370 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— H. 



Mr. E. G. BowEN. — The Racial Geography of Europe at the Dawn of the Age 

 of Metal. 



An attempt has been made to gather together from various sources the nucleus of 

 a card catalogue giving details of skeletal remains dating from the age of the dawn 

 of metal in Europe. Maps of Europe have been constructed showing the distribution 

 of Cephalic Indices of skulls of this period. Hyperdolichocephalic skulls (C.I. 72 and 

 under) are found to be a very marked feature of the western fingers of the loess lands 

 in Europe, while broader-headed groups are more typical of the mountain country 

 and the coastal entries. In addition to the hyperdolichocephalic skulls on the loess 

 patches, there are broad-headed elements, presumably of ' Beaker ' type, found there 

 as well. From a study of the various human cultures associated with these skeletal 

 remains it is clear that we are beginning to deal with an European scheme of life 

 based on the development of the trade routes and not, as at earlier times, with local 

 or regional life. The dawn of the age of metal is a very important period in the 

 formation of modern Europe — the population begins to assume its present form and 

 the racial types that we distinguish at present are found already in this early popu- 

 lation. The greatest change seems to have been that the hyperdolichocephalic folk 

 who formed such an important element in the population of Europe at the dawn of 

 the age of metal seem to have vanished almost entirely, except, perhaps, in some 

 remote corners such as central Wales, or north-eastern Portugal, where they can still 

 be distinguished in the present-day population. 



Mr. W. A. Heurtley. — A Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Site in Western 

 Macedonia. 



The site lies on the south bank of the Haliakmon, at the point where the modern 

 road from Macedonia to Thessaly and South Greece crosses the river by the iron bridge 

 built by the Turks in 1912. The object of the expedition was, to elucidate certain 

 problems of the Thessalian and Macedonian NeoUthic Age, and to obtain, if possible, 

 precise stratigraphic information about certain black-polished and painted pottery 

 which makes its appearance in Thessaly at the end of the First Neolithic Period, and 

 which has usually been attributed to invaders from Central Europe. The evidence 

 supplied by the excavation goes to show that this attribution is justified. There are 

 three phases in the history of the site. During the first phase, it was occupied by people 

 who used pottery identical with that of the First Thessalian Period, and who were 

 presumably Thessalians. (These people remained until the site was finally deserted 

 in the Earlj' Bronze Age.) The second phase was ushered in by an extensive confla- 

 gration, with which the appearance of the new black-polished pottery, of a new class 

 of painted pottery, of crusted ware, and of incised spirals coincides. The simultaneous 

 appearance of these novelties, and their strongly Danubian character, places it beyond 

 reasonable doubt that the desired e\'idence for the earliest incursion of Northerners 

 into Greece has been obtained. The most interesting find was perhaps a complete 

 skeleton buried in a crouched position in a round hole sunk through the debris of one 

 of the burnt houses. Above it lay a thin layer of ashes and several broken vases of 

 the new kind, some blackened by fire. It thus seems probable that the burial is that 

 of one of the invaders. The skeleton has been cut out with its surrounding earth and 

 transported to the Museum at Salonica, where it awaits examination by an anthro- 

 pologist. Close upon the heels of these Northern invaders came Early Bronze Age 

 people from Macedonia, bringing with them their characteristic pottery. Their 

 arrival and settlement constitute the third phase in the history of the site. 



Mr. L. A. Cammiade. — Pluvial Periods in Palceolithic India. 



Recent finds near Madras show a series of four consecutive cultures of palaeoUthic 

 type. A coup-de-poing culture of Chellean and of Acheulean type was followed by a 

 culture characterised by broad flakes struck from tortoise cores. The flake culture 

 came into contact with a culture of upper palaeolithic type using burins, backed blades 

 and end scrapers, and was superseded. The upper palaeolithic culture gradually 

 passed into a microlithic culture of Banda type. The sequence of the four cultures is 

 established stratigraphically. Their antiquity is determined by the geological 

 formations with which they are severally associated. The geological formations 

 associated with these cultures point to a succession of periods of heavv and scanty 



