4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 52 



the older remains should point in the direction of zoologic inferi- 

 ority; and that where important structural differences pointing to 

 an earlier evolutionary stage are not found in the. human skeletal 

 remains which are the subject of study, and especially where the 

 given crania and bones show close analogies with those of a modern 

 or even of the actual native race of the same region, the geologic 

 antiquity of such remains may well be regarded as imperfect!}^ sup- 

 ported, in fact, as improbable. 



As to the evidence that anatomic changes in man or, more precisely, 

 in his skeleton, have taken place during the present epoch, particu- 

 larly during historic times, the following points deserve attention : 



The earliest skeletal forms approximating closely to those of pres- 

 ent man occur in Europe in the latter part of the paleolithic epoch, 

 assigned to the Upper Quaternary. They belong to the so-called 

 Aurignacean and Solutrean cultural periods. Yet even here, as 

 shown especially by the very important Maska collection,^ there are 

 numerous and important characters distinguishing the skulls as well 

 as other bones from those of the whites and even from those of the 

 more primitive races of to-day. It is only when the Cro-Magnon and 

 the latest Grimaldi skeletal remains are reached, both regarded as of 

 the latest " diluvial" age and possibly more recent, that we find forms 

 corresponding closely to historic man. 



Numerous changes, however, have taken place in various groups 

 of mankind ever since the time of the Man of Cro-Magnon or of Gri- 

 maldi. These have been more pronounced in some regions than in 

 others but there are no examples of complete morphologic standstill. 

 The inhabitants of Egypt have been repeatedly pointed to as an exam- 

 ple of the stability of human characters. Their skeletal remains are 

 now known for a period extending over .5,000 years. The Egyptians 

 sprang apparenth^ from a single physical t3^pe and while there were 

 subsequent accessions to the population, they were in general of peo- 

 ple of the same type. After reaching the valley of the Nile this group 

 of humanity continued to live relatively isolated and under much 

 the same environment. For thousands of years the}^ had in general 

 the same occupations, the same diet, the same habits and customs, 

 and changed but slightly in the grade of their civilization. Here 

 were almost ideal conditions for maintaining stability of ])liysical 

 type, and there is no doubt that a closer approximation to such sta- 

 bility has been realized than in other knowni regions of the world. 

 Yet, as the WTiter, who made a journey to Egypt largely for the pur- 

 pose of investigating this subject, has shoAvn already in a preliminary 



1 MaSka's collection from Pfedmost, Moravia, as yet unpublished but being stiidied, embraces more 

 than a dozen skeletons of man, contemporaneous with the mammoth, in a relatively excellent state of pres- 

 ervation, from the Solutrean. 



