CHAPTER IX. 



Conclusion. 



As was stated in the introduction, the most important prob- 

 lem presented by the study of the physical anthropology of the 

 Jews is whether they have maintained their racial purity during 

 centuries of dispersion in various parts of the world. It would 

 be desirable in this connection to compare the physical traits of 

 the modern Jews with those of the ancient Hebrews, which is 

 at the present impossible. The ancient Hebrews have not em- 

 balmed their dead, and consequently no skeletons have been 

 found thus far in Palestine, dating back to the period of the Jew- 

 ish reign in that country. One thing is certain, however, the 

 original stock of the Jews was not made up of a single and homo- 

 geneous race, as is supposed by some. There are many refer- 

 ences in the Bible to intermarriages of the ancient Hebrews with 

 other non-Jewish races, as the Hittites, Amorites, Cushites 

 Canaanites, etc. That some of these races were not of Semitic 

 stock has been established recently by archeological research. 

 The Amorites, for instance, are believed to have been *' Aryans," 

 tall, blond and dolichocephalic ; and a considerable amount of 

 evidence has been brought forward in support of this theory.^ 

 The Hittites are considered by some to have been a Mongoloid 

 race, by others brunette brachycephals of the so-called Arme- 

 noid type.^ The Cushites, according to Biblical and other evi- 

 dence, were Negroes.^ The ancient Hebrew patriachs and the 

 aristocracy of Israel have freely indulged in intermarriage with 

 these and other non-Jewish races, and it can safely be assumed 



'See A. H. Sayce, "The Races of the Old Testament," London, 1891 ; also 

 Luschan, loc: cit. 



2 See M. Alsberg, '* Rassenmischung im Judenthum," Hamburg, 1891 ; Lus 

 chan, loc. cit. Sayce, loc. cit. 



3 May the negroid traits such as dark skin, thick lips, prognathism, wooly hair, 

 etc., which are often met with among the modern Jews, not be cases of atavism? 



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