Universitätsbibliothek HeidelbergUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
Metadaten

Archaeological Survey of Nubia [Editor]; Ministry of Finance, Egypt, Survey Department [Editor]
Bulletin — 3.1909

DOI article:
Derry, Douglas Erith: Anatomical report (B)
DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18103#0036
Overview
Facsimile
0.5
1 cm
facsimile
Scroll
OCR fulltext
— 34 —

largely to the general monstrous character oi the skull and particularly
of the face.

The rest of the bones presented no special features of interest, except
the sacrum, which was remarkable for its infantile appearance and size.
It consisted of only 4 pieces, the first of which was still separate, and
when articulated with the innominate bones, produced a curiously
contracted funnel-shaped pelvis.

Two cases of fracture were found amongst these bodies ; one in a
female, a Colles' fracture of the right radius with good union ; the
second being a fracture of the right clavicle in a male, at the junction
of the flattened and prismatic portions. The outer flattened part has
passed behind the prismatic and united in that position.

Cemetery 59.

This cemetery was situated at Kalabsha, to the north of the temple,
in the alluvial deposit which is found on the side of the khor at that
place. There were not many graves, and some had not been opened.
All of the graves were assigned to Dr. Eeisner's X-group (Negroid
Nubians of the period of the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries A.D.),
and these included two different types : (a) long rectangular pits, each
like a modern grave, with a collateral recess at the bottom, coinciding
with the length of the pit itself; and (b) small graves, each consisting
of a shallow pit with a very low side chamber, in which the body was
buried in a contracted position.

There were only two graves of the former type, and the first of these
contained two female bodies.

The feature which immediately caught the eye in these skulls was
the strikingly Negroid facial aspect. Prognathism was marked, the
interorbital breadth large, the nose very flattened at the root, short
and broad with rounded narial margins and some subnasal guttering.
The mandible also was of the true Negroid type. The heads, on the
other hand, lent themselves to no other description than " coffin-
shaped." It was felt impossible to style these people pure Negroes,
though from the facial aspect alone, they certainly appeared to merit
this designation. They were therefore tentatively marked on the cards
as '' Negroid Nubians," to suggest the ajmarent mixture. They were
obviously more Negroid than any bodies previously seen in this season's
work.
 
Annotationen