Part 3
Wood-cut 1. (Cat. 841.) An elongated head, with a very receding forehead, long, aquiline nose, and large, ponderous jaws, which project so as to reduce the facial angle to about 65°. This person has been embalmed with evident care, but with the mouth open, the tongue protruded, and the eyelids raised, giving a frightfully vacant expression to the whole countenance, and leaving no reasonable doubt that this is the head of an idiot. A little hair remains, which is remarkably fine, and encroaches on the eyebrows.
Wood-cut 2. (Cat. 863.) Another idiotic head, embalmed also with the mouth open and the tongue partially protruded. The cranium is long, the forehead low and receding, the face remarkably prominent, and the whole expression, as in the former instance, to the last degree vacant and repulsive. I presume that no one accustomed to comparisons of this nature can examine these heads, without agreeing with me in opinion as to their position in the intellectual scale. It may appear, and, indeed, is surprising, that two idiotic heads should be found among one hundred taken at random from the catacombs; and I can only explain the fact by supposing that a particular tomb was reserved for this unfortunate class of persons; and that the Arab servant employed by Mr. Gliddon, in his explorations at Thebes, invaded by chance this very sanctum. It is well known that idiotic persons have, in all ages, been regarded with a certain degree of veneration in the East; and hence their remains would be likely, in Egypt, to be carefully preserved after death. In examining Professor Rosellini’s plates, I find a solitary example of an idiot, whose head is represented in the annexed diagram; and it is curious to remark, that the sagacity of the Egyptian artist has admirably adapted this man’s vocation to his intellectual developments, for he is employed in stirring the fire of a blacksmith’s shop. This singular effigy is seen at Thebes.
NEGROID HEADS.
In addition to the two heads of this class from Maabdeh and one from Memphis, I subjoin descriptions and outline drawings of five others from Thebes, which are here grouped for the advantage of more ready comparison.
Fig. 1. (Cat. 864.) A female cranium, of a narrow oval form, with a low, receding forehead, small nose, and protruding face. There is much of the Negro _expression_ in the bony structure of this head.—I. C. 77 cubic inches. F. A. 75°.
Fig. 2. (Cat. 858.) A large and rather ponderous cranium, with a well developed forehead, salient nose, jaws powerfully developed and protruding, and the upper teeth presenting obliquely outwards.—I. C. 87 cubic inches. F. A. 77°.
Fig. 3. (Cat. 885.) An oval head, with a convex frontal region, small, depressed nose, and very projecting face.—I. C. 77 cubic inches. F. A. 76°.
Fig. 4. (Cat. 852.) A small head, with a low, receding forehead, and strong, small nose, projecting maxillæ, and obvious Negro expression. A little hair remained, which was cut short, and was coarse without being woolly.—I. C. 77 cubic inches. F. A. 75°.
Fig. 5. (Cat. 869.) An oval head, with a good frontal development, salient nose, and very projecting face.—I. C. 88 cubic inches. F. A. 76°.
In the preceding five crania, the Negro features and expression greatly predominate; at the same time there is an evident mixture of Caucasian characters. Two of them might pass, perhaps, for genuine Negroes, but for the comparatively fine texture of the hair. I therefore regard them as Mulattoes, to which class, also, may be referred a large proportion of the modern COPTS.
* * * * *
(Cat. No. 1044.) The subjoined wood-cut illustrates a remarkable head, which may serve as a _type_ of the genuine EGYPTIAN conformation. The long, oval cranium, the receding forehead, gently aquiline nose, and retracted chin, together with a marked distance between the nose and mouth, and the long, smooth hair, are all characteristic of the monumental Egyptian.
FIFTH SERIES.
THREE HEADS FROM KOUM OMBOS.
The remains of this once celebrated city are seen on a sandy hill on the eastern bank of the Nile, to the south of Thebes. The Ombites were celebrated for the worship of the crocodile, which they embalmed with care and deposited in the catacombs. The three following heads were obtained by Mr. Gliddon from the Ombite necropolis.
Plate XII., Fig. 3. (Cat. 830.) A female head of 30 years, with a low, narrow forehead, straight nose, and sharp, prominent features. The hair, which is in profusion, is long, fine and curling.—I. C. 77 cubic inches. _Egyptian form._
Plate XII., Fig. 4. (Cat. 831.) Head of a woman of 30 years?, with a narrow, but high and convex forehead, strong aquiline nose, and sharp facial structure. The hair is abundant, long, fine and curling.—I. C. 68 cubic inches. _Egyptian form._
Plate XII., Fig. 5. (Cat. 832.) An oval, thin skull, with a good frontal development, salient nose and delicate facial bones.—F. A. 81°. _Egyptian form._
It is remarkable that two of the preceding skulls (the third being too much broken for measurement) give an average internal capacity of less than 73 cubic inches.
SIXTH SERIES.
FOUR HEADS FROM A TUMULUS NEAR THE ISLAND OF PHILÆ.
Philæ was the ancient boundary between Egypt and Nubia, and this little island contained several of the most venerated shrines of the Egyptian deities. The island of Beggeh (the ancient Senem) was also a consecrated spot, and is immediately contiguous to Philæ. It contains a funereal tumulus, which is supposed to have been the common sepulchre of those pilgrims who died during their sojourn, and hence, as Mr. Gliddon remarks in his memoranda, “they may have been of any nation or of any epoch.”
Plate XII., Fig. 6. (Cat. 821.) A finely moulded head, with a good frontal development, aquiline nose, and delicate facial bones.—I. C. 74 cubic inches. F. A. 79°. _Pelasgic form._
(Cat. 822.) A juvenile head, of perhaps 12 years, thin and inequilateral, with a good forehead, and broad, inter-parietal diameter. The face is broken, and the ethmoid bone imperforate. _Egyptian form._
(Cat. 824.) A very narrow, infantile head, with brown, soft, curling hair. The face is deficient, and the head is rather desiccated than embalmed. _Egyptian form?_
Plate XII., Fig. 7. (Cat. 823.) An unmixed _Negro_, with a narrow, elongated head, well-developed forehead, short and flat nasal bones, everted upper jaw, and short, gray, woolly hair. This appears to be the cranium of a woman of at least 60 years of age. The bones are thin, and the whole structure remarkably small.—I. C. 73 cubic inches.
SEVENTH SERIES.
FOUR SKULLS FROM DEBOD, IN NUBIA.
Debod or Deboud is about twelve miles south of Philæ, on the left bank of the Nile, and in north latitude 24°. It was the site of the ancient Parembole, and yet possesses some ruins of a once splendid temple of Ammon.
The following heads were all obtained from a single pit, and from the rude manner in which they were embalmed and wrapped, Mr. Gliddon (who obtained them with his own hands) supposes them to have pertained to people of the lower order.
Plate XII., Fig. 8. (Cat. 829.) Skull of a woman of 50? with a low but convex forehead, with which the nasal bones have formed a nearly straight line. The coronal region is low, and the whole osseous structure strong and rather harsh.—_Egyptian form._ I. C. 70 cubic inches. F. A. 85°.
Plate XII., Fig. 9. (Cat. 827.) Skull of a man of 40, which strongly resembles the preceding. The forehead is low, but broad and vertical, the whole cranium long, the coronal region compressed, the orbits large, and the upper maxillæ slightly everted.—I. C. 82 cubic inches. _Egyptian form._
Plate XIII. (Cat. 826.) A fine oval head, with a broad, high, convex forehead, large, straight nose, and rather prominent maxillæ. On one side is a mass of long, black hair, much curled, and of a fine texture.—I. C. 74 cubic inches. F. A. 77°. _Egyptian form._
(Cat. 828.) An elongated, infantile head, with a narrow but vertical forehead, delicately formed face, very full occiput, and (what is not uncommon in children) a F. A. of 90°. _Egyptian form._
_Remarks._—In addition to the preceding details, it remains to offer some general observations on the size and configuration of the head, together with a tabular view of the whole series of crania, arranged in the first place, according to their sepulchral localities, and, in the second, in reference to their national affinities.
_Ethnographic Table of one hundred ancient Egyptian Crania._[4]
┌────────────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ │Sepulchral │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │Localities. │ No.│Egyptian.│Pelasgic.│Semitic.│Mixed.│Negroid.│Negro.│Idiot.│ ├────────────┼────┼────┬────┼────┬────┼────┬───┴┬────┐ │Memphis, │ 26│ 7│ 16│ 1│ 1│ 1│ │ │ │Maabdeh, │ 4│ 1│ 1│ │ │ 2│ │ │ │Abydos, │ 4│ 2│ 1│ 1│ │ │ │ │ │Thebes, │ 55│ 30│ 10│ 4│ 4│ 5│ │ 2│ │Ombos, │ 3│ 3│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │Philæ, │ 4│ 2│ 1│ │ │ │ 1│ │ │Debod, │ 4│ 4│ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────────────┼────┼────┼────┼────┼────┼────┼────┼────┤ │ │ 100│ 49│ 29│ 6│ 5│ 8│ 1│ 2│ └────────────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘
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.
To these facts I shall briefly add the results of the observations of some authors who have preceded me in this inquiry. “I have examined in Paris, and in the various collections of Europe,” says Cuvier, “more than fifty heads of mummies, and not one amongst them presented the characters of the Negro or Hottentot.”[5]
Two of the three mummy heads figured by Blumenbach, (Decad. Cran., Figs. 1 and 31,) are unequivocally Egyptian, but the second, as that accurate observer remarks, has something of the Negro expression.[6] The third cranium delineated in the same work, (Plate 52,) is also Caucasian, but less evidently Egyptian, and partakes, in Professor Blumenbach’s opinion, of the Hindoo form. Of the four mummies described by Söemmering, “two differed in no respect from the European formation; the third had the African character of a long space marked out for the temporal muscle; the characters of the fourth are not particularized. The skulls of four mummies in the possession of Dr. Leach, of the British museum, and casts of three others, agree with those just mentioned in exhibiting a formation not differing from the European, without any trait of the Negro character.”[7]
The two heads figured in the great French work, are both decidedly Egyptian, but the second and smaller one is the most strongly marked.[8]
_Internal Capacity of the Cranium._[9]—As this measurement gives the size of the brain, I have obtained it in all the crania above sixteen years of age, unless prevented by fractures or the presence of bitumen within the skull; and this investigation has confirmed the proverbial fact of the general smallness of the Egyptian head, at least as observed in the catacombs south of Memphis. Thus, the Pelasgic crania from the latter city, give an average internal capacity of eighty-nine cubic inches; those of the same group from Thebes give eighty-six. This result is somewhat below the average of the existing Caucasian nations of the Pelasgic, Germanic, and Celtic families, in which I find the brain to be about ninety-three cubic inches in bulk. It is also interesting to observe that the Pelasgic brain is much larger than the Egyptian, which last gives an average of but eighty cubic inches; thus, as we shall hereafter see, approximating to that of the Indo-Arabian nations.
The largest head in the series measures ninety-seven cubic inches; this occurs three times, and always in the Pelasgic group. The smallest cranium gives but sixty-eight cubic inches, and this is three times repeated in the Egyptian heads from Thebes. This last is the smallest brain I have met with in any nation, with three exceptions,—a Hindoo, a Peruvian, and a Negro.
The Negroid heads, it will be observed, measure, on an average, eighty cubic inches, which is below the Negro mean; while the solitary Negro head (that of a person advanced in years,) measures but seventy-three cubic inches.[10]
As this, however, is a question of much interest and some novelty, it may, perhaps, be better illustrated in a tabular form:—
┌────────────┬────────┬────┬───────┬────────┬─ │Ethnographic│ │ No.│Largest│Smallest│ │Mean│ │Division. │Locality.│ of│Brain.│Brain.│Mean│ C.│ │ │ │Crania.│ │ │ │ I.│ ├──────────┼────────┼────┬──┴─┬──┴─┬──┴─┬──┴─┐ │ │Memphis.│ 14│ 97│ 79│ 89│ │ │Pelasgic │Abydos. │ 1│ 89│ 89│ 89│ │ │Form. │Thebes. │ 5│ 92│ 82│ 86│ 88│ │ │Philæ. │ 1│ 74│ 74│ 74│ │ ├──────────┼────────┼────┼────┼────┼────┼────┤ │ │Memphis.│ 1│ 88│ 88│ 88│ │ │Semitic │ Abydos.│ 1│ 69│ 69│ 69│ 82│ │Form. │Thebes. │ 3│ 85│ 79│ 79│ │ ├──────────┼────────┼────┼────┼────┼────┼────┤ │ │Memphis.│ 7│ 83│ 73│ 79│ │ │Egyptian │Abydos. │ 2│ 96│ 85│ 90│ │ │Form. │Thebes. │ 25│ 95│ 68│ 80│ 80│ │ │Ombos. │ 2│ 77│ 68│ 73│ │ │ │Debod. │ 3│ 82│ 70│ 75│ │ ├──────────┼────────┼────┼────┼────┼────┼────┤ │Negroid │Maabdeh.│ 1│ 71│ 71│ 71│ │ │Form. │Thebes. │ 5│ 88│ 71│ 71│ 79│ ├──────────┼────────┼────┼────┼────┼────┼────┤ │Negro. │Philæ. │ 1│ 73│ 73│ 73│ 73│ └──────────┴────────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘
_Facial Angle._—I have carefully measured the facial angle in all those _adult_ skulls which are sufficiently denuded for that purpose, and have obtained the following results:—
┌────────────────────────┬───┬────┬────┬────┐ │ Ethnographic Division. │No.│ │ │ │ │ │Measured.│Largest.│Smallest.│Mean.│ ├────────────────────────┼───┬────┬┴───┬────┤ │Pelasgic form, │16 │83° │73° │80° │ │Egyptian form, │20 │83° │76° │78° │ │Semitic form, │ 2 │77° │74° │75° │ │Negroid form, │ 6 │77° │73° │75° │ └────────────────────────┴───┴────┴────┴────┘
It is stated by M. Virey, that the numerous mummies which have been brought to Europe present the full facial angle of the Caucasian race.
_The Structure of the Cranial Bones_ is as thin and delicate as in the European, and a ponderous skull is of unfrequent occurrence. I make this remark with the more satisfaction because it enables me to contest one of the observations of Herodotus; who tells us, that on visiting the field of battle whereon the Egyptians had fought with the Persians, he saw the bones of the latter lying on one side, and those of their enemies on the other. He then adds, that “the skulls of the former were so extremely soft as to yield to the slightest impression, even of a pebble; those of the Egyptians, on the contrary, were so firm that the blow of a large stone would hardly break them.” The historian then explains the reason of this difference, by stating that the Egyptians have thicker skulls, because their heads are frequently shaved and more exposed to the weather: while the Persians have soft skulls, owing to the habitual use of caps which protect their heads from the sun.
These reveries are wholly untenable in a physiological point of view, and derive not the smallest support from anatomy itself; nor can there be a question that the confiding historian received his impressions through the ignorance or imposition of others. I have in my possession eight skulls of Fellahs, or modern Egyptian peasants, who habitually shave the head, and wear a thin cap; and yet their skulls, which are of various ages from early youth to senility, are without exception thin and delicate.
Some modern authors have also attributed to the mummy skulls a _density_ which is not characteristic, but which is adventitiously acquired by the infiltration of bitumen into the diplöic structure during the process of embalming.
_Hair._—The hair is fortunately preserved on thirty-six heads, in some instances in profusion, in others scantily, but always in sufficient quantity to enable us to judge of its texture. Thirty-one of these examples pertain to the Caucasian series, and in these the hair is as fine as that of the fairest European nations of the present day. The embalming process has changed it, with a few exceptions, from a black to a dark-brown colour. There are also several instances of gray hair, and two in which it is of a true flaxen colour: it is more than probable, however, that the latter hue has been produced artificially,—a practice still in use among the Saumaulies south of Adel.
The preceding remarks on the texture of the hair accord with those of other observers, as well as with the monumental evidences of every epoch. Belzoni obtained plaited hair from the Theban catacombs eighteen inches in length; and M. Villoteau mentions another instance, from the same tombs, in which the tresses must have reached to the waist. Entire wigs of the same character are preserved, as every one knows, in the British and Berlin museums; and I also possess, through the kindness of Mr. Gliddon, a portion of a similar relic from Thebes, which is elaborately wrought into a great number of long and most delicate tresses.
These facts lead to a few observations on the celebrated passage of Herodotus, who, when speaking of the Colchians, gives, among other proofs of their Egyptian lineage, that they “were black, and had short curling hair.” [Greek: Melanchroes kai oulotriches]. The above translation, which is that of the learned Beloe, expresses, in respect to the mode of _wearing_ the hair, precisely what is verified by my observations; for in nearly all the Caucasian heads on which it has been allowed to grow, it is remarkable for a profusion of short curls of extreme fineness,—a character which is preserved in several of the accompanying delineations.
Herodotus farther tells us that the Egyptians kept their heads shaved; or perhaps he might have said with more precision, closely cut. But while the priests conformed to this rule, we are certain, from the foregoing facts, that there was a diversity of usage among the other classes, which is also proved by another passage in the same historian; for he assures us that “you see fewer bald in Egypt than in any other country.” Now if the Egyptians of all classes kept their heads shaved, it would be difficult to ascertain, and yet more difficult to _see_ whether they were subject to natural baldness or not. Again, if Herodotus had not been accustomed to observe the Egyptians _wearing_ their hair, how could he have compared them in this respect to the people of Colchis?
The same author informs us that the inhabitants of Egypt permitted their hair to grow as a badge of mourning; an observation which is every where corroborated in monumental funereal scenes. This observation, however, was probably for a comparatively short period, and will not account for the frequent occurrence of long hair among the mummies of all classes. It is mentioned in history that among other indignities which Cambyses offered to the embalmed body of King Amasis, was that of tearing the hair from his head.
The monuments afford abundant proof that among the Egyptians, from the highest to the lowest castes, it was not unusual to wear the hair long. The marginal drawing represents a rustic, (one of six on the monument,) who is engaged in a wrestling match. And it is hardly to be supposed that the profusion of hair with which his head is covered, can be any other than the natural growth.[11] A man thus occupied would find a difficulty in keeping a wig on his head.
So also with another from a tomb at Thebes, wherein a carpenter of pleasing but rather effeminate physiognomy, is engaged in the labours of his art.[12]
Another example, that subjoined (No. 1,) is derived from a funereal procession at Thebes,[13] but granting, what is quite possible, that the woman in this instance, wears only a head-dress, the contrary can be insisted on in reference to another painting, of a group of five women engaged in athletic exercises, in the midst of which, one of them holds and partially sustains the other by her long, straight hair; showing that the latter could be no other than the natural growth. (No. 2.) It is also interesting to remark, that this picture dates back into “the night of time,”—that remote period antecedent to the eighteenth dynasty, of which this is one of the many remains yet preserved in the celebrated tomb of Novotpth, at Beni-Hassan.[14]
Again, among the funereal processions at Thebes are several boat scenes, from one of which I derive the above drawing, representing an Egyptian woman in the act of lamentation, while her hair falls in long and graceful ringlets below her shoulders. (No. 3.)
Another effigy, (No. 4,) that of an Egyptian lady from a painting in the Theban catacombs,[15] has the hair dressed in the same manner in which it is worn by the modern Nubian girls, as represented in one of the beautiful sketches by Mr. Wathen in his work on Egyptian architecture.
These instances have been selected out of hundreds of a similar character which every where meet the eye on the Nilotic monuments, and which present a most satisfactory accordance with the evidence derived from the catacombs.