Crania Ægyptiaca. Samuel George Morton
the sixteen adult Pelasgic skulls in this series, two or three are small; yet the whole number gives about 88 cubic inches for the average internal capacity of the cranium, or size of the brain, while the mean of the facial angle is 80°. The seven Egyptian crania have a mean internal capacity of 80 cubic inches, and a facial angle of 77°.
SECOND SERIES.
FOUR HEADS FROM THE GROTTOES OF MAABDEH, NEAR MAGARAT-ES-SAMÒUN.
This is the name of a series of sepulchral grottoes in Middle Egypt, on the limestone hill opposite Manfaloot, and near the modern village of Maabdeh. It is within the ancient nome of Heracleopolis. This cemetery is a natural cavern, which was chiefly dedicated to embalmed crocodiles, but in some measure, also, to man. Mr. Gliddon observes that the human mummies are of the common order, and adds: “I brought them from a measured distance of 438 feet under ground, horizontally, averaging about twenty feet below the surface.”
Plate IV., Fig. 1. (Cat. 833.) A large, oval head, with a very low, receding forehead, and large, aquiline nose. A man of 35 years? The hair is long, soft, and curling, and the beard is partially preserved on the lower jaw. Pelasgic form?
This person has been much disfigured by ulceration of the cartilage of the nose and the adjacent integuments; part of the upper lip has been removed by the disease, which appears partially on the lower jaw, and may account for the beard not having been shaved. The embalming process has been very carefully conducted. Large lozenge-shaped patches of gold-leaf are seen on the centre of the forehead and over each eye, with smaller pieces dispersed in other places, and especially on the bone and teeth of the upper jaw, where these have been denuded or exposed by ulceration.
Plate IV., Fig. 2. (Cat. 834.) A female head, of a short, oval form, with a narrow, receding forehead, prominent nose, and very protruding maxillæ. The teeth, which are salient, indicate a person of 25 or 30 years of age; and the lower jaw, which is very angular, has a remarkable downward projection. The hair was long, but harsh, and was necessarily removed with the integuments, on account of the imperfect nature of the embalmment, which appeared to have been effected with a soft or tar-like bitumen. Negroid form.
Plate IV., Fig. 3. (Cat. 835.) A woman of 30? with a long, narrow head, slightly salient nose, and very projecting face. The hair is eight or ten inches long, harsh, but not wiry. Negroid form. I.C. 71 cubic inches. F.A. 73°.
Plate IV., Fig. 4. (Cat. 836.) A female head of a fine oval form, with a broad, convex forehead, low coronal region, and strongly aquiline nose. This head retains a profusion of long, fine, curling hair, and the face is gilded over the eyes and lips. This is a striking example of the tumid face which is not unfrequently seen on the monuments. Egyptian form.
Remarks.—The two Negroid heads belong, obviously, to the lower class of people, for the bodies have been hastily and imperfectly embalmed, without mummy cases, and in ordinary wrappings. The two latter remarks apply to the other individuals of this series, which have, nevertheless, been much more carefully embalmed.
THIRD SERIES.
FOUR SKULLS FROM ABYDOS.
The city of Abydos, the second in size in the Thebaid, was on the west bank of the Nile, and, like Thebes, possessed a palace of Rameses III., and a temple of Osiris, the guardian divinity of the city.
Plate V., Fig. 1, (Cat. 819.) An elongated head, with an indifferent frontal and low coronal region, straight nose, small orbits, and prominent upper jaw.—I. C. 85 cubic inches. F. A. 79°. Egyptian form.
Plate V., Fig. 2. (Cat. 820.) A large and finely moulded cranium, with a broad, full forehead, and long, but abruptly salient nose. The upper jaw has a remarkable downward elongation, which reduces the F. A. to 76°.—I. C. 96 cubic inches. A man of 40. Egyptian form.
Plate V., Fig. 3. (Cat. 817.) A large, beautifully developed cranium, of harmonious proportions, but somewhat ponderous structure.—I. C. 89 cubic inches. F. A. 80°. Pelasgic form.
Plate V., Fig. 4. (Cat. 818.) A small head, narrow and retreating, with a tumid occiput, very large, aquiline nose, and delicate, prominent face.—I. C. 69 cubic inches. F. A. 77°. Semitic form.
Remarks.—In a memorandum accompanying these skulls, Mr. Gliddon observes that “they were obtained from a mummy-pit behind the temple of Rameses III., and they belong to the best class. Among the relics found in the same pit were a scarabæus, bearing the prenomen of Thotmes IV., and a piece of stamped pottery, (apparently enclosed with a mummy to denote the epoch,) which bore the nomen of Rameses III. It may, therefore, be reasonably conjectured, that these remains belong to the eighteenth Diospolitan dynasty, fixed by Professor Rosellini between the years 1822 and 1874, B.C.”
The four heads are entirely denuded, but little appearance of bitumen remaining; nor is the ethmoid bone perforated. The bones bear the impress of age, and, in one instance, have become softened, and almost friable, from decomposition.
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