by Professor G. Elliot Smith and his assistant. To these gentlemen cordial thanks
are due.
The total number of specimens available for the present study thus consisted of
1,561 skulls, 711 partial skeletons belonging to the skulls, and 154 skeletons of which
the skulls had perished. We deal here only with the skulls, except in cases where it
is necessary to touch on the question of limb-length as an indication of stature.
Accordingly, we do not publish the measurements of the limbs, but those who wish
to pursue any branch of inquiry for which they are necessary will find a considerable
amount of material in ‘Denderah’ (Seventeenth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund),
where the chief limb-measurements are given for the Sixth to Twelfth Dynasties, the
Ptolemaic and the Roman periods. The letter S accompanying the catalogue-number
of any specimen in the list of skull-measurements given in our Appendix indicates that
the specimen in question has a partial skeleton belonging to it.
The reader must not suppose, however, that there is a collection of 1,500 of
these crania in the Museum at Oxford. The expense and difficulty of transport
prevented the conveyance to England of all the specimens discovered in the course
of excavation, and many were re-interred after they had been measured. But a
considerable collection of crania from several of the sites, including many of the
specimens of which measurements are here given, was presented to the Cambridge
Museum; besides which the University of Aberdeen and the Medical School at Cairo
possess a certain number from El-Amrah.
Our own collection, which was presented to the Department of Human Anatomy
of the University Museum at Oxford, consists of 200 skulls and 100 partial skeletons
(together with a considerable number of separate bones), belonging mainly to the first
five periods. We have reproduced in Plates iv—ix the photographs of all that were
sufficiently perfect to show the characteristic features. Of the remainder, some had
been found already broken in the graves, and others had suffered damage in transit.
The fragile nature of the specimens sufficiently explains why in the tables of absolutes,
and charts of indices, some of the measurements are occasionally wanting.
With regard to the scheme of the book, we have endeavoured to examine the
material at our disposal by most of the methods now in vogue, and have introduced
innovations which are intended to facilitate the study of correlated features. The
first chapter is devoted to such an outline of the history and archaeology as it was
thought might be serviceable to those workers who have not the leisure or opportunity
to study that special subject; the second chapter gives an account of the measurements
employed in this work and some new views upon the character of some of them.
Chapters III—V I11 inclusive set out the various methods which have been used in
dealing with the material, and detail the results obtained by each method. Chapters
IX -X I I summarize the most valuable points of evidence obtained from the combination
of methods, and state the general theories which we deduce from them.
All matter which is necessary for reference, but of which the inclusion in the text
would have obscured the treatment, has been relegated to an Appendix. In this
Appendix will be found a full list of all the absolute measurements of the skulls. It
has been arranged as an inset, so that it can readily be detached and used separately
by those who may wish to work upon it independently. The indices are not printed
in this catalogue, but will be found in the two large Charts which accompany the
volume, to which we would direct particular attention. These Charts contain the principal
features which have been studied for each skull, viz. the Cephalic, Vertical, Facial and
Nasal Indices, the Facial Projection and the Estimated Capacity. The catalogue-number
of each individual specimen is entered in its proper place for every one of these six
features, and thus a Curve of Frequency is formed. Accordingly by glancing from one table
to another the reader can obtain an idea of all the chief characteristics of any-required
specimen. We must state from experience that such an investigation is not very
laborious; though of course it must be remembered that sometimes owing to defective
condition a skull will not appear in all six tables.
The Curves of Frequency are accompanied in the Charts by Curves of Probability,
showing the form which the diagram ought in each case to assume if it conformed exactly
to the Law of Errors. These Curves of Probability and their mathematical properties were
worked out by Mr. Frank Porter, M.A. To him we are also indebted for Chapter VII,
which he wrote in consultation with us.
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