Notes on the crypt and bones of Hythe Church / by H.D. Dale and F.G. Parsons.

  • Dale, Herbert D.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Notes on the crypt and bones of Hythe Church / by H.D. Dale and F.G. Parsons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    altliougli Dr. Knox’s impression that tliere are no female sknlls present in this collection is not l)orne out by a more complete examination, he was correct in sno-gesting that males are largely in excess. Undoubtedly the result of a battle would be a likely means of accounting for this difference in the proportion of the sexes, though it would still leave about 2*5 per cent, of women and children to be accounted for. The next point of interest, and one which bears on the battle theory, is the nature of the injuries which a certain number of the sknlls show. In a considerable number there are o-ashes in the bones, nsnallv more or less hoi'i- zontal in direction, but in some round ]3erfora- tions exist. It is a little difficult to be sure whether these were wounds causing death, or whether they are the work of spades and picks dnrino’ exhumation. With a view to determin- ing this question, the following experiment was conducted. Two sknlls from another collection were taken, one from a person wdio had recently died and another which had been buried for many years. The former represented the con- ditions found in a living skull, the latter in one long buried. A series of blows of about the