Report on the human and animal remains found at Halling, Kent / by Arthur Keith.

  • Keith, Arthur, Sir, 1866-1955.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report on the human and animal remains found at Halling, Kent / by Arthur Keith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    The external angular processes of the frontal and the zygomatic arches were thus well-marked muscular processes. There is no evidence in mandible or teeth of any degree of prognathism. Formation of the Skull. The manner in which the skull was set on the neck is in complete agreement with what is seen in men of to-day. The mastoid processes show a moderate development (see Figs. 2 and 3) the hi mastoid diameter of the skull, which may be regarded as an index of the width of the neck, is estimated to have been 120 mm.—a moderate amount. The muscular impressions of the occipital bone are marked much less strongly than in the Tilbury skull. This region of the skull is somewhat damaged, but it is certain that the inion was not produced into a strong or prominent process, and it was situated below the position of the internal inion. The neck was thus relatively slender and the head had a moderately marked backward projection, as is the case in crania of the “ river- bed ” type. The Teeth. The condition of the teeth is illustrated in the profile drawing of the mandible (Fig. 5) ; on the left side the first and second lower molars have been lost in life ; on the right all three molars have been lost, and also the second premolar. Thus, although the man was probably under forty years of age, only the incisors, canines, first premolars, second premolar and third molar of the left side remained in situ. The teeth were worn down so that not more than half the crown remained. The dentition of the Tilbury man was equally affected by disease. In both of these ancient skulls the teeth were not lost through the modern disease of caries, but by exposure of the pulp cavities with the consequent formation of abscesses at the roots of the teeth. The condition of the upper jaw is unknown; only a fragment of the palate was recovered with three incisors and one molar. We may be certain that the upper teeth suffered from disease more than the lower. Thus, from the few examples known, we may infer that in late Paleolithic and early Neolithic times abscesses of the teeth were not uncommon. As regards the size of the palate we must draw what inference is possible from the mandible. The dental arc was relatively small; from the outer or lingual border of the second molar of one side to the same border of the other there was a distance of about 64 mm. The front to back diameter of the lower dental arc, neasured from a point between the position of the crowns of the mesial incisors to a point midway between the position of the posterior borders of the last molars, was 46 mm. These measurements differ very little from what is found in modern English mandibles; the width is rather greater, the antero-posterior diameter less. It will be noticed, too, that the third molar is set obliquely at the junction of the ramus and body of the jaw, showing that there was not sufficient room for the third molars.