Description of a deformed, fragmentary human skull : found in an ancient quarry-cave at Jerusalem : with an attempt to determine, by its configuration alone, the ethnical type to which it belongs / by J. Aitken Meigs.

  • Meigs, James Aitken, 1829-1879.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of a deformed, fragmentary human skull : found in an ancient quarry-cave at Jerusalem : with an attempt to determine, by its configuration alone, the ethnical type to which it belongs / by J. Aitken Meigs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    The cranium found in this cave (No. 1031 of the collection) is probably that of a man aged about 40 or 45 years. In structure it is moderately dense and heavy, and from its general appearance would scarcely be regarded as an an- cient skull. It is, unfortunately, in a very fragmentary condition, consisting of the two ossa parietalia, the left temporal, nearly all that part of the os oc- cipitis posterior to the foramen magnum, and enough of the frontal bone to determine the calvarial form. The facial, right temporal and basal bones are altogether wanting. It has evidently been a short, broad and high skull. The coronal region is triangular in shape, with the truncated apex of the triangle directed anteriorly and coinciding with the frontal diameter. The skull be- longs therefore to the Triangular Type of the Class Brachyplatupsidfe—the 25th in the new and comprehensive classification of human crania, which I propose to bring before the Academy at some future time. The bi-frontal diameter measures about 4 inches ; the bi-parietal, between the ossific centres, 6^ in- ches ; the vertical diameter, from the posterior edge of the foramen magnum to the highest point of the crown directly above, 6| inches ; the intermeatous diameter about 2^ inches. The antero-posterior or longitudinal diameter of the head must have measured about 6£ or 6| inches. The occipital bone rises vertically from the posterior margin of the great foramen to meet the parietalia which bend abruptly downward between their lateral protuberances. This striking peculiarity gives to the posterior part of the head the same broad, high and perpendicularly flattened appearance, so characteristic of Peruvian Crania. The superior transverse ridge of the occipital bone is well- defined ; and the occipital protuberance sharp and prominent. The mastoid process of the temporal bone is large and massive. Upon the inner surface of the left side, and directly opposite the parietal centre of ossification, there is a solution of continuity in the vitreous table. Both the vitreous and diploic structures at this spot have decayed away or been absorbed, leaving a cavity of an irregularly oval shape, and about five-eighths of an inch long, and half an inch wide. Judging from several minute fissures which radiate in different directions from the edges of this cavity, the latter is the result of a blow, which, without affecting the outer or fibrous, has been strong enough to fracture the inner table. A portion of the surrounding surface of the skull, extending about one inch from the margin of the cavity, is stained of a reddish or iron-rust color. The muscles attached to the sharp external occipital protuberance, to the well pronounced superior and inferior semi-circular lines or ridges of the os occipitis, and the intervening rough surface, must have been well developed ; so that the nape of the neck formed, in all probability, a plane continuous with the back of the head. When with this peculiarity we couple the fact that, owing to the relative position of the external auditory meati, the ears must have appeared to be attached rather to the back part than to the sides of the head, we can readily imagine that the individual to whom the skull be- longed must have presented quite a bizarre appearance. The glenoid fossa of the left side remains intact and is especially worthy of notice, since it happens to constitute in this skull the only connecting link or point of attachment be- tween the calvaria and the missing bones of the face. If the Cuvierian law of the correlation or harmonization of forms could be practically applied to the separate pieces composing the human cranium, this fossa would assume a still greater importance, since by means of it the outline of the bony face could be determined, and the observer having, in this indirect way, obtained an exact idea of the shape of the entire head, could proceed more confidently to indi- cate the precise ethnic type of which this skull is a specimen. Impracticable, however, as this is, we can approximate the desired informa- tion by observing attentively the exact appearance of this fossa. The zygomatic tubercle is well marked ; the eminentia articularis, instead of being flatly rounded, as is ordinarily the case, is sharp and well defined, while the anterior