DOI Artikel:
Smith, Grafton Elliot: Anatomical report
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18104#0025
ANATOMICAL REPORT.
By Dr. G. ELLIOT SMITH, F.R.S.
When the Third Bulletin was sent to the press the work at Gerf
Husein was nearing completion. As soon as this was finished, the
archasologists began opening a series of cemeteries in the neighbourhood
of Koshtamna ; we took advantage of this break in our branch of the
work to spend two weeks in Cairo comparing the material found during
this season's work with that obtained in Nubia last season and with
the Egyptian collections in the School of Medicine. When Dr. Derry
returned to Nubia a month sufficed to complete the field-notes on the
new material which are summarized in the account embodied in this
Bulletin. Since March we have been engaged on the detailed study
of the large collection of Nubian material now accumulated in Cairo.
During these four months that have elapsed since the last Bulletin
was written we have devoted most of our attention to the study of
the remains which we called " Middle Nubian," i.e., the local popula-
tion of Nubia during the time of the Egyptian Middle Empire and the
succeeding period down to the beginning of the New Empire.
As explained in the Third Bulletin, these people (C-group of the
Archaeological Report) are the earliest population of Nubia that
becomes definitely distinguished from the Egyptians, although a
certain degree of admixture is appreciable for a span of a thousand
years before this time.
We have already explained that the fundamental distinction
between them and the predynastic population of Egypt and Nubia
is the definite strain of Negro in the Middle Nubians. But these
Negro-characters have become so assimilated and so permeated the
whole people that the Middle Nubian population is almost as homo-
geneous as the Egyptian.
One curious result of the Negro-admixture in Nubia has been
that the average length of the cranium has undergone a progressive
shortening—the skull of the archaic Nubians (B-group or Late Ancient
Empire) is shorter than that of the early dynastic and predynastic
By Dr. G. ELLIOT SMITH, F.R.S.
When the Third Bulletin was sent to the press the work at Gerf
Husein was nearing completion. As soon as this was finished, the
archasologists began opening a series of cemeteries in the neighbourhood
of Koshtamna ; we took advantage of this break in our branch of the
work to spend two weeks in Cairo comparing the material found during
this season's work with that obtained in Nubia last season and with
the Egyptian collections in the School of Medicine. When Dr. Derry
returned to Nubia a month sufficed to complete the field-notes on the
new material which are summarized in the account embodied in this
Bulletin. Since March we have been engaged on the detailed study
of the large collection of Nubian material now accumulated in Cairo.
During these four months that have elapsed since the last Bulletin
was written we have devoted most of our attention to the study of
the remains which we called " Middle Nubian," i.e., the local popula-
tion of Nubia during the time of the Egyptian Middle Empire and the
succeeding period down to the beginning of the New Empire.
As explained in the Third Bulletin, these people (C-group of the
Archaeological Report) are the earliest population of Nubia that
becomes definitely distinguished from the Egyptians, although a
certain degree of admixture is appreciable for a span of a thousand
years before this time.
We have already explained that the fundamental distinction
between them and the predynastic population of Egypt and Nubia
is the definite strain of Negro in the Middle Nubians. But these
Negro-characters have become so assimilated and so permeated the
whole people that the Middle Nubian population is almost as homo-
geneous as the Egyptian.
One curious result of the Negro-admixture in Nubia has been
that the average length of the cranium has undergone a progressive
shortening—the skull of the archaic Nubians (B-group or Late Ancient
Empire) is shorter than that of the early dynastic and predynastic