Brinton.] • »Jo [April 19, 



l^resent rests as a surmise onl}'. That the Kashites and kindred 

 tribes on the lower Tigris were distant members of the same 

 group has been suggested bj- Hommel and Hilprecht, but with 

 the material difference, that the former, defends the connection 

 with the Caucasic, the latter with the Ar^'an linguistic stock. 



When we combine Avhat we know of the physical type and 

 the language of this ancient people there would seem to be 

 evidence enough to assign it its ethnic position. 



The type has generally been studied from the local monu- 

 ments and the Egyptian records. The portraitures on the latter, 

 especially of enemies, are often either conventional or carica- 

 tures. When we see the Hittites shown with " yellow or red 

 complexions, receding foreheads, oblique e3'es, protruding upper 

 jaws and high cheek bones," * and all very much alike, we may 

 be sure that both motives were present. The delineations on 

 their own monuments are quite different and much higher, more 

 Aryan, in character.f 



It is a mistake to suppose that the so-called Hittite art was 

 altogether borrowed from their Semitic neighbors. While the 

 old Chaldean influence is visible in it, there is also a mai'ked 

 element of originality which should not be overlooked. The 

 motives of the latter constantly recall Aryan inspiration and 

 forms. I 



More trustworthy than sculpture are the bones from the oldest 

 graves of the region. In examining these, Dr. von Luschan 

 made an interesting discovery. Pie found that a peculiar tvpe 

 in early times extended over southern Asia Minor, from the 

 ^gean east to the Euphrates, and northeast into Armenia. The 

 skulls were remarkably broad and high, and the bones showed 

 a people of short stature. In other words, he discovered just 

 the type of the globular-headed, short Celts of Central Europe. 

 He went further. He found that in the more sparsely inhab- 



*See McCurdy, History, Pmpfteci/ and the Monuments, Vol. i, p. 193. 



1 1\. number of them are given from various sources by W. ISfax Miiller, Asicn tind 

 Eiiropa, pp. 825-330. They are generally painted with reddish hair, which is worth not- 

 ing, but may be conventional. The absence of beard indicates the custom of shaving. 

 On tlie conventionality of the Egyptian artists see the same writer in the Papers of the 

 Oriental Club of Philnddphia, p. 78 (Boston, 1S91). The ruins of the ancient Pteria are 

 supposed to ofl'er ihe purest examples of native Hittite work. 



t " L'influence qui & preside aux arts chez ce penple est purement chaldeo-babylon" 

 ienne, et non assyrienne; mais en meme temps elle conserve son originalit(5." De Mor- 

 gan, Mission Scientifltjue au Caucase, p. 198. 



