Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1899 — THE ANCIENT LIBYANS. [ARTICLE]

THE ANCIENT LIBYANS.

What Skeletons Unearthed in Egypt Tell of Thia Old Race. During his comprehensive explorations in Egypt Prof. Flinders Petrie came upon an ancient cemetery of very large proportions, from which he unearthea a great number of skeletons belonging to a people which have since been termed “the new race.’* A representative collection of these skeletons, carefully numbered, has now arrived at the Cambridge university, from the spot near Thebes where they were found. Material was thus furnished for a study of variation in the human skeleton, and the series of minute measurements which have been made not only furnish valuable statistics, but bring out several interesting features with regard to the original owners of the bones. The ancient people, according to the discoverer of the remains, constituted a “branch of the same Libyan race that formed the Ammonite power,” and their date is put down by him as between 4000 and 3000 B. C. Tfae dimensions of the long bones point to a stature similar to that of the French; but while in France the women vary most, the opposite held good with “the new race.” Taking everything into consideration, support is given by the investigation to a generalization in Prof. Pearson’s forthcoming book on the “Chanas of Dealt,” that “the more primitive and savage a race, the less will be the variation of both sexes, and the greater will be the approach to equality of variation between them.” That the early inhabitants of the country round Thebes followed the primitive custom of “squatting” is shown by the structure of the bones of the foot, which manifests the peculiarities found in modern tribes adopting that practice. A simian character, viz., the sacral notch in the base of the vertebral column, was looked for, and mighfhave been expected in such an early race. It was, however, looked fox in vain. In fact, in many characteristics the skeletons are most modern, while in others they are the rev&Jp The men and women flnrbom they belonged may be riqnmed up atf a hardy, vigorous people, in the propow tpa of their bmta Spnsoacmng so the negroes, while the spine and shoaldev bteAas shfor a more determfoAbte affinity teEupopeMM—London Mail.