﻿THE NATIVES OF THE KHARGA OASIS, EGYPT 



By Dr. ALES HRDLICKA 



curator, division of physical anthropology, u. s. national museum 



(With Thirty-eight Plates) 



1. INTRODUCTION 



For a number of years important and very careful archeological 

 researches have been conducted in Egypt under the auspices of the 

 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. These researches 

 have been carried on by Mr. A. M. Lythgoe, Curator of the Egyptian 

 Department in the Metropolitan Museum, and his able assistants, 

 Mr. A. C. Mace, and Mr. Herbert E. Winlock. They have extended, 

 thus far, principally to certain pyramids and cemeteries of the Xllth 

 Dynasty, and to the temple of Hibis as well as the large early Chris- 

 tian necropolis at the Great or Kharga (= Eastern) Oasis. 



The dynastic monuments and cemeteries actually under exploration 

 by the Expedition are those of Amenemhat I. and Usertesen I., the 

 first two kings of the Middle Empire. They are situated on the 

 western margin of the desert bordering the Nile valley, near the 

 native town of Lisht, some thirty miles south of Cairo. The research 

 is being directed in part toward the clearing of the great pyramid 

 temples, and in part to the examination of what remains of the 

 contents of the graves, particularly in the numerous and remarkable 

 burial pits located about the more northern of the two pyramids. 



The excavations have been attended from the beginning by the 

 recovery of skeletal remains dating especially from the Xllth, but 

 also from the XVIIIth to the XXIst Dynasties. In view of the 

 fact that a large amount of this skeletal material could be definitely 

 identified from a chronological standpoint, and because of the great 

 scarcity of Egyptian skeletal remains in American collections, the 

 writer endeavored to bring about a saving of such crania and bones 

 for the U. S. National Museum, and eventually, due to the generosity 

 of the authorities of the Metropolitan Museum and the aid of Mr. 

 Lythgoe, an arrangement to that effect was perfected by the two 

 Institutions. As a result of this arrangement, the National Museum 

 is already in possession of more than three hundred well dated 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 59, No. 1. 



