Contributions to Egyptian anthropometry. II, The comparative anthropometry of the most ancient and modern inhabitants / by Charles S. Myers.

  • Myers, Charles S. (Charles Samuel), 1873-1946.
Date:
[1905?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Contributions to Egyptian anthropometry. II, The comparative anthropometry of the most ancient and modern inhabitants / by Charles S. Myers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CONTRIBUTIONS TO EGYPTIAN ANTHROPOMETRY. II.—THE COM¬ PARATIVE ANTHROPOMETRY OF THE MOST ANCIENT AND MODERN INHABITANTS. By Charles S. Myers. A. Comparison of Measurements and Indices.* 1. Previous Work. In 1902, an attempt was made to investigate this problem for Egypt by the biometric workers under Professor Karl Pearson at University College, London.1 But, as I shall show, the only material of which they could at that time make use was not fitted for the purpose. The data which I have since been able to collect throw a somewhat different and, I hope, a more trustworthy light on the subject. Miss Fawcett and her collaborators had at their disposal Mr. Randall Maclver’s measurements of about 100 skulls from Abydos, and their own more elaborate measurements of parts of some 400 skeletons belonging to a similar period, excavated by Professor Petrie at Nakada. The date of this so-called “ prehistoric ” material may be approximately fixed at 5000 B.c. It was compared (a) with a collection of about eighty modern skulls from Cairo, and (/3) with a collection of about 240 Theban skulls dating from a period nearly midway between the “ prehistoric ” and the present time. The measurements of these collections had been published in the German catalogue, issued as an offprint of the Archiv fur Anthropologic. Comparing the measurements and indices of the above groups of skulls from Nakada, Thebes, and Cairo, the writers of the Biometrika memoir were impressed “ with the striking likenesses between these three groups ” (p. 432). “ But,” they added, “ we are still forced to the conclusion that in certain characters a progressive evolution has taken place, for these characters are substantially changed . . . . The most noteworthy of these changing characters are the decreasing [skull] length (L), the increasing [skull] breadth (B), the increasing frontal breadth (B'), the increasing auricular height (OH), and the increasing total facial height (GH) for the males ” (pp. 432-433). To these they also add the diminishing cranial capacity (C). The following table gives the measurements which are under discussion:— 1 “ A second study of the variation and correlation of the human skull, with special reference to the Naqada Crania,” by Cicely D. Fawcett, B.Sc., assisted by Alice Lee, D.Sc., and others. Biometrika, 1902, I, pp. 408-467. a