Reasons are then adduced for assigning a high antiquity to some of these heads, and, as
relates to Mosaic contemporaneousness, they are certainly substantial; but still, science is
very exacting; and I doubt that many more than the following can ascend to times anterior
to the Hylcsos period, say not earlier than B. c , 2 0 0 0 .
Excluding all bitumenized skulls, which, Birch has established465 cannot be older than
Egyptian conquests of Assyria, sixteenth century before Christ, the question stands open in
favor of four: viz. —
C. Three from the front of the Brick Pyramid of Dashour. Being in woollen wrappers,
and desiccated rather than embalmed, they correspond with the human fragments
found in the Third Pyramid, which, by B onseu,466 are attributed to King Mcnkcra.
These may be of the Old Empire.
E .__One from Toora, on the Nile. There are grounds for supposing that the rectangular
sarcophagi, at this locality, contained the bodies of quarry-men who cut stones for
the pyramids.
Another criterion, in behalf of antiquity for these four crania, is the great diminution of
animal matter; but, with regard to all the rest, probabilities militate against an age beyond
the New Empire; and they range, consequently, from the sixteenth century before
Christ downwards.
Besides the want of any positive data for the remainder, we have the fact stated by
Morton, that the great majority of them do not correspond with the Egyptian type in form,
size, or facial angle; as will be explained when I speak of the Internal Capacity, of Crania.
One bead (Fig. 252),
with. Dr. Morton’s commentary,
‘will explain
his idea of the Egyptian
type.
“ The subjoined wqod-cut
illustrates a remarkable head,
which may s'erve' as a type of
the genuine Egyptian conformation.
The lopg, oval cranium,
the receding forehead,
gently aquiline nose, and retracted
chin, together with the
marked distance between the
nose and mouth, and the long,
smooth’hair, are all characteristic
of the monumental Egyptian.”
Fig. 252.
The Crania EEgyptiacai(rl here presents an “ Ethnographic Table
of 100 Ancient Egyptian Crania,” arranged in the first place, according
to their sepulchral localities; and, in the second, in reference to
their national affinities — but, while preserving the subjoined comments,
I prefer the substitution (overleaf) of a later and more
extended synopsis.
j| The preceding table speaks for itself. It shows that more than eight-tenths of the
crania pertain to the unmixed Caucasian race; that the Pelasgic form is as one to one and
two-thirds, and the Semitic form one to eight, compared with the Egyptian; that one-
twentieth of the whole is composed of heads in which there exists a trace of Negro and other
exotic lineage ; that the Negroid conformation exists in eight instances, thus constituting
about one-thirteenth part of the whole ; and finally, that the series contains a single unmixed
Negro.” [ Vide, ante-, p. 267, Fig. 193 — the Negress.']
I have already mentioned, that, subsequently to the appearance of
the Crania Ægyptiaca, a second lot of antique skulls arrived from
Egypt. They had been collected by Mr. Wm. A. G l id d o n , from some
of the Memphite tombs opened by the Prussian Mission, in 1842-’3 ;
and, although these heads may be a secondary or tertiary deposit in
these sepulchres, which contained fragments of coffins and cerements
as late as the Ptolemaic period, yet among them, as Morton has well
observed [supra, pp. 318, 319], there are, very probably, some specimens
of the olden time. Mr. W. A. G. took the precaution to mark,
upon those skulls identifiable as to locality, the cartouches of the
kings to whose reigns the tombs belonged ; and the hoary names of
A ssa, SAorEj and A k iu (Heraku),468 carry us back to the IYth and
Vlth dynasties, or about 3000 years before Christ.
The reader may be gratified to peruse a condensation of Morton’s
digest (October, 1844) of their eraniological attributes ; and I have
the more pleasure in reproducing his words, as they may be unknown
or inaccessible to the majority of ethnologists.
“ The following is an ethnographic analysis of this series of crania : —
Egyptian form........................................................... ....................»••••••• H
Egyptian form, with traces of Negro lineage uJHEj... 2
Negroid form...................................................... v .................. 1
Pelasgic form ........................................................ , 2
Semitic form................................................ ................................ .......... 1
17,
“ R e m a r k s .—1. The Egyptian form is admirably characterized in eleven of these heads,
and corresponds’ in every particular with the Nilotic physiognomy,’as indicated by monumental
and sepulchral evidences in my Crania Ægyptiaca; viz., the’ small, long, and narrow
head, with a somewhat receding forehead, narrow and rather projecting face, and delicacy
of the whole osteological structure. No hair remains, and the bony meatus of the car
corresponds with, that of all other Caucasian nations.
“ Two other heads present some mixture of Negro lineage with the Egyptian. . . .
“ Of these thirteen crania, eleven are adult, of which the largest has an internal capacity
of 93 cubic inches, and the smallest 76— giving a mean of 86 cubic inches for the size of
the brain. This measurement exceeds, by only three cubic inches, the average derived
from the entire series of Egyptian heads in my Crania Ægyptiaca. 1
“ The facial angle of the adult heads gives a mean of 82° ; the largest rising as high as
86°, and the smallest being 78°. Two other heads are those of children, in whom the Egyptian
conformation is perfect, and these give, respectively, the large facial angle of 89° and
91°. The mean adult angle is greater than that given by the large series measured in the
Crania Ægyptiaca. . . ...
“ 2. The Negroid head, as I have elsewhere explained, is a mixture of the Caucasian and
Negro form, in which the latter predominates.. . . . This, head strongly resembles those of two
modern Copts in my possession. It gives 81 cubic inches for the size of the brain, and a
facial angle of 80°. . . .