January 5, 191 i] 



NATURE 



311 



of the medical school and the time absorbed by other 

 lines of research, he found time to examine human 

 remains which could be assigned to definite periods 

 of a long period of Egyptian history, and thus lay the 

 foundation of a knowledge of the physical history of 

 the ancient inhabitants of the Nile valley. 



In 1907, when it was resolved to heighten the 



Aswan dam, an opportunity occurred which allowed 



him to carry his researches among the ancient inhabi- 



nts of Nubia, and to compare them with their 



•ntemporaries in Egypt. Very wisely the Egyptian 



ivernment resolved to make a complete exploration 



the ground which would become submerged when 



e dam was raised, and it was especially fortunate 



the men selected for the task. Captain H. G. 



on?. F.R.S., was director, Dr. G. A. Reisner, 



chaeologist, Prof. Elliot Smith, anthropologist. The 



ork of exploration was commenced immediately 



jQve the dam, and by the month of October, 1907, 



Grave 23 I. Burial assigned to the late Predynastic Period. 



the remains of more than 2000 individuals, each with 



its full archaeological history, waited the attention of 



e anthropologist. With his school duties in Cairo 



was clearly impossible for Prof. Elliot Smith to 



■ dertake the task of examining these single-handed. 



\ good fortune Dr. Wood-Jones, who had just 



turned from studying coral formation in the Cocos- 



eeling Islands, was appointed to assist Prof. Elliot 



- nith and carry out observations in the field. Dur- 



^ the winter 1907-8 forty-eight cemeteries were 



vplored on both banks of the Nile, extending some 



s'^hteen miles above the Aswan dam. At the end 



the winter the anthropological staff had made 



iservations on about 6000 individuals, belonging to 



irious periods, dating from predynastic to early 



liristian times — random samples of a local popula- 



'n through a period of 5000 years. The opportunity 



as unique; it may never occur again, and it is onlv 



i^t to add that Prof. Elliot Smith and Dr. Wood- Jones 



NO. 2149, VOL". 85] 



have availed themselves of it to the full. Their 

 splendid records have now been published by the 

 Egyptian Government in a form which deserves warm 

 acknowledgment from archaeologists and anatomists 

 throughout the world. Ever since men began to in- 

 quire into the origin of the human species they have 

 turned for light to the valley of the Nile. 



In a remarkable opening chapter, Prof. Elliot Smith 

 deals with the living thread of humanity that stretches 

 along the Nile valley and links the negroid population 

 of equatorial Africa with the fairer-skinned millions 

 of Asia and Europe. During the last 6000 years that 

 (bread has changed remarkably little in character; at 

 least when the curtain rises on it in predynastic tunes 

 its composition is altogether modern in type and 

 composed of a comparatively highly civilised com- 

 munity. It is true that in later times the head of the 

 inhabitants becomes broader and the stature taller. 

 Some have regarded the change in physique of the 

 EgA-ptians as the result of civilisation. Prof. Elliot 

 Smith does not deny that the environment of a higher 

 civilisation may not have had its effect, but is in- 

 clined, from the evidence he has been able to adduce, 

 to infer that the changes are to be sought rather (i) 

 from an infiltration of a Levantine race, which entered 

 lower Egypt at an early period and spread up the 

 alley, and (2) from an infiltration of a negro element 

 which entered the valley from the south. This at 

 least is clear that there is a long period of Eg^^Jtian 



Fig. 2.^Skull of a man showing 

 feminine characters. 



Fig. 3. — Skull of a woman show- 

 ing masculine characters. 



history beyond that which is now termed predynastic. 

 The modern t\'pe of man is more than 6000 years old. 



Some of the speculations regarding the racial con- 

 stitution of the ancient Eg3^ptians may prove to have 

 only a passing value, yet the contributions made by 

 Prof. Elliot Smith and Dr. Wood-Jones to certain 

 problems which closely concern anthropologists are 

 certainly of an abiding worth. It seems a compara- 

 tively easy thing to distinguish a man from a woman, 

 but when it comes to the sexual and to the age dis- 

 tinction of the skeleton, and especially of the skull, the 

 problem becomes a very difficult one. Dr. Wood- 

 Jones gives accurate tracings of two crania (Figs. 2 

 and 3) ; one skull possesses all the characters of a 

 male, but is really that of a woman ; the other is 

 that of a man, but has distinct female features. The 

 pelvis, as one would expect, affords the best criteria 

 of sex, and even it may show a certain degree of 

 sexual mixture. Prof. Elliot Smith found by experi- 

 ment that crania which were "' sexed " according to 

 their apparent characters were grouped wrongly to 

 such an extent that the measurements made from such 

 groups gave misleading data. It is very unfortunate 

 that elaborate statistical tables have been prepared 

 from crania which were thus classified. We are glad 

 to note, too, that Prof. Elliot Smith thinks there is a 

 future for anatomical as well as statistical observa- 

 tion in anthropology. 



The account given by Dr. Wood- Jones of the 

 phvsical characters, deformities, and abnormalities of 



