Abstract
BRONZE AGE AND LATER BURIALS AT DUNSTABLE.—A further report on the excavations of the University College (London) and the Hospital Anthropological Society at D unstable on No. 5 Barrow, Five Knolls, appears in Man for September. The whole of the central area and a large part of the periphery of the mound have now been excavated down to the undisturbed chalk. Twelve secondary interments by inhumation were found, including a large multiple burial near the north-east margin of the barrow, making twenty-two superficial burials by inhumation on this site in all. The evidence points to the barrow having been erected in the Bronze Age. The primary burial contained a woman of neolithic type, while the urn containing cremation No. 1 was deposited in the Middle Bronze Age, and No. 2 probably dates from the latter period, though there is no evidence. It is likely that the barrow was used as a burial place in Saxon times. The superficial burials were all very near the surface, one being so little as three inches only below it. The archaeological evidence for dating them is very scanty, but, accepting a coin as indicative of date, the end of the third century A.D. may be taken as the limiting date, but there is nothing to show how much later they may be. The careless method of burial suggests a place of execution. The disturbance after burial in many cases is probably recent. All the adult male skulls are large and muscular. One is dolichocephalic, six mesolicephalic, and four brachycephalic, the index ranging from 74.7 to 83. The average from the multiple burial is 79.9, and of the other male skulls 78.6. The average for the Saxon skulls in the London museums is 74.7, and it is therefore possible that the Dunstable skulls show signs of Alpine admixture. The jaw is larger and broader than the usual Saxon type, and the nasal index higher (average of 7 males, 50.6). On the other hand, the greater basiobregmatic and naso-basion length characteristic of the Saxon type is present, distinguishing it from the Iron Age and Romano-British type. The teeth are large and regular; two have an edge to edge bite. Seven adult males show caries.
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Research Items. Nature 122, 664–666 (1928). https://doi.org/10.1038/122664a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/122664a0