EGYPT AS A FIELD FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL RE- 

 SEARCH ^ 



By Professor P. E. NEWBERRY, M.A., O.B.E. 



When I received the honor of an invitation to preside at the An- 

 thropological Section of the British Association my thoughts nat- 

 urally turned to the subject of the presidential address, which, if 

 I accepted the invitation, it would be my duty to prepare. On 

 looking back over the addresses of past presidents of this section 

 since its institution in 1884 I found that no one had dealt with 

 Egypt as a field for anthropological research. It was because of 

 this that I decided to accept the council's invitation, and I am here 

 to-day to bring before your notice some facts regarding the civiliza- 

 tion of the country with which I have long been associated, and in 

 which I have spent many years of my life. 



In 1897, when the British Association last met in this great city 

 on the Mersey-side, Sir Arthur Evans occupied the presidential 

 chair of this section, and the subject of his address was "The 

 Eastern Question in Anthropology." Surveying the early history of 

 civilization as far as it was then known, he insisted that the ade- 

 quate recognition of the Eastern background was essential to the 

 right understanding of the ^gean. He laid stress on the part 

 wliich Crete had played in the first emancipation of the European 

 genius, and pointed out that in Crete, far earlier than elsewhere, 

 can be traced the vestiges of primeval intercourse with the Nile 

 Valley. Nineteen years later, years that were extraordinarily pro- 

 lific in archeological discovery in every part of the Near East, Sir 

 Arthur occupied the presidential chair of the British Association 

 at Newcastle. He then addressed us on "New archeological lights 

 on the origins of civilization in Europe." Referring to his epoch- 

 making discoveries in Crete he said, "It is interesting to note that 

 the first quickening impulse came to Crete from the Egyptian and 

 not from the Oriental side; the Eastern factor in it is of compara- 

 tively late appearance." By that time Sir Arthur's researches had 



^ Address by the president of the Anthropological Section of the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science at the annual meeting in Liverpool, 1923. Repilnted by per- 

 mission from the Proceedings of the Association. 



435 



