Octobek 29, 1000] 



SCIENCE 



609 



progress, I have been able to garner from a cave, 

 where are carelessly consigned the bones of many 

 a deceased Cretan of to-day after a short burial 

 in the cemetery, some hundred bones from all 

 parts of the skeleton, saving, unfortunately, the 

 cranium; and thus a comparison is possible be- 

 tween skeleton and skeleton of ancient and modern 

 times. Two collections of hair, representing a 

 series of shades, have been made for me by Ortho- 

 dox and Mussulman barbers in Candia. 



Crete appears to me to be a more than ordi- 

 narily instructive and significant field of research, 

 and I hope that in the short time at my disposal 

 I may find answers to some of the many questions 

 which open up at every turn. 



The committee to conduct archeological and 

 ethnological investigations in Sardinia report as 

 follows: Dr. Duncan Mackenzie, honorary student 

 of the British School at Rome, returned to Sar- 

 dinia at the end of September, 1908, and stayed 

 there till the middle of November. He was accom- 

 panied for part of the time by the director, Dr. 

 Thomas Ashby, and by an architectural draughts- 

 man, Mr. F. G. Newton, student of the school. 



Their new observations have materially in- 

 creased our knowledge of the two main groups of 

 Sardinian megalithio monuments, the Nuraghi and 

 the " Tombs of the Giants." The previous year's 

 work made it clear that the former were fortified 

 habitations. Dr. Mackenzie has now visited other 

 examples and recorded variations of type and 

 peculiarities of construction. The most remark- 

 able is the Nuraghe of Voes in the Bitti district 

 towards the north of Central Sardinia. Trian- 

 gular in plan, it contains on the ground floor cir- 

 cular chambers with bee-hive roofs; the usual 

 central chamber and one in each of the three 

 angles. The entrance is on the south and leads 

 into a small open court with a doorway at each 

 side leading to the chamber at the base of the 

 triangle, and another doorway straight in front 

 by which the central chamber is entered. There 

 was an upper story, now destroyed, reached by a 

 stairway of the usual type. Exceptional features 

 are two long curving corridors in the thickness of 

 the wall on two sides of the triangle, intended 

 probably as places of concealment. Above them 

 were others of similar plan, but both series are 

 so low that the roof of the upper one is level with 

 that of the bee-hive chamber on the ground floor. 

 This skilfully planned stronghold must have been 

 built all at one time; other large Nuraghi were 

 originally of simpler design, and have grown by 

 the addition of bastions and towers. 



A new type of Nuraghe was discovered at Nos- 

 sia near the modern village of Paulilatino, in 

 Central Sardinia. It is a massive quadrangular 

 citadel of irregular rhomboidal plan with a round 

 tower at each corner. These towers resemble the 

 stone huts of the villages attached to some of the 

 Nuraghi ; they are entered from a central court- 

 yard which here takes the place of the normal 

 bee-hive chamber. It was partly filled with cir- 

 cular huts, so that this Nuraghe must be regarded 

 as a fortified village rather than as the castle of 

 a chieftain. 



The dwellers in these Nuraghi buried their dead 

 in family sepulchers popularly known as Tombs 

 of the Giants. Several writers had suggested that 

 these tombs with their elongated chamber and 

 crescent-shaped front were derived from the more 

 ancient dolmen type, but hitherto there was little 

 evidence to support this conjecture, only one dol- 

 men being known in Sardinia. Dr. Mackenzie has 

 now made this derivation certain; he has studied 

 ten important groups of dolmen tombs, most of 

 them entirely unknown, which furnish a series of 

 transitional types. In one case the chamber of an 

 original dolmen tomb had at a later period been 

 elongated so as to resemble that of a Giant's 

 Tomb. In another example the large covering 

 slab was supported by upright slabs at the sides 

 and back; and behind it there are traces of an 

 apse-like enclosing wall, such as is characteristic 

 both of the Giants' Tombs and also of dolmens in 

 certain localities where Giants' Tombs do not 

 exist; for example, in northern Corsica and in 

 Ireland. Dr. Mackenzie also discovered a new 

 type of Giant's Tomb in which the mound was 

 entirely faced with stone, upright slabs being 

 used below and polygonal work above. Another 

 feature, hitherto unique, is a hidden entrance into 

 the chamber at one side, in addition to the usual 

 small hole in the center of the front through 

 which libations and off'erings were probably in- 

 troduced. 



These results were described at a meeting of the 

 British School at Rome in March, 1909 (see 

 Athenwum of March 27). An illustrated report 

 of them will appear in volume V. of the Papers 

 01 the school. 



Dr. Mackenzie and Mr. Newton intend to go 

 to Sardinia, in September, for six weeks in order 

 to continue the exploration of the island. The 

 importance of anthropometrical work in connec- 

 tion with the problems presented by the early civil- 

 ization of Sardinia was pointed out in a previous 

 report of this committee. Mr. W. L. II. Duck- 



