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Description of a Skull from an Ancient Burying Place in Kamtchatka

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Description of a Skull from an Ancient Burying Place in Kamtchatka Description of a Skull from an Ancient Burying Place in Kamtchatka. Author(s): Alexander Macalister Source: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 16 (1887), pp. 21-22 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2841736 . Accessed: 14/06/2014 22:04 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.34.78.43 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 22:04:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions A. MACALISTER.-Descriptionof a Sk/tllfrom Kamtchattka. 21 Descriptionof a Skull frontan ANCIENTBURYING PLACE in KAMTCHATKA. BY ALEXANDERMACALISTEt, M.D., FR.S., Professorof Anatomyin the Universityof Cambridge. THROUGHthe kindness of Dr. Guillemard,I have receivedfor the CambridgeMuseum an interestingskull fromKamtchatka, obtained by him in 1882, on his visit to that country,with Mr. Kettlewell,in the yacht" Marchesa." This skull had been washed out of an ancient burying-place during a freshetof one of the torrentsflowing on the slopes of the Klutschewsk Volcano,and was picked up by a Ruhssian medicalman who presentedit to Dr. Guillemard. Comparativelyfew Kamtchadale skulls have been described, and this is peculiarin manyrespects. It is that of a female adult and has very loose coronaland squamous sutures,while the two parietals are completelyunited by a synostosisof the sagittalsuture. In capacitythe head is microcephalic. In shape it is tapeino-mesaticephalic,very slightlyprognathous, mega- seme and leptorhine. The measurementsare subjoined- . Capacity,estimated with shot *4 . 1290 ccm. Greatestlength, ophryo-occipital .. .. .. 174 ,, breadth,interparietal .. .. .. 134 height,basio-bregnmati .. .. .. 130 Basi-nasal line . .. .. .. 93-5 Basi-alveolarline . .. .. 97 Orbitalheight .. .. .. .. .. 34 Orbitalwidth.. .. .. .. 37 Nasal height . .. .. .. .. 42 Nasal width X. .. .. .. .e .. 20 Diameterbetween pterion and pterion .. .. 108 stephanionand stephanion .. 110 ,, asterionand asterion .. 105 Lengthfrom opisthion to glabella. .. 132 Minimuminterorbital width .. .. .. 22 Facial breadth,a.t zygomatic point of maxilla .. 91 at externalangular process .. 97 maximumbijugal .. .114 Height of posteriornares .... .. .. 18 Greatest width between the internalpterygoid plates . * . * * 27 INDICES. Height index . 747 Breadthindex . 7. 70 Orbital ,, 919 Nasal ,, .. 476 Alveolar ,, .. 1032 This content downloaded from 195.34.78.43 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 22:04:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 22 A. MACALISrER.-Descriptionof a S/cullfrom Kamtchatlca. Of otherpeculiarities the followingare noteworthy.There is a very " capsular" occipuit,and the skull in normaverticalis, is pentagonal,ill-filled. The frontalbone is flat browed with a shorttrace of a frontalsuture, a supraorbitalhole on each side. A transversegreen band of stainingcrosses the bone above the frontaleminiences from stephanion to stephanion,as if the skull had been crossed by a copper band. The interorbitalpart of the frontalis singularlyflat. The union of the two parietals is nearly perfect,a slight superficialtrace of the sagittal suture above the lambda being its only relic. There are two parietal foramina,one on each side, and a spheno-parietalsuture of 9 imm.on each side. The occiput has two large holes worn in its supra-occipital portionson each side of,and behind the foramnenmagnum, each nearly as big as the foramen. The condyles are worn,as if groundoff, so is the prominentjugular process,and the small mastoidprocess of the temporal. The posteriornares are particularlysmall and oblique. The palate is long,medially ridged. The onlyremaining teeth are the firstand secondmolars of the rightside whichare much worn; the othershave fallenout. We have not much iniformationas to the race charactersof the inhabitantsof N.E. Asia. The available sources known to me -arefrom the recordsof Capt. Cook's last voyage,Kennan's " Tent-lifein Siberia,"and Rettich's" EthnographieRussland." From these we gatherthat the inhabitants of the Peninsulaare of three tribes: to the north are the Tschuktches,supposed to number about 7,000, a brachycephalicrace with oval faces, prominentocciputs, anid projecting brows. In themiddle region, southof Cape Pokatchanik,the inhabitalntsare Koriaks (Kora= reindeer) a smaller but still broad-headedpeople, with large heads and mesosemeorbits. To the southof theselive the true Kamtchadales,a people quite distinctfrom their neighbours, who call themselvesItelm, (= the people) and disownthe nickname Kamtschale (= dirty,in Koriak). They are described as a rapidlydiminishing people. The adventurer,Beuiowsky,who led theirrevolt ag,ainst the Russians in 1771, says that there were 70,000 Itelm when Atlasoffsubdued them in 1699, and that they had become reduced to 11,000 in 1771. In 1853 they were said to number 7,331,and this numberhad become still furtherreduced to 5,846 in 1870. The facial appearanceof this skull quite agrees with Capt. Gore's-account, that the females are of pleasing,countenance. This content downloaded from 195.34.78.43 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 22:04:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions.
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