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A Re-examination of the Human Skull found at
Wendens Ambo, Essex during the Nineteenth
Century
By B. Hooper
The purpose of this note is to record some anomalous features
of this skull noticed by the author during its re-examination in
1939. A metrical analysis is included.
The author is grateful to Mr Graham Hunter, Curator of
Saffron Walden Museum, for permission to examine and report
on the skull.
History
The skull was discovered at Wendens Ambo in 1864 during the
construction of the railway line between Audley End and Saffron
Walden. It was found in a cutting in a meadow bordering the
River Cam, at a depth of 22 feet in a peaty clay, which also yielded
numerous other mammalian remains including Roe Deer,
Capreolus capreolus (L.), Red Deer, Cervus elaphus L., and Wild
Boar, Sus scrofa. L.
It was originally examined by Dr W. H. L. Duckworth, who
thought that it was probably Neolithic. In 1913 Dr Arthur (later
Sir Arthur) Keith gave a report on it (in Maynard, 1914). He
agreed that it was probably Neolithic and thought it a good speci-
men of the so-called 'River-bed type'. His report was brief and
when published contained a printer's error that transposed the
length with the cephalic index.
1969 Examination*
Osteometrical Data
(Measurements above 20 mm recorded to the nearest millimetre,
below to 0.1 mm)
Maximum length ........ 177 mm Nasal height ............ 48 mm
Maximum breadth ...... 139 mm Nasal breadth .......... 19.5 mm
Basi-bregmatic height . . 132 mm Orbital breadth, right . . 37 mm
Frontal arc ............ 127 mm „ „ left . . 37 mm
Parietal arc ............ 121 mm Orbital height, right .. 31 mm
Occipital arc .......... 112 mm „ „ left .. 31 mm
Basi-nasal length........ 97 mm Palatal length .......... 44 mm
Basi-alveolar length .... 94 mm Palatal breadth ........ ?38 mm
Upper facial height .... 64 mm Bizygomatic breadth .... 122 mm
Bimaxillary breadth .... 90 mm Minimal frontal breadth. . 95 mm
*There is a slight discrepancy between Keith's measurements and those of
the present author, i.e., Keith: length 177.2 mm; breadth 138 mm and
cephalic index 79. This slight difference does not alter the fact that the
skull is at the high end of the mesocephalic range.