jaws from Harnham Hill the same feature may be observed; whilst in fifty-four recent jaws in this museum all have the ascending rami in- clined nearly at the same angle as that of the man of seven feet before noticed. The teeth are all present, including the wisdom teeth, one on each side ; they have been much used, and all those on the right side, including also the two incisors and canine of the left side, are considerably flattened, so much so, that, instead of being on a plane with those of the left ramus, the canine of that side and the two incisors are nearly one-fourth of an inch higher. In the collection of lower jaws in this museum, amounting to many hundreds, there is not a single instance in which the teeth have been so singularly worn.