Crania Ægyptiaca. Samuel George Morton
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Three skulls exhumed by Mr. Perring from the above mentioned locality in the Memphite Necropolis. They were discovered in the month of August, 1839, in the process of trenching to find an entrance to the pyramid. The following extract from Col. Vyse’s admirable work embraces all the information we possess in relation to these remains, merely premising that none of the mummied heads alluded to has come into my possession.
“At the depth of about four feet six inches, above fifty bodies were found, ten of which were mummies, embalmed and deposited in the usual manner. The others were much decayed, and had been buried in their clothes, and in some instances were bound round with common cord and laid in wooden coffins, or among a few branches of date trees. Some of the clothes were woollen, others coarse linen, with a fringed border of bright scarlet worsted. The heads were covered with bright red network. Mr. Perring imagined that these bodies had belonged to a pastoral people, probably to Bedouins, and that they had been interred, together with the mummies, at a very early period, before the introduction of Christianity.” Vyse, Pyramids, III., p. 60.
These crania, which are remarkably small, possess much of the Egyptian form, and are well represented in the following outlines.
(Cat. 795.) An oval cranium with a receding forehead, full coronal region, strongly developed upper maxilla, and prominent face.—I. C. 75 cubic inches. F. A. 76°.—Egyptian blended with the Negroid form?
(Cat. 796.) A small oval head, low forehead, and salient and very aquiline nose. Facial bones thin and delicately proportioned.—I.C. 80 cubic inches. F.A. 75°. Egyptian form.
(Cat. 797.) A small, thin, irregularly formed head, with a full forehead and salient nose. The alveoli are absorbed by age. A woman of 70 years?—I.C. 76 cubic inches. Egyptian form.
D.—FROM THE NECROPOLIS OF MEMPHIS, NORTH-WEST OF THE PYRAMID OF FIVE STEPS.
Nine skulls of mummied Egyptians, taken by Mr. Gliddon from a large pit which had just been opened by the Arabs. Mr. G. remarks that No. 803 is a male, and 804 a female, both unwrapped by his own hands. “These mummies were all of a superior order, and enclosed in wooden cases. The pit was opened in my presence, and consisted of a deep shaft cut through the solid rock, with two or three chambers filled with undisturbed mummies.”
Scarcely any integuments remain on these heads, the removal of the wrappings leaving the bone for the most part completely denuded.
Plate III., Fig. 3. (Cat. 804.) A remarkably beautiful female head, not exceeding the age of twelve years. Pelasgic form.
Plate III., Fig. 4. (Cat. 799.) A ponderous skull, with a fine frontal, and full coronal region. Probably a man of 35 years.—I.C. 87 cubic inches. F.A. 82°. Pelasgic form.
Plate III., Fig. 5. (Cat. 816.) A beautifully oval and finely arched cranium, with a high, prominent forehead, tumid occiput, aquiline nose, and oblong orbitar cavities. A man of 45?—I.C. 92 cubic inches. F.A. 78°. Pelasgic form.
Plate III., Fig. 6. (Cat. 798.) A delicately proportioned and finely arched head. The cheek bones are small, and the nose strongly aquiline. Age, about 45 years.—I.C. 84 cubic inches. F. A. 80°. Pelasgic form.
Plate III., Fig. 7. (Cat. 802.) A finely developed cranium, with a delicate, but rather prominent face, and strongly arched nose. Probably a female of 50 years.—I.C. 81 cubic inches. Egypto-Pelasgic form.
Plate III., Fig. 8. (Cat. 803.) A large, oval head, with a broad, receding forehead, low coronal region, and salient nose. A man of 45 or 50 years.—I. C. 92 cubic inches. F.A. 82°. Pelasgic form.
(Cat. 800.) Skull of a child of 10 years, with a receding forehead, narrow, projecting face, and salient teeth. Negroid form.
(Cat. 801.) A juvenile head, heavy, but beautifully proportioned, especially in the frontal region. Pelasgic form.
Plate III., Fig. 9. (Cat. 825.) A large and remarkably intellectual head, of the finest proportions throughout. The hair is in part preserved, and is long, smooth and of a dark-brown colour.—I. C. 93 cubic inches. F. A. 81°. Pelasgic form.
E.—FROM TOORA, ON THE NILE.
Plate II., Fig. 9. (Cat. 840.) Skull of a man from the ancient quarries at Toora, opposite Memphis, on the east bank of the Nile, about seven miles above Cairo. From this place the stones were obtained for building the Pyramids of Gizeh, and many later structures, down to the epoch of the Ptolemies. Mr. Gliddon was present at the exhumation of several of these crania, yet, owing to their extremely fragile state, but one reached me in safety, and for this I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Mash. They were found in rude sarcophagi of limestone, and wrapped in coarse matting. These remains, which were discovered in 1837–38, are supposed to have pertained to the master-quarrymen.
The head figured is of an elongated oval form, with a moderate frontal development and low coronal region. The nose is strongly salient and aquiline, and the whole cranial structure thin and delicate.—I. C. 89 cubic inches. F. A. 79°. Pelasgic form.
Remarks on the preceding series of Crania.—A mere glance at this group of skulls will satisfy any one accustomed to comparisons of this kind, that most of them possess the Caucasian traits in a most striking and unequivocal manner, whether we regard their form, size, or facial angle. It is, in fact, questionable whether a greater proportion of beautifully moulded heads would be found among an equal number of individuals taken at random from any existing European nation. The entire series consists of sixteen examples of the Pelasgic and seven of the Egyptian form, a single Semitic head, one of the Negroid variety, and one of mixed conformation. Of the antiquity of these remains there can be no question; and with respect to a part of them, those from the Pyramid of Five Steps, we have evidence of a more precise character.
These most ancient mummies appear to have been prepared with but little bitumen, and to have undergone desiccation by some primitive and simple process of embalming; such, for example, as first saturating the body in natron, and then subjecting it to heat in an oven. It is also to be remarked, that in these two heads the brain has not been removed through the nostrils, according to the general custom, for the ethmoid bone is unbroken; and the cranial contents could therefore only have been withdrawn through the foramen magnum at the base of the skull.
This last remark also applies to sixteen other heads of this series; whence I was at first led to suppose that they could not pertain to a very remote epoch. But when we find that the oldest remains are similarly characterized, and bear in mind that the removal of the brain through the nose was a conventional part of the more perfect art of embalming, may we not suppose that this imperforate state of the cranium points to an early epoch of Egyptian history, before mankind had resorted to those elaborate methods of preserving the dead body which are so remarkable in the Theban catacombs? It has been conjectured, that the proximity of the Natron Lakes to the city of Memphis gave rise to the custom of embalming; and it is not an improbable supposition that the profuse employment of bitumen was a subsequent refinement of the art. This suggestion derives some support from another fact; namely, that in every instance in which I have observed the brain to have been removed through the nose, the bones and integuments are much more charged with bitumen than in the imperforate crania.
It may, perhaps, be conjectured by some that the Pelasgic heads of this series belong to the Ptolemaic epoch, and hence pertain to the Greek inhabitants of that age: but it must be remembered that the rule of the Ptolemies lasted but about three hundred years; whereas the