288 FISHBERG 



broader, that of the Jews is also wider, and the reverse. When 

 to this is added that in Caucasia the Jews have hyperbrachyceph- 

 alic and in North Africa they are doHchocephaHc, correspond- 

 ing to the type found among the non-Jewish population, the 

 reason for the diversity of type is apparent. 



The headform of the ancient Hebrews is not known, because 

 there are no crania available for measurement. The oldest 

 Jewish skulls were measured by Lombroso.^ They were found 

 in the catacomb of Saint Calixtus in Rome, and date back to 

 150 A. D. The cranial indices of five of these skulls are 80, 

 76.1, 78, 83.4, and 75.1, which means an average cephalic 

 index in the livingr of 80.^. It is understood that no definite 

 conclusions can be drawn from measurements of only five skulls, 

 but the fact that among these are found not one dolichocepha- 

 lic, and two brachycephalic skulls, points strongly against the 

 opinion that the ancient Hebrews were a purely dolichocephalic 

 race, corresponding to the type of the modern non-Jewish 

 Semites. In this connection, Luschan's theory is of interest. 

 He suggests that the greater part of the ancient Hebrews were 

 derived from the Hittites, a brachycephalic race which flourished 

 in Syria and Asia Minor about 1500 B.C. Their decendants 

 in modern times are shown by the same authority, and also by 

 Jensen,^' to be, besides the Jews, also the Armenians, the Turks, 

 the Greeks and others. Luschan points out that even the 

 physiognomy of the modern Armenians, particularly the arched 

 and aquiline nose, considered at the present to be peculiarly 

 Jewish, is in fact, Armenian, and the same is true of other traits, 

 such as pigmentation, etc. If this were true, then the Jews in 

 the Caucasus are the ones who preserved the original type more 

 than any other group, and those in other countries are the ones 

 who diverted from the type. Not all the living Semites are 

 dolichocephalic. Chantre shows that the contemporary Syrians 

 of Semitic speech are often as brachycephalic as the Armenians. 

 The same headform is characteristic of the Semites in the 

 Caucasus, such as the Lesghians, Georgians, Aisores, etc. Pan- 



1 " L'antisemitismo e le scienze moderne," Torine, 1894, appendix. 



2 " Hittiter und Armenier," p. 63. 



