SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS, — H. 367 



Thursday, August 26. 



1 3. Mr. L. H. Dudley Buxton. — The Physical Anthropology 

 of Ancient Greece and Greek Lands. 



The present essay is a continuation of a report rendeied to the British 

 Association at Bournemouth in 1919, on the ethnology of Cyprus. 



In classical times a clear distinction was made between ' Greeks ' and ' Bar- 

 barians,' and this distinction was believed to have a physical basis. Modern 

 anthropologists are generally in agreement that at least two races are repre- 

 sented in Greek lands, 'Mediterranean' and 'Alpine.' The aboriginal popula- 

 tion remains at present uncertain, and in the absence of early material it 

 became necessai-y to reverse the time process and to study the ancient popula- 

 tion in the light of the modern. In order to make the matter clearer, the 

 material has been divided into classes. First, head form is considered ; secondly, 

 facial form ; and thirdly, stature ; a fourth class, pigmentation, has been added 

 for the living. Evidence which can be treated statistically is available from 

 Albania, Leukas, Messenia (Meligala), Peloponnese (Mani), Crete, Lycia, and 

 Cyprus. 



The mean Cephalic Index varies from 79"20 in Crete to 87'51 among the 

 Bektash of Lycia. None of the measurements are in agreement with the pure 

 Mediterranean type as repreeented, for instance, in Corsica. Among the people 

 who claim to be Greeks we have three classes — the Cretans, Maniotes, and 

 Lycians have a cephalic index under 81, the Messenians and Cypriots a 

 cephalic of 82, and the Leukadians and Albanians an index over 84. This 

 classification does not appear to be of any real significance when we come to 

 examine the standard deviations, as these are sufficiently gi-eat to suggest 

 considerable admixture, especially in Lycia. Cranial evidence, such as it is, 

 confirms this theory. The ancient crania which have survived form too small 

 a series for statistical treatment. It appears as a general rule that the modern 

 Greeks are slightly more brachycephalic than the ancient inhabitants of th« 

 same places — possibly sufficient correction has not been made for the difference 

 between crania and living heads. From such scanty evidence as we have it 

 appears that there is a general closer approximation between the earliest cranial 

 indices and the modern ones than between either of the former and those of 

 intermediate date. In Crete it would appear as though there was an immigration 

 or an extension of the longheads in early times, who were later supplanted by 

 a mixed round- and long-headed population. 



The following tentative conclusions have been drawn : First, the cranial 

 indices of the Greeks exhibit great variety, sufficient to suggest ethnic admix- 

 ture. Secondly, this admixture has not been evenly distributed, and local and 

 distinct sub-races have been formed, so distinct that where crania over a long 

 period have been obtained the cephalic index of one modern village more 

 closely resembles that of their Bronze Age predecessors than that of a neighbour- 

 ing area. As a corollary to this, any sweeping statements about the cephalic 

 index of a modern administrative area, based on measurements made on sixty 

 individuals, as has been done by Clon Stephanos, is unjustifiable. Thirdly, 

 the mixture of race is early, possibly Neolithic in Leukas, certainly Bronae Age 

 (or before) in Cyprus or Crete. 



The living stature is available, in large numbers, from Crete and Cyprus 

 only, and in both cases the stature is practically identical. Three other small 

 series are available, all of which fall into a single shorter group — Leukas, Mount 

 Parnon, and Lycian gypsies. The modern stature appears to be slightly greater 

 than the ancient. The conditions, whatever they may be, which make for 

 heterogeneity in cephalic index, appear also to make for a similar condition in 

 stature. The small numbers represented, combined with the large degree of 

 variation, suggest that great caution is needed in ascribing high or low stature 

 to any race in our area. 



Considerable evidence has been brought forward to suggest that the Upper 

 Facial Index is unreliable. If we accept it provisionally we find that it is 

 a factor which, while agreeing to a large extent in showing the same 

 degiiee of _ ' ethnic stability ' as the cephalic index, in some cases shows wide 

 divergencies; for instance, the cephalic index of the Ci«tans is most allied to 



