Abstract
Early Man in India.—In a report by Col. Seymour Sewell and Dr. B. S. Guna (Memoirs, Archœol. Survey, No. 35, App. 5), the bones excavated at Nal, in Baluchistan, by Mr. H. Hargreaves of the Archælogica1 Survey and attributed by Sir John Marshall to the chaicholithic age, are described and their possible affinities discussed. Of two crania described by Sir Arthur Keith, one, the ‘Sialkot’ skull, probably belongs to much the same period as the bones from Nal. These consist of fragments representing thirteen individuals, of whom some were children. With the human remains were bones of birds and mammals, part of a large and remarkable bone pin, and some fragments of pottery. Part of an adult skull was found. The greater part of the left side of the skull is missing, as is the lower jaw. It is markedly dolichocephalic, having the low index of 70. This may be due to a slight posthumous flattening. A crescentic piece of flatly ground limestone was wedged at the back of the hard palate. It is suggested that this is an early form of the Indian custom of placing a gold coin in the mouth and of other methods of occluding the mouth and nostrils to prevent the escape of the soul. The teeth are large and well formed, but very much worn down by a hard diet. The long bones show the flattening usually attributed to life in a mountainous region. Owing to the scarcity of types of this early period, it is difficult to suggest physical affinities. The closest resemblance is to the dolichocephalic type from Kish, except that the Nal skull has a much higher vault. Of the two types found at Mohenjo-Daro, the dolichocephalic also resembles the Kish type, but the brachycephalic appears to be Mongoloid rather than Armenoid, as has been suggested for the Kish brachycephal.
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Research Items. Nature 124, 961–963 (1929). https://doi.org/10.1038/124961a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/124961a0