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SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H. 443 
Friday, September 25. 
Miss E. W. Garpnur and Miss G. Caron-THompson.—Preliminary Work 
on the Geology and Archeology of the Kharga Depression, Egypt. 
The oasis depression which lies in the Libyan Desert about 120 miles west of the 
Nile covers an area of about 11,000 square miles, the excavatory concession for which 
is now held by the Royal Anthropological Institute. Although the oasis was certainly 
under the domination of Egypt as far back as the Middle Kingdom, and probably at 
a still earlier date, its dynastic record has so far yielded no archeological data prior 
to the twenty-seventh—Persian—dynasty. Herodotus, echoing a popular and doubt- 
less primeval belief in the oasis as the abode of departed spirits, called it ‘ The Island of 
the Blessed.’ The part played by the Libyan Oases in the origination or development 
of certain very early elements found in predynastic Egypt requires investigation. 
The season’s work has shown that a people in a ‘ neolithic’ stage, but perhaps without 
pottery, was centred there: their culture has certain affinities with the Faiyum ‘ B’ 
phase, on the one hand, and with the Badarian on the other, but may be older than 
either. Huge flint mines of this, and older periods have been discovered. In Palzxo- 
lithic times a Levalloisean industry not yet found in situ, collected in quantity on 
the desert plateau; this industry overlies the travertine formations, and certain 
plateau and wadi gravels magnificently developed on the cliffs. 
On the floor of the depression itself the deposits of Pleistocene fossil springs have 
been discovered. An Alerien industry lies in situ in these, whose characters suggest 
culture-contact between the Levalloisean of the Plateau and neanthropic elements. 
At no time did a lake exist in the depression, as has been thought, and prehistoric 
man must have depended for his water upon the activity of the now fossil springs, 
whose alternating deposits of clays, loams and sands may be expected to yield infor- 
mation concerning the physiographical régime of Pleistocene times. 
Mr. L. A. Cammiapr and Mr. F. J. Ricnarps.—Climatic Changes in 
Paleolithic India. 
A study of the laterite capping of Manjan-Kerauai Hill, near Madras, and of the 
paleolithic tools and flakes found in and on it suggests the following climatic sequence : 
a. A period of heavy ‘monsoon’ rains, during which the laterite was formed. 
6. A relatively dry period unfavourable to the formation of laterite and associated 
with a prolific culture of early palzolithic type. 
c. A period of violent rains and heavy erosion, and a recurrence of laterite forma- 
tion. 
d. A reversion to relatively dry conditions, similar to those which now prevail, 
and associated with a change in type of the paleolithic artifacts. 
Can these variations be correlated with the isolation of temperate flora and fauna 
_ in tropical hill-tops and with the retreat of glaciers in EK. Tibet ? 
Miss W. Lams.—xcavations in Therma. 
Prehistoric Thermi, on the east coast of Lesbos, is the first Troadic settlement 
discovered in Greek lands ; though possessing certain individual features, its chief con- 
tribution to archeology is the light it throws on the hitherto unsolved problems of 
Troy and on the spread of the Anatolian culture in the Early Bronze Age. 
Thermi was colonised from Asia Minor some time before 3000 B.c. Architecturally, 
we can distinguish five towns: ceramically, three periods : towns and periods can be 
equated as follows :— 
pee a } =First Ceramic Period. Resembling Troy I. 
Thermi III =Second Ceramic Period. Not represented at Troy. 
eee | =Third Ceramic Period. Equivalent to Troy IL. 
Architectural evidence, and the evidence of most of the pottery suggest that the 
site was abandoned (not destroyed) about the time of the sack of Troy II, and that’ 
our town V flourished during that stage of prehistory when the influence of Troy was 
strongly felt in Macedonia and the western Aegean. This town was surrounded by a 
