November 21, 1912] 



NATURE 



343 



Scottish folklore common to other countries, con- 

 trasted the form taken b)- the fairy belief in the High- 

 lands and the Lowlands, and Mr. Brodie-Innes, in a 

 paper covering a wide range of fact and theory, 

 adduced data for distinguishing Celtic, Saxon, and 

 Scandinavian elements in Scottish beliefs and prac- 

 tices. Miss Burne urged the importance of the collec- 

 tion of evidence, especially in border counties, before 

 it should be too late. 



It would be unfair to attempt to summarise in a 

 few words the arguments put forward by Prof. Elliot 

 Smith in opening the discussion on megalithic monu- 

 ments and their builders in support of his views that 

 this form of sepulchral monument originated in Egypt 

 at about the time of the first utilisation of copper 

 implements, and spread thence as a religious idea to 

 the remaining parts of the world in wliich megalithic 

 monuments are found. Mr. Peet, in a paper which, 

 in the absence of the author, was presented to the 

 section by the President, while assigning a single 

 origin at some one centre to these monuments, 

 ascribed their distribution to a racial migration. These 

 views were sharply criticised in the discussion which 

 followed, strong exception being taken to a theory 

 which derived the round form of megalithic monu- 

 ment from the square Egyptian tomb. Among the 

 speakers were Prof. Boyd Dawkins, Prof. Ridgeway, 

 Prof. MjTes, and Prof. Bryce. 



Communications dealing with the archseology of 

 Egypt and the Sudan were numerous. Prof. Petrie 

 described his excavations during the last season on an 

 early dynastic cemetery near the village of Tarkharn, 

 thirty-five miles south of Cairo, which in his opinion 

 is the earliest site as yet discovered so far north. Mr. 

 Ouibel! described the excavation of second and third 

 dynasty tombs at Sakkara, which led to the re- 

 discovery of the tomb of Hesy and revealed a style 

 of mural decoration previously unknown. Prof. Elliot 

 Smith gave the results of his examination of the bodies 

 found in ttjese excavations, carrying back the evidence 

 for an alien population in Egypt to the second 

 dynasty. One of the bodies examined showed an 

 attempt at mummification. This is the earliest 

 evidence for this method of preserving the bodv which 

 has yet been discovered. He also described the work 

 of the Boston Museum and Harvard Universitv ex- 

 pedition in Egypt from material provided by Prof. 

 Reisner, who is in charge. Mr. Ogilvie gave an 

 account of Prof. Reisner's work under the Archaeo- 

 logical Survey of Nubia, and showed slides of his 

 own sketches, recently made, of the ruins of the 

 temples at Philae, which are shortly to be submerged 

 by the irrigation w-orks. It would be diiificult to 

 praise too highly Mr. R. Mond's coloured slides of the 

 Theban tombs excavated by Mr. Alan Gardner, which 

 were greatly admired, both for their exquisite beauty 

 and their value as accurate records of the objects 

 discovered. % 



An important communication by Mr. H. S. Well- 

 come described for the first time the result of two 

 years' work on a site containing remains of primitive 

 Ethiopian races in the southern Sudan, from which he 

 has obtained a large quantity of implements, potterv, 

 ornaments, and other Ethiopian and Egyptian objects, 

 ranging in date from the neolithic age to the Ptolemaic 

 period. Dr. Derry discussed the phenomenon of the 

 red pigment found on ancient bones, and came to the 

 conclusion that in the Nubian and Eg\'ptian examples 

 it was due to a red pigment applied to the grave 

 wrappings and afforded no evidence of mutilation 

 after death. 



The interest in the problems of Mediterranean 

 arrhasology shown by the members of the .\ssociation 

 who attend this section has been so marked in the 



NO. 2247, VOL. go] 



past that it was gratifying to find this subject again 

 becoming prominent in the proceedings. Mr. VVace 

 gave an account of the e.xcavations carried out by 

 himself and Mr. Tliompson in tombs and a tumulus 

 belonging to the early Iron age at Halos in Achaia 

 Phthiotis, whicli contained "geometric" pottery, 

 bronze fibulae, and swords, knives, and long spears 

 of iron. Prof. Ridgeway described a group of bronze 

 and iron javelins found together in Caria, and now 

 in his possession, which illustrate the overlapping of 

 the use of bronzd and iron. Prof. J. L. Myres pre- 

 sented the report of the Committee on Archaeological 

 and Ethnological Investigations in Crete, which con- 

 tained a further instalment of Dr. Duckworth's report 

 on the measurements made when he visited 

 the island some years ago on behalf of 

 the committee. Dr. Ashby gave an account 

 of recent excavations of the prehistoric monu- 

 ments of Malta, Gozo, and Sardinia, which was in 

 part a supplement to the discussion on megalithic 

 monuments from the point of view of the evidence 

 furnished by these islands. 



The papers dealing with the archasology of Britain 

 were few in number, but of considerable interest. 

 Mr. Willoughby Gardner described the excavation of 

 an interesting hill fort in Parch-y-Meirch Wood, near 

 Abergele. The fort was evidently British in origin, 

 but showed signs of three occupations, one being by 

 the Romans. Miss Leslie-Paterson exhibited a series 

 of pigmy flints from the Dee Valley, the first examples 

 of the actual implements to be found north of the 

 Forth, and the Rev. Father Blundell presented the 

 report of the Committee on the Artificial Islands in 

 the Lochs of the Highlands of Scotland. The com- 

 mittee, which was appointed at the Sheffield meeting, 

 has now completed two years' worli; a considerable 

 number of these islands has been recorded, and much 

 interest in them has been aroused locally. Papers by 

 Mr. Marett on a Neolithic cemetery on the islet of 

 La Motte, in Jersey, and by Dr. Irving on further 

 investigations on a prehistoric site in the Valley of the 

 Stort were presented to the section, but, in the absence 

 of the authors, were not discussed. 



Two important technological points were raised by 

 Dr. Rivers, the first being the disappearance of useful 

 arts, and the second " conventionalisation " in art. 

 In regard to the former, he entered a caution against 

 over-hasty conclusions as to the character and extent 

 of a primitive culture, by pointing out that it was 

 possible, as he had found in Melanesia, for a usefuf 

 art to die out of everyday life and leave no trace of its 

 existence in the technology of the people by w'hom it 

 had been practised. In the second of his papers, to 

 explain the problem which is not completely solved 

 on any of the current theories of the development of 

 decorative art, namely how it comes about that a 

 realistic representation should become a geometrical 

 figure, he offered the hypothesis that in the clash of 

 cultures of two races with different art motives and 

 forms there may result the retention of the motive 

 from one side and of the form from the other. In 

 another branch of the study of primitive art. Dr. 

 C. S. Myers's phonograph records of Sarawak music 

 were greatly appreciated by a large audience. 



.A.mong other ethnographical papers, mention must 

 be made of Mr. Amaury Talbot's description of tribes 

 of the West and Central Sudan with numerous illus- 

 trations of racial types, implements, and ornaments, 

 Mr. MacRitchie's paper on the magic drum of the 

 northern races, and Miss E. B. Lindsay's paper on an 

 undescribed totem post of stone from British 

 Columbia. 



In conclusion, two statements made to the section 

 may be placed on record. Dr. George Brvce sent a 



