1. Institute of Health Care, University of Malta
2. Department of Paediatrics, St. Luke’s Hospital, Malta
3. St. Agatha’s Catacombs Museum, Rabat, Malta
ABSTRACT
A series of human skulls dated by archaeological context to the
Classical age are studied anthropomorphologically and compared to previous
studies of Maltese skulls from several other historical periods. The cranial
indices of the St. Agatha population was shown to have no statistical differences
from indices of skulls pertaining to the Early Modern Period, but were
significantly different from the Prehistoric skull indices. The Prehistoric
skulls were shown to be generally dolichocephalic, while the Classical
and post-Classical skulls were mesocephalic. There were however statistically
significant differences between the facial indices of the Classical skulls
when compared to the Early Modern skulls, with the Classical skulls showing
narrow and slightly longer facial structure. Two skulls showing the congenital
variation of persistence of the metopic suture are described and discussed.