Unpublished paper, 'On the distorted skull found at Wroxeter [England], with a mechanico-chemical explanation of the distortion' by Henry Johnson

Description

Johnson writes on excavations that have recently taken place at Wroxeter, the site of the ancient Roman city of Uriconium [Viriconium Cornoviorum]. Upwards of 20 skulls were excavated, nine of which Johnson describes as 'more or less deformed'. As these skulls were found lying under less than two feet of light earth, whilst those which were buried under, and pressed by, seven feet of rubble or heavy earth were not distorted, he thinks that the pressure theory alone will not satisfactorily account for the phenomena. He suggests that that some chemical agency was at work in the former case which did not operate in the latter.

Marked on front as 'Archives Oct 23 [18]62'. Includes one page of figures labelled 'Deformed crania from Wroxeter'.

Subject: Archaeology / Chemistry

Received and read 19 June 1862. Communicated by Erasmus Wilson.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 12 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'On the distorted skulls found at Wroxeter (Salop), with a mechanico-chemical explanation of the distortion'.

Reference number

AP/44/5

Earliest possible date

13 June 1862

Physical description

Ink on paper

Page extent

67 pages

Format

Drawing
Manuscript