3D model of a Bronze Age Irishman’s skull

Rathlin 1 buried in supine position c.1906BC
The foetal like position is thought to symbolise
rebirth.
Sloan et al 2006

While this blog certainly isn’t one dedicated to 20th century anthropology, (there are plenty of Facebook groups for that) I quite recently came across this rather excellent specimen on sketchfab and felt I just had to post it here. The crania appears to be in excellent condition, although a piece of the maxilla is missing. Along with pieces of the parietal bone, perhaps being caved in by a cudgel like implement? Was this man murdered? Interestingly Rathlin island was a rich source of porcellanite, used for making stone axe heads which were exported to Britain. Despite being technically the Bronze Age stone tools and weaponry did not immediately fall out of fashion. As late as 1200BC men were still wielding cudgels as evidenced by the Tollense river valley battle site. Only local elites would’ve had the knowledge to smelt bronze. 

The skull appears to be that of Rathlin 1, the oldest and best preserved of the three food vessel culture men uncovered in 2006 and sequenced later by trinity college geneticists. He recently made a cameo appearance in part 1 of an Irish language documentary series which I was pleasantly surprised by, having been quite interested in this individual myself. Unlike most present day Irish his craniometric measurements appears to be brachycephalic as was that of most bell beaker people. He also has the stereotypical flat occiput which is not common in Irish skulls of today which tend to be rounded.

Although I am not particularly knowledgable in the field of anthropology, I would personally classify him as a Dinarised Borreby, using Carleton Coon’s own classification system. 

All credit of course goes to the centre of archaeological fieldwork for this great upload.