﻿270 Observations on Ancient Egyptian Crania. 



These crania, as already observed, are long and narrow, and 

 receding in front ; but posteriorly, in the parietal regions, they be- 

 come much broader ; the whole occiput is very full, and remark- 

 ably projecting ; the sides of the cranium are rather flat, and the 

 coronal region long and depressed. 



2. The Negroid head, as I have elsewhere explained, is a mix- 

 ture of the Caucasian and Negro form, in which the latter pre- 

 dominates. Such is the case in the present instance, as even a 

 partially practised eye can readily discover. This head strongly 

 resembles those of two modern Copts in my possession. It gives 

 81 cubic inches for the size of the brain, and a facial angle of 80°. 

 It is remarkable for deep depressions on the lateral surfaces of the 

 parietal bones, apparently caused by the action of the posterior por- 

 tions of a powerful occipito-frontalis muscle. Among six hundred 

 skulls in my collection, but two present this development in an 

 equal degree ; one is an Egyptian, the other a Hindoo head. 



3. Of the two Pelasgic heads, one is perfect, and well charac- 

 terized in most of its proportions. It has an internal capacity of 

 93 cubic inches, and a facial angle of 80°. The other has lost the 

 bones of the face, whence its ethnographic relations are not so ob- 

 vious ; but I have ventured to judge it by its cranial developments. 

 It is internally but two cubic inches smaller than the other. 



4. The solitary Semitic head, has rather the common Arab, 

 than the Hebrew cast of features. It measures internally 87 cubic 

 inches, and has a facial angle of 79°. 



The ages of the individuals to whom these seventeen skulls 

 pertained, may be proximately stated as follows : 5, 7,* 18, 20, 

 20, 25, 30, 40, 40, 40, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 55. 



The results derived from this series of crania, sustain in a most 

 gratifying manner, those obtained from the greater collection of 

 one hundred skulls sent me from Egypt, by my friend George R. 

 Ghddon, Esq., and which have afforded the materials of my Cra- 

 nia -Egyptiaca ; and without making further comparisons on the 

 present occasion, (for I design from time to time to resume the 

 subject, as facts and materials may come to my hands,) I shall 

 merely subjoin my ethnographic table from the Crania MgY? li ' 

 aca, so extended as to embrace all the ancient Egyptian skulls 



possession 



of the J^V**^*- heads " e of cour8e not used in calculating the mean either 

 ol toe sue of the bram or the facial angle. 



