DOI Heft:
Jones, F. Wood: Supplementary Report
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18101#0043
SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT,
by De. f. wood -tones.
In order to make the Anthropological Report complete until the
end of November, it is necessary to add some account of the field
work accomplished since the writing of Dr. Elliot Smith's report. The
original report covers the work done up to the end of the first week
of November and since then a great quantity of material has been
brought to light by the archaeologists.
From the anatomical point of view, the most important addition
is the remains of some sixty persons belonging to the archaic group,
found actually in the street of Shellal. Of these, fifty-seven have been
examined and all the measurements that were possible in bodies lying,
in many cases, only a few inches beneath the dust of a well-trodden
street were taken. Of these fifty-seven bodies, twenty-two were adult
males, eleven were adult females, twelve were young persons, and
twelve were in such a fragmentary condition that sexing the bones was
useless or impossible.
These bones belong to the same group as those described in the a
group in Dr. Elliot Smith's report (p. 27). The remains are extremely
brittle and everything that can be accomplished must be done with the
bones in situ, for most of them will not stand removal. The skulls in
many cases are greatly distorted by pressure and sometimes actually
worn away by the repeated passage of wayfarers along the street in
Which the graves are situated. Scarcely a single adult in this group
has escaped osteo-arthritic changes in the bones, the disease being usually
limited to the lumbar region of the spine. It is best to reserve any
anatomical description of these bodies until the final survey of the
whole of the archaic group found in Cemetery No. 7 can be completed.
Besides these bodies from the street of Shellal. other graves in
(lemetery No. 7 have been opened since the previous report was written.
Of these new bodies, some fall into the archaic class and some into the
class of later contracted burials. Thirty-one individuals have been
by De. f. wood -tones.
In order to make the Anthropological Report complete until the
end of November, it is necessary to add some account of the field
work accomplished since the writing of Dr. Elliot Smith's report. The
original report covers the work done up to the end of the first week
of November and since then a great quantity of material has been
brought to light by the archaeologists.
From the anatomical point of view, the most important addition
is the remains of some sixty persons belonging to the archaic group,
found actually in the street of Shellal. Of these, fifty-seven have been
examined and all the measurements that were possible in bodies lying,
in many cases, only a few inches beneath the dust of a well-trodden
street were taken. Of these fifty-seven bodies, twenty-two were adult
males, eleven were adult females, twelve were young persons, and
twelve were in such a fragmentary condition that sexing the bones was
useless or impossible.
These bones belong to the same group as those described in the a
group in Dr. Elliot Smith's report (p. 27). The remains are extremely
brittle and everything that can be accomplished must be done with the
bones in situ, for most of them will not stand removal. The skulls in
many cases are greatly distorted by pressure and sometimes actually
worn away by the repeated passage of wayfarers along the street in
Which the graves are situated. Scarcely a single adult in this group
has escaped osteo-arthritic changes in the bones, the disease being usually
limited to the lumbar region of the spine. It is best to reserve any
anatomical description of these bodies until the final survey of the
whole of the archaic group found in Cemetery No. 7 can be completed.
Besides these bodies from the street of Shellal. other graves in
(lemetery No. 7 have been opened since the previous report was written.
Of these new bodies, some fall into the archaic class and some into the
class of later contracted burials. Thirty-one individuals have been