Egypt as a field for anthropological research / P.E. Newberry.

  • Newberry, Percy E. (Percy Edward), 1869-1949.
Date:
1923
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Egypt as a field for anthropological research / P.E. Newberry. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    SECTION H.—ANTHROPOLOGY. EGYPT AS A FIELD FOR ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH. ADDRESS BY Professor P. E. NEWBERRY, M.A., O.B.E., PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. When I received the honour of an invitation tO' preside at the Anthropo¬ logical Section of the British Association my thoughts naturally turned to the subject of the Presidential Address, which, if I accepted the invitation, it would be my duty to prepare. On looking back over the Addresses of past Presidents of this Section since its institution in 1884 I found that no one had dealt with Egypt as a field for anthropo¬ logical research. It was because of this that I decided to accept the Council’s invitation, and I am here to-day to bring before your notice some facts regarding the civilisation of the country with which I have long been associated, and in which I have spent many years of my life. In 1897, when the British Association last met in this great city on the Mersey-side, Sir Arthur Evans occupied the Presidential Chair of this Section, and‘the subject of his address was ‘ The Eastern Question in Anthropology. ’ Surveying the early history of civilisation as far as it was then known, he insisted that the adequate recognition of the Eastern background was essential to the right understanding of the ^gean. He laid stress on the part which Crete had played in the first emancipation of the European genius, and pointed out that in Crete, far earlier than elsewhere, can be traced the vestiges of primeval intercourse with the Nile Valley. Nineteen years later, years that were extraordinarily prolific in archseological discovery in every part of the Near East, Sir Arthur occupied the Presidential Chair of the British Association at Newcastle. He then addressed us on ‘New Archaeo¬ logical Lights on the Origins of Civilisation in Europe.’ Referring to his epoch-making discoveries in Crete he said, ‘ It is interesting to note that the first quickening impulse came to Crete from the Egyptian and not from ‘the Oriental side; the Eastern factor in it is of compara¬ tively late appearance.’ By that time Sir Arthur’s researches had led him to the ‘ definite conclusion that cultural influences were already reaching Crete from beyond the Libyan Sea, before the beginning of the Egyptian Dynasties.’ He further said ‘the impression of a very active agency indeed is so strong that the possibility of some actual immigration into the island of the older Egyptian element, due to the conquests of the first Pharaohs, cannot be excluded.’ I propose, to-day to deal with some of the questions relating to the origins of the Egyptian civilisation, and incidentally shall touch upon British Association : Liverpool, 1923.1 H