s8o 



NA TURE 



[October io, 1895 



ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



C\^ Thursilay. September I2. the President's address was de- 

 ^^ livered. The address was fallowed by craniological papers. 

 Sir \V. H. Klower exhiliited four skulls of the alniriginal in- 

 habitants of Jamaica, who had disappeared before the Knglish 

 occupation in the seventeenth centurj-. They resemble the 

 Carib type, and have lieen more or less markedly deformed 

 during life. 



The President, in the absence of Dr. J. G. Garson, gave an 

 account of the physical characteristics of the " New Race " lately 

 discovereil in Kg>pi. Some 200 skulls were secured, and parts 

 of 400-500 skeletons. The average index of length lies between 

 73 and 75 : the alveolar index shows three predominant types, 

 alwut 94, 96, and 99"5, which are confimied by the male and 

 female indices taken separately, and indicate a mixture of races. 

 The nasal index is 54 : wider than the European (47), and 

 Egyptian and Guanche types (49), which are thus excluded. 

 The great excess, especially from one of the sites explored, of 

 female skulls of very small cap.icity is explained by supposing a 

 segregation of a ]xirt of the race, and subsequent marriage of the 

 smaller-headed women into the normal branch. The well-known 

 decrease of cranial caixacity in tropical, as compared with arctic 

 and temperate races, suggests that the new race originated in 

 tropical Africa. But the type of skull ajiix'ars to be distinct from 

 that of the negro : and the hair which has l)een found is either 

 straight or wavy. 



Each afternoon of the meeting was devoted to a lantern 

 lecture of a somewhat more popular kind than the morning's 

 work. On Thurs<lay the President ilescrilied the remains and 

 civilisation of the "\ew Race" in Egypt, whose physical features 

 had lieen already examined. 



Several rites were discovered this winter between Balla.s and 

 Nagada, near Thelies, of an entirely un-Egyptian character. All 

 the [Xittery was hand-ma<le, though the jjotter's wheel h.ad long been 

 known in Egypt ; and though metal was not entirely unknown, 

 the great majority of the implements were of very delicately 

 Aorkcd flint. The long knife-blades, and the forked s|x:ar-heads 

 with |)eculiar hafting, for bringing down running deer, are 

 (articularly notable. \cry beautifully formed jars of hard 

 .stone, with jx-rforated ears for .suspension, are also a character- 

 istic manufacture, an<l are imitated in clay with jKiinled 

 marbling, and also later by the native Egyptians. Extensive 

 cemeteries have Ixen explored, and the manner of interment 

 h.is been determineil : the bodies were buried on one side in a 

 contracti;d |>osturc, with many vessels and other funer.il furniture, 

 and with " a great burning ' as |xirt of the ceremony. This, 

 and the jK-cidiar |ihysical type of the jwople seem to connect 

 them with the ancient .\moritcs of Southern Palestine ; while, on 

 the other hand, they seem to have invaded Egypt from the 

 Libyan Desert, and to lielong clo.sely to the early inhabitants of 

 the north coast of .\frica. The date of their occupation of 

 Egypt is fixed by the inter|«>sition of their tombs between those 

 of sixth and twelfth dyna,sty Egyptians ; so that their presence 

 explains the fall ipf the Pyramid-Building dynasty, and the gap 

 which h-as licen observed at this point in the sequence of 

 Egyptian history. 



(Jn Eriday, .Mr. II. \V. Selon-Karr exhibited a large scries of 

 flint implements from Somali-land, and of illustrative photo- 

 graphs. The flint is f>f local origin, and a number of factories 

 has liccn identified. 



Mr. W. J. Knowles .sent a ".striated Him implement" from 

 ihc North of Ireland, which gave rise to some discussion as to 

 its origin. 



.Mr. B. Harrison contributed a report on the plateau flints 

 of North Kent. 



Mr. II. Slopes exhibited graving tools from the terrace- 

 gravels of Ihe Thames \'alley and Palx-olithic projectiles. In 

 discussion, however, the human W(irkman.ship of some of Ihc 

 .specimens was railed in question. 



The I'resifleni gave a rlemonslration, with numerous illustra- 

 tion-., ■ ' ''■• I melal wnrking in ancient Egypt. The earliest 



inipl 1 LjypI arc of I'aheolithic lypes, found undisturbed 



and nil by cx|>osure, on the surface of the descrl, 



800-1200 feel iilK)ve the Nile X'alley. More .advanced work- 

 manship, with long ixirallcl flaking, ap|x:ars in the gravels of the 

 Nile, 30 feel alK)velhe river. N<i intermediate sl.ages are known 

 lictwcen thcw and Ihe rectangular-faced flakes of the fourth 

 ilynasly. Tlie " New Race " which overthrew the Pyramid- 



NO. t354, VOL. 52] 



builders surpassed all known flint- workers in the length, flat- 

 ness, and regxilarity of their knives, javelin-heads, and sickle- 

 flints. Bangles and other ornaments of great delicacy were made 

 of the same flint. L'nder the XII. dynasty straight-backed 

 and curved knives, adzes, axes with lugs, scrapers and sickles k^{ 

 native workmanship- occur : but under the XVIII. dyna.sty, 

 after another perioil of eclipse, bronze is found to have super- 

 seded flint, i-linl implements, however, of a coarser kind, con- 

 tinued to be used as late as the fourth century a.d. 



Metal -working is first found under the III. dynasty, and 

 copper tools are habitually used under the W . for mason's work ; 

 copper needles were also in use. Only one sample of bronze is 

 known of this age ; the rest are of pure copper. The " New- 

 Race," though devoted to stonework, produced occasional fine 

 copper implements: one notable dagger is of an ".Egean" 

 type. Under XII. dynasty, copper is still predominant, and 

 much commoner : tempered with copper oxide and with arsenic. 

 Bronze begins with X\III. dynasty. .Silver and gold are well 

 worked from an early period ; almost absent from " New Race"' 

 graves, which, however, seem to have been rifled. Iron has 

 not been found earlier than foreign, mostly Greek de|iosits of 

 XX\T. dynasty (650-550 B.C.). Earlier supposed allusions to 

 " iron" in inscriptions really refer to " bronze." 



Mr. H. Swainson Cowper gave a lantern lecture on ihe 

 Senams, or megalilhic monuments of Tripoli, of which he 

 has visited nearly sixty. Reclangtdar enclosures of good masonry 

 are associated with trilithons like those of Stonehenge, but with 

 very narrow apertures between the jambs : the height varies 

 from 6 to 1 5 feet. They are erected on footing stones, and 

 are apparently designed to hold additional superstructures of 

 wood. The forms of the stones themselves also sometimes recall 

 carpentry types, which in so treeless a country are remarkable. 

 A massive stone altar, often grooved, and level with the ground, 

 sometimes stands in front of a Irililhon. The few sculptures 

 associated with the .Senams are of R.mian style, with Phallic 

 subjects ; but are not necessarily conleuqiorary with the monu- 

 ments them.selves. The Senams appear to have been objects of 

 worship, and usually stand upon hill-tops. Mr. Swainson 

 Cowper suggests that they are analogous to the " Asherah " of 

 the Old Testament, and to similar structures represented on 

 Babylonian cylinders. 



Mr. W. J. Lewis .\bbott sent a report on the Hastings kitchen 

 midden, 'rhe fissures in the sandstone cliffs at Hastings have 

 been used as dwellings in Neolithic times, and Ihe refuse, con- 

 taining numerous flakes, implements, and fr.agments of pottery, 

 has accumulated in fnmt of their openings. 



Saturday. — Ethnology. — The tenth re]X)rl of the Committee 

 on the North-Western Tribes of Canada was presented. This 

 Committee was appointed at ihe Montreal Meeting 1SS4, and 

 has jHiblished, hitherto, the following im]>ortant memoirs in its 

 reports to the British Association : — 



Introduction (Report VII.). .Sir Daniel Wilson. 

 Circular of Inquiry (III.). 



North .Vmerican Ethnology (V.). Mr. Horatio Hale. 

 Linguistic Ethnology (VIII.). Mr. Horatio Hale. 

 Physical Characteristics (\'I1.). Dr. I'ranz Boa.s. 

 The Blackfool Indians (I.). Mr. Ib.ratio Hale. 

 The Blackfool Indians (IL). Rev. i:. V . Wilson. 

 The Sarcee Indians (IW). Rev. E. V . Wilson. 

 The Kootenay In<iians (\'III.). Dr. .\. E. Chamberlain. 

 Ethnology of British Columbia (\'.). .Mr. Horatio Hale. 

 Notes on Indians of British Columljia (I\'.). Dr. Kranz Boas. 

 Reports on Indians of British Columbia (V.-X.). Dr. I'ranz 

 Boas. 



The reiMrt now presented contains a further account of the 

 phy.sical characi eristics of Ihe tribes of the North P.icific Co.ast ; 

 notes on the Tinneh Tribe of Nicola \alley, by Mr. James 

 Teit ; on the Tinneh Tribe of Portland Canal, and on the N.ass 

 River Inilians, by Dr. Boas ; an<l the grammar and vocabulary 

 of the Nlsk".i ami Tselsa'iit languages. 



Much, however, remains to be done in order to give a satis- 

 factory reviewof the anthropology, even of British Columbia: 

 in particular, the influence of the tribes of Millbank Sound on 

 their neighbours ; the highly developed art of the Haida, and 

 the complicated .syndiolic and conventional ornaments ; and the 

 peculiar distribution of physical lypes need further elucidalion. 



The Committee has accordingly been reappointed wilh a grant 

 of C\oOy in order to enable Dr. Boas to continue his imi)orlanl 

 investigalions. 



Captain .S. L. llindere.ada |)aper on the cannibal Iribes o. 



