A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE upon it dolichocephalic, mesaticephalic and brachycephalic is also given. In several instances the two lists clash, a skull which is de- scribed as 'oval' on the one appearing as brachycephalic on the other, and "vice versa, but these contradictions may be more apparent than real. The cephalic index alone is of little value, unless checked by observa- tion, for these barrow skulls have frequently suffered posthumous dis- tortion. A comparison of the two lists, however, amply proves that though Mr. Bateman's notes fall short of the demands of present-day anthropology, they were carefully drawn up and may be accepted as substantially correct. It is not a difficult matter to arrange his seventy skulls in a roughly graduated series beginning with his boat-shaped, and ending with his extremely short form. Where the dividing lines should be placed in the series, between the dolichocephalic, mesaticephalic, and brachycephalic, is necessarily conjectural, but the Sheffield list helps us considerably, and we shall not be far wrong if we attribute to the first type, fourteen skulls ; to the second, sixteen ; and to the last, forty. To Mr. Bateman's list may be added thirteen other skulls of known form, subsequently obtained from Bronze-age burials, making up the following totals for Derbyshire 1 : Dolichocephalic skulls, approximately 1 6 Mesaticephalic 25 Brachycephalic 44 85 This intermixture of skull-forms has long been observed in the barrows of this age elsewhere in the country, and is generally recognized as indicating the intrusion of a round-head people upon the Neolithic long-heads, the intermediate form being the result of intermarriages between the two stocks. The proportion of the different types of skulls in Derbyshire is of peculiar interest. The Rev. Dr. Greenwell observes that in the round barrows of the wolds, the skulls of the two types are about equal in number, whereas in those of the south-west of the island the brachycephalic greatly preponderate. In Derbyshire the ratio, like the geographical position, is roughly intermediate, thus materially con- firming the Doctor's conclusion, ' that the earlier long-headed people were more completely eradicated by the intrusive roundheads in Wiltshire, than they were in East Yorkshire.' The general experience has been that the long-headed people were of shorter and feebler build than the other. Unfortunately Derbyshire 1 Messrs. Bateman and Carrington's investigations in the Staffordshire Bronze-age tumuli gave similar results, as the following table compiled from Mr. Bateman's list will show : Dolichocephalic skulls, approximately 5 Mesaticephalic 10 Brachycephalic 1 8 33 1 80
