250 



NA TURE 



[August i8, 1923 



Fossil Human Bones, possibly of Pleistocene Age, found in Egypt. 



A^ 



T a meeting of the Royal Anthropological In- 

 ^ stitute, held on July 17, Prof. C. G. Seligman, 

 president, in the chair, Dr. D. E. Derry described the 

 fossilised human bones recently discovered in Egypt, 

 which, on the ground of their condition, he is inclined 

 to regard as of Pleistocene age. The discovery is 

 one of very considerable importance, as this is the 

 first occasion on which fossilised human bones have 

 been obtained from Egypt. Early in January of 

 the present year Mr. Guy Brunton, while excavating 

 for the British School of Archajology in Upper Egypt, 

 found at Gau-el-Kebir, on the east bank of the Nile, 

 about thirty miles south of Assiut, a remarkable 

 collection of bones, mostly animal, but with pieces 

 of human bones mixed with them in the heap. 

 Some of the bones, including the human fragments, 

 were heavily mineralised, while others were only 

 partially so, and some not at all. The whole collec- 

 tion was contained in an Early Dynastic grave, and 

 had obviously been placed there for some purpose 

 Among the bones were carved bone and ivory 

 objects of the XlXth Dynasty. The presence ol 

 the latter is explained on the assumption that this 

 was the site of a workshop for the manufacture of 

 articles in bone and ivory, and that the great heap 

 dumped into the pit of an early grave represented 

 the workman's material. The presence of fresh- 

 water oyster shells attached to some of the bones 

 proves that they came from the river, or, what is more 

 likely, from a swamp fed by the river, which in all 

 probability was much nearer the site of the discovery 

 than it is now. The bones exhibit evidence of 

 having been exposed for a long time to the mineralis- 

 ing influence, as they are very heavy, black, and 

 highly polished, probably from the friction of water- 

 borne sand. 



The first evidence of human fossil bones in the 

 heap was found by Mr. Brunton. This consisted of 

 the right half of a frontal bone. Afterwards the 

 whole heap, probably about two tons of bones, was 

 gone through and several other fragments both of 

 skulls and Hmb bones were recovered. Pieces of 

 three skulls were found, as well as part of a mandible. 

 Fragments of hip bones, upper and lower limb bones, 

 and an axis vertebra were also obtained. Two 

 skulls are represented only by the frontal bone of 

 each. These are remarkable for their small size 

 and shallowness, with consequent small brain capacity. 

 The third skull consists of the whole right parietal 

 bone with a large part of the left parietal, welded 

 into one piece. As it stands this appears to have 

 been a well -shaped head with a maximum cranial 



breadth of 143 mm. This fragment is, however, 

 much more heavily mineralised than the two frontal 

 bones, which would appear to have belonged to a 

 more primitive race, bome very unusual anatomical 

 features are exhibited by the mandibular fragment 

 and also by the piece of a right ilium. 



The position in which the bones were found pre- 

 cludes the possibility of assigning them to any 

 geological period ; but an examination of the animal 

 remains by Prof. Watson has revealed the presence 

 of at least two extinct animals, a crocodile and a 

 buffalo, both of Pleistocene date, while the mineralisa- 

 tion of the human fragments is as extensive as that 

 of any of the animal remains. 



In the discussion which followed the reading of 

 the paper, Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie pointed out that 

 in regard to the dating of the bones it must be re- 

 membered that owing to the constant and consistent 

 deposit of mud by the Nile, amounting to about 

 3j ft. in a thousand years, the bed of the river was 

 rising continually. Any object deposited while the 

 Nile was thus rising would be lost irretrievably 

 beneath the mud. These bones must therefore have 

 been deposited while the Nile was falling from six 

 hundred feet above to one hundred feet below its 

 present level. The date of deposition must therefore 

 be at least 15,000 years ago, plus the time occupied 

 by the fall of the river to the level of the swamp 

 which had been postulated as the place of depyosit. 



Sir Arthur Keith said the discovery was extra- 

 ordinarily interesting and puzzling. These fossilised 

 bones, the first to be found in Egypt, presented no 

 outstanding features marking them off from modem 

 man, and no diagnosis of race was possible, but this 

 did not preclude their high antiquity, and they might 

 well be Pleistocene. F"ragments of hippopotamus 

 bone from the Nile mud, now at South Kensington, 

 exhibited staining and a high polish exactly similar 

 to that of some of Dr. Derry 's specimens. Sir 

 Arthur laid stress on the importance of the fringes 

 of the great desert belt as the possible site of the 

 evolution of our race ; Dr. Derry's discover)', though 

 we could not place it exactly, was of the first import- 

 ance. Probably men of our type existed in Egypt 

 more than 18,000 years ago, and populated Europe, 

 possibly more than once. Prof. Seligman said the 

 cubic capacity of 1040 c.c. of the small skull suggested 

 a comparison with the smaller skulls from the Thebaid 

 described by Dr. Randall-^NIacIver, and, in conjunction 

 with the steatopygous predynastic figures discovered 

 by Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie, pointed to the necessity 

 of a further comparison with Bushmen skulls. 



Recent Fisheries Investigations. 



SOME very interesting reports, in continuation of 

 Series II. (Sea Fishery Investigations), have 

 recently been published by the Ministry of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries. No 6 of vol. 4 is written by Mr. J. O. 

 Borley, and describes the samples of bottom deposits 

 collected in the southern North Sea by the vessels 

 of the Marine Biological Association. The report is 

 illustrated by charts and many very beautiful photo- 

 graphs. The deposits are graded in various ways, 

 partly by mechanical sieving and partly by a method 

 of levigation, and the results show a correspondence 

 between the average sizes of the particles and the 

 transporting power of the current systems. In general 

 the particles are coarsest where the tidal streams are 

 most rapid, and vice versa. It is not improbable that 

 there is attrition of particles on the sea bottom, but 



NO. 2807, VOL. 112] 



this cannot be very great. At 20 fathoms (that is, 

 not far from the average depth of the North Sea) the 

 currents are competent to grade bottom materials : 

 at this depth wave action on the surface has a notable 

 effect at the bottom. 



No. I of vol. 5 is a summary of very extensive 

 market statistics, collected in regard to the cod, 

 during the years 1913-14. No. 2 of vol. 5 is highly 

 important. It is written by Mr. H. J. Buchanan- 

 WoUaston, and deals with the spawning of the plaice 

 in the southern North Sea (the Flemish Bight) during 

 the years 1913-14. The method is an extension of 

 the Hensen quantitative plankton one, but novel and 

 beautifully manageable mathematical methods of 

 dealing with the results have been developed : some 

 of these are highly ingenious, and have, perhaps. 



