ON PHYSICAL CHARACTERS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 217 
was in a very bad state of preservation, and no adequate photographic 
record was obtained to permit of exact comparisons with other collec- 
tions. But Dr. Derry’s report, which seems to suggest that the alien 
element in these poorer graves did not become certainly appreciable 
until the time of the Third Dynasty, served to add to the interest of 
Mr. Quibell’s material, and to make it more than ever desirable to 
secure and preserve a collection of such crucial importance for the 
investigation of the problems of Egypt’s anthropological history. 
The chief difficulty that faced me was how satisfactorily to deal 
with a collection of most fragile bones, a large proportion of which 
were certain to become damaged, more or less severely, during trans- 
port. As there was no anthropologist on the spot to measure and 
make descriptive notes on the material, it was proposed to employ 
experts to photograph each skull, and other important bones, before 
they were treated with size, or other strengthening agent, in prepara- 
tion for transport to England. 
But, while preparations were being made for carrying out this 
scheme, most of the difficulties were removed by the fact that the 
Egyptian Government requested me to go out to Egypt in connection 
with the work of the Archeological Survey of Nubia, and it thus 
became possible to visit Mr. Quibell’s excavations in person, to 
examine and measure all the material on the spot, to supervise the 
work of photographing and packing it for transmission to England. 
It was possible to do so much in the short time at my disposal, 
because Mr. Quibell and his trained workmen afforded every help, 
and Mr. Cecil M. Firth and his native photographic assistant, 
Mahmud Shaduf, of the Nubian Archeological Survey, volunteered 
to help. Mr. Firth took about a hundred and thirty photographs of 
the material. Every help was also given by the Egyptian Survey 
Department in the loan of instruments and other apparatus. Further- 
more, the authorities at the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons 
in London offered to take charge of and repair the material on its 
arrival, and to grant me every facility for its investigation. 
Full notes and photographs were obtained of all human material 
rescued by Mr. Quibell, consisting of the remains of thirty-nine 
individuals of the Second and Third Dynasties, most of which is now 
safely housed in the Royal College of Surgeons’ Museum. At the 
outset it may be stated that the material closely resembles the human 
remains of the Pyramid Age found in neighbouring sites of a some- 
what later date. There are quite definite evidences of some racial 
influence alien to the Proto-Egyptian race; but the difficult problem is 
raised as to how much of the contrast in the features of the two 
populations—Upper Egyptian and Lower Egyptian at the Second 
and Third Dynastic Periods—is due to admixture and blending; and 
how much, if any, is due to the specialisation in type of the Delta 
portion of the Proto-Egyptian people. 
The investigation also revealed some suggestion of attempts at 
mummification as early as the Second Dynasty—a fact of some 
interest, as the earliest undoubted case of mummification is referred 
to the Fourth or Fifth Dynasty (more probably the latter), and no 
