650 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 
base to base, and the crescent form resulted. The Muhammadan, therefore, 
adopted a pre-existing symbol, and the connection of the crescent with the moon 
is a later development. 
6. Note on the Ethnography of Sardinia. By T. Asupy, D.Litt., F.S.A. 
The opinions expressed by Dr. Mackenzie and myself last year in our Note 
on the Ethnology of Sardinia’ have only been contirmed by a subsequent 
visit to the island paid by myself and Mr. J. ff. Baker-Penoyre in March last. 
It would seem that there is an opportunity for ethnographical research, con- 
ducted by scholars who have experience of the problems which present themselves 
in the Eastern Mediterranean with regard to the ethnological affinities of the 
earliest inhabitants, and with which members of the British School at Athens 
have been, in recent years, especially occupied. Nor would it be well to lose 
sight of the fact that the prehistoric remains of the British Isles may supply 
important parallels. This comparative work the British School at Rome hopes to 
be able to undertake in the near future. 
7. The Work of the British School at Rome during the Session 1906-1907. — 
By T. Asusy, D.Liti., FSA, 
The forthcoming volume of the ‘ Papers of the British School at Rome’ will 
include: A paper by Mr. 8. J. A. Churchill, H.B.M.’s Consul at Palermo, on ‘The 
Goldsmiths of Rome under the Papal Authority : their Statutes hitherto discovered, 
and a Bibliography ’; another by Mr. A. J. B. Wace on ‘ Roman Historical Reliefs’ ; 
another by Mr. A -H. 8. Yeames on ‘ An Ivory Statuette in the British Museum’; 
another on ‘ The Prehistoric Civilisation of Southern Italy,’ by Mr. T. E. Peet; and 
the first portion of a paper on ‘ The Via Latina,’ by the Director (Dr. T. Ashby). This 
last forms the first part of the third section of the ‘Classical Topography of the 
Roman Campagna,’ which is in course of publication in the ‘ Papers’ of the School. 
The Via Latina is one of the earliest (perhaps the very earliest) of the ancient roads 
radiating from Rome; and though the determination of the course taken by it 
preseuts no difficulty, the remains which have been discovered, and which still 
exist along its course, are of very great interest and importance. 
The School has also been actively engaged in the preparation of the first part 
of the Catalogue of Sculpture of the Municipal Museums of Rome: in this the 
Assistant Director, Mr. A. M. Daniel, and Mrs. Daniel have been especially 
occupied. The work is under the general editorship of Mr Stuart Jones, ex- 
Director of the School; and it is hoped that the first part, dealing with the 
Capitoline Museum, may be sent to press fairly early in the year 1908, 
8. The Origin of Egyptian Civilisation.? 
By Professor Epwarp Navitie. 
Who were the Egyptians? Were they anative race born in the country which 
they inhabited, or did they come from abroad as immigrants? Were they a 
mixed population, and if so, can we distinguish the various elements which 
formed the Egyptian nation ? 
The excavations made during the last twenty years by Prof. Petrie, Mr. 
Anélineau, Mr. de Morgan, and others have revealed to us that the primitive 
Egyptians presented the same characteristics as the white races which have been 
established from all antiquity in North Africa, and that their degree of culture 
had not gone beyond the Stone Age. 
The knowledge we have of these Egyptian aborigines, and of their civilisation, is 
1 Report for 1906, p. 701. 
* Published in full in Journ. Royal Anthrop. Institute, xxxvii. 1907, p. 201. 
