Abstract
Cranial Deformation among the Ancient Maya TWO cases of artificial deformation of a remarkable and unusual character have been described by A. J. E. Cave (Smithsonian Institution, Anthropological Papers, Bull. 123; 1939). They were derived from Maya mounds in the Corozal District of British Honduras excavated by the late T. W. Gann. The first specimen is the mutilated brachycephalic cranium of an elderly subject, probably female, which lacks almost the entire facial skeleton. It has an auricular height of 111 mm., a maximum length (glabella-inion) of 150 mm., a maximum (biparietal) breadth of 165 mm., a minimum frontal breadth of 92 mm., and a cephalic index of 110. The whole calvaria is fairly symmetrical; but it is curiously and quite artificially deformed. Mechanical flattening of the supra-inial occiput has produced an enormous lateral out-thrust of the cranium in the mid-parietal transverse axis. The frontal region has not been directly compressed and merely shares in the general lateral bulging of the whole skull. In each temporal fossa there is an obvious and artificial groove ascending over the alisphenoid and anterior portion of the parietal to be lost above the superior temporal crest. These grooves must be the product of tightly applied bandages. In norma verticalis the cranium suggests an abortive ‘bilobed’ appearance. the cranium is actually of greater breadth than length. The same condition appears in the second specimen—the calvaria of an adult, middle-aged subject, presumably male. It is imperfect, and also partially a restoration, but enough remains to show that despite deformation it was brachycephalic and of corresponding type to Specimen I. Its measurements are auricular height, 100 mm.; length, 154 mm.; breadth, 171 mm., min. frontal breadth, 101 mm., cephalic index, 111. Artificial deformity has been produced by pressure applied to the supra-inial portion of the occipital, and the hinder portion of both parietals, resulting in a squashing forward of the vault and an enormous exaggeration of the biparietal diameter, which exceeds the maximum length of the skull. Two artificial grooves indicate the application of bandages. Like Specimen I, this skull also shows a tendency to the bilobed condition.
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Research Items. Nature 144, 447–448 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144447a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144447a0