Fossil Human Bones, possibly of Pleistocene Age, found in Egypt

Abstract

AT a meeting of the Royal Anthropological Institute, held on July 17, Prof. C. G. Seligman, president, in the chair, Dr. D. E. Derry described the fossilised human bones recently discovered in Egypt, which, on the ground of their condition, he is inclined to regard as of Pleistocene age. The discovery is one of very considerable importance, as this is the first occasion on which fossilised human bones have been obtained from Egypt. Early in January of the present year Mr. Guy Brunton, while excavating for the British School of Archaeology in Upper Egypt, found at Gau-el-Kebir, on the east bank of the Nile, about thirty miles south of Assiut, a remarkable collection of bones, mostly animal, but with pieces of human bones mixed with them in the heap. Some of the bones, including the human fragments, were heavily mineralised, while others were only partially so, and some not at all. The whole collection was contained in an Early Dynastic grave, and had obviously been placed there for some purpose. Among the bones were carved bone and ivory objects of the XlXth Dynasty. The presence ol the latter is explained on the assumption that this was the site of a workshop for the manufacture of articles in bone and ivory, and that the great heap dumped into the pit of an early grave represented the workman's material. The presence of freshwater oyster shells attached to some of the bones proves that they came from the river, or, what is more likely/ from a swamp fed by the river, which in all probability was much nearer the site of the discovery than it is now. The bones exhibit evidence of having been exposed-for a long time to the mineralising -influence, as-'they are very, heavy, black, and highly polished, probably from-the friction of water-borne sand.