The most
significant
points in the
evidence
formulated
above.
Review of
the physical
history in
Ptolemaic
and Roman
times.
a cephalic index and a cranial capacity much higher than that of the non-negroid. The
face also has become shorter. The non-negroid stock, on the other hand, has become
distinctly longer-faced and narrower nosed.
I n t h e F em a l e s .
In the seriation of the entire population the females of these two periods closely
resemble each other in most respects. But while the cranial capacity in the Ptolemaic
time stands at a figure corresponding to the general average of the preceding periods, the
women of the Roman period are, whether judged by median or by percentage-distribution,
the most microcephalic in the whole history. The proportion of round heads is greater
among the women than among the men in the Ptolemaic time ; but this distinction does
not hold any longer in the Roman, for, while the females of that time remain at the same
level, the males have become rounder headed. In both periods the women have not such
low vaults as the men, and in both they are broader nosed, the difference being greatest
in the Roman time. The proportion of broad-nosed women in the Roman period is greater
than in the Ptolemaic, and indeed greater than in any series except the First Dynasty.
The proportion of long faces in the Ptolemaic period is less than at any former time, and
the proportion of broad faces is greater in the Roman period than ever before. Finally,
while there are no prognathic males yet there is a considerable proportion of prognathic
females in the Roman time: this may be regarded as a somewhat unusual circumstance
since the majority of prognathic examples is commonly found among the males.
I f the two race-stocks are examined individually, it will be seen that the diminution
in the cranial capacity of the general female population in the Roman time is confined to
the non-negroid and the intermediate racial elements. The median of capacity in the nonnegroid
is appreciably lower than in the negroid stock, and whereas none of the negroids
have heads of less than 1,150 cc. capacity, five out of the eighteen composing the non-negroid
group are below that figure.
A lapse of a thousand years separates the earliest of the two periods dealt with in
the present chapter from the Eighteenth Dynasty. During this interval the fortunes of
Egypt had steadily declined; and now the end of the fourth century before Christ witnessed
the permanent establishment of a foreign domination, which has lasted in spite of
many changes of masters until the present day.
We possess a very small series of specimens belonging to the Thirtieth Dynasty, which
immediately precedes the Ptolemaic in point of date. Of these it need only be remarked
that both race-stocks are represented, and that the non-negroid (of which alone there are
sufficient examples to form any estimates) shows no characteristics to differentiate it from
the average non-negroid type as seen in preceding series.
In the Ptolemaic and Roman times the same two racial elements appear which have
been observed throughout from the very beginning of the history, and in the Ptolemaic
period there is no evidence that their respective characteristics have undergone any
appreciable modification. In the Roman, however, it is impossible to avoid being struck
by the remarkable rise in the cranial capacity and cephalic index of the negroid males.
The occurrence of such individuals, however, with large and rounder heads, and presumably
therefore representing a superior type, is not inconsistent with the conditions of the time.
History indicates that Nubia had long since attained a high standard of civilization;
under the later Ptolemies it successfully asserted its independence, and throughout the
Roman occupation of Egypt the Thebaid was perpetually menaced with attack from that Review of
n qnuaarrft-ePrr . thhiset oPrhyy msical
At the same time the non-negroid element in the male population seems to have Raman
undergone a change, which is shown by the narrower face and finer nose as well as by times,
the straighter profile. Nevertheless in spite of these refinements the cranial capacity of
these men is lower and their heads are slightly more elongated than those of the negroids
just mentioned. As there is a particularly noticeable reduction in the cranial capacity of
the non-negroid females, for whom there is some evidence to suggest that it is due to
a reduction in stature, it is possible (in the absence of any data bearing upon the point)
that the same explanation may hold in the case of the males. If so, such a reduction of
stature, taken in connexion with the modification of the facial features, might be regarded
as a hint of the influence exercised by a foreign Mediterranean type, which at this date
could easily have come into Upper Egypt from the north. It is only remarkable that the
numerous non-indigenous races, of whose settlement there is documentary evidence, have
not left more recognizable traces on the general population, in which the same elements
remain preponderant at the end of the Roman period as at the beginning of the whole
history.
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