438 ANNUAL EEPOKT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION^, 1916. 



another independent field, revealing a nascent civilization equally 

 ancient, of which Elam — the later Siisiana — was. the center. Still 

 further afield, moreover — some 300 miles east of the Caspian the in- 

 teresting investigations of the Pumpelly expedition in the mounds 

 of Ajiau, near Ashkabad in southern Turkestan, have brought to 

 light a parallel and related culture. The painted Neolithic sherds 

 of Anau, with their geometrical decoration, similar to contempo- 

 rary ware of Elam, have suggested wide comparisons with the 

 painted pottery of somewhat later date found in Cappadocia and 

 other parts of Anatolia, as well as in the north Syrian regions. It 

 has, moreover, been reasonably asked whether another class of 

 painted Neolithic fabrics, the traces of which extend across the 

 steppes of southern Russia, and, by way of that ancient zone of 

 migration, to the lower Danube and northern Greece, may not stand 

 in some original relation to the same ancient province. The new 

 discoveries, however, in the momids of Elam and Anau have at most 

 a bearing on the primitive phase of culture in parts of southeastern 

 Europe that preceded the age when metal w^as generally in use. 



Turning to the Nile Valley, we are again confronted with an 

 extraordinary revolution in the whole point of view eifected during 

 recent years. Thanks mainly to the methodical researches initiated 

 by Flinders Petrie, we are able to look back beyond the dynasties to 

 the very beginnings of Egyptian civilization. Already by the clos- 

 ing phase of the Neolithic and by the days of the first incipient use 

 of metals the indigenous population had attained an extraordinarily 

 high level. If, on the one hand, it displays Libyan connections, on 

 the other we already note the evidences of commercial intercourse 

 with the Red Sea ; and the constant appearance of large rowing ves- 

 sels in the figured designs shows that the Nile itself was extensively 

 used for navigation. Flint working was carried to unrivaled perfec- 

 tion, and special artistic refinement was displayed in the manufacture 

 of vessels of variegated breccia and other stones. The antecedent 

 stages of many Egyptian hieroglyphs are already traceable, and the 

 cult of Egyptian divinities, like Min, was already practiced. What- 

 ever ethnic change may have marked the establishment of Pharaonic 

 rule, here, too, the salient features of the old indigenous culture were 

 taken over by the new regime. This early dynastic period itself has 

 also received entirely new illustration from the same researches, and 

 the freshness and force of its artistic works in many respects outshine 

 anything produced in the later course of Egyptian history. 



The continuity of human tradition, as a whole, in areas geographi- 

 cally connected, like Eurafrica on the one side and Eurasia on the other, 

 has been here postulated. Since, as we have seen, the Late Paleo- 

 lithic culture was not violently extinguished but shows signs of sur- 

 vival, both north and south, we are entitled to trace elements of direct 



