Post by djoser-xyyman on Aug 3, 2010 13:25:42 GMT -5
CHAPTER III.
THE CENTRE OF DIFFUSION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
FAMILY.
Author: SERGI
The Cradle of the Mediterranean Stock The Hamiies.
The Cradle of the Mediterranean Stock. I owe it
chiefly to my craniological method that I have been
able to see the characteristic resemblances and differences
among this chaos of peoples, formed from the
most ancient times, and re-mingled with each other
and with foreign elements. No pre-conception has influenced
me in attempting to re-unite in one synthesis
the analytic elements of my researches; it has come
naturally as the result of previously established facts
which were themselves a revelation, as I studied in
succession the peoples of the Mediterranean and their
physical characters, especially the forms of the skull
and face. The ancient skulls of continental and insular
Italy, and the persistence of their forms in the
modern population, wherever it has been preserved,
the skulls of the Iberian peninsula, of Greece, of
ancient Egypt, then those of the rest of northern
Africa and of the Canary Islands, all revealed by
their constant uniformity, and the uninterrupted succession
of the same forms, that they must necessarily
belong to a single original stock.
But that original stock could not have its cradle in
the basin of the Mediterranean, a basin more fitted
for the confluence of peoples and for their active
development ; the cradle whence they dispersed in
many directions was more probably in Africa. The
study of the fauna and flora of the Mediterranean
exhibits the same phenomenon and becomes another
argument in favour of the African origin of the
Mediterranean peoples.
To-day, however, some years after I first reached
this conviction, a confirmation, almost unexpected,
has come from prehistoric archaeology and related
studies, as I shall show in the sequel when discussing
the primitive civilisations of the Mediterranean stock.
For the present, keeping within the domain of
physical anthropology, we shall find confirmation
and demonstration in an almost complete study of
certain African populations occupying an extended
area and possessing marked homogeneity in skeletal
characters, to a less extent also in external characters,
as well as in the languages formerly and still spoken.
I refer to the populations which pass under the old
name of Hamitic, chiefly on account of the linguistic
characters which have contributed to classify and
group them in a single stock.
The Hamites. As I have said, many of the peoples
called Hamitic still preserve their ancient language
in a more or less altered form ; among these may be
included the inhabitants of the Sahara, the Berbers
of every type and every region, while many others
have wholly or partially lost their language, like the
Egyptians, the Wahuma, the Masai. But they still
show the physical character of their stock in spite of
the incongruous and hybrid forms which have resulted.
These physical characters I mean the
fundamental skeletal, and especially cranial and
facial characters are common to the populations of
the Mediterranean ; so that it may be said that the
area of the so-called Hamitic stock extends from IO
north latitude towards the west,- and from 8" south
latitude towards the east, throughout the Mediterranean.
We shall sec, however, that it is not confined
to this basis, but has extended into Europe at
the north.
I divide the Hamites of Africa into two great
branches, an eastern branch in the north-east of the
continent, and a northern one in the north-west
/. Eastern Branch:
1. Ancient and modern Egyptians (Copts,
Fellaheen), excluding the Arabs.
2. Nubians, Bejas.
3. Abyssinians.
4. Gallas, Danakil, Somali's.
5. Masai.
6. Wahuma or Watusi.
//. Northern Branch:
1. Berbers of Mediterranean, Atlantic, and
Sahara.
2. Tcbus or Tubus.
3. Fulahs or Fulbe's.
4. Guanchcs of the Canaries.1
Of these populations the Egyptians are still Mediterranean,
and the Berbers Mediterranean and in part
Atlantic ; the name "
Berber," which is recent, corresponds,
in great part at least, to the ancient "
Libyan,"
and is the name which I shall here adopt.
Now the convergence of physical characters in all
these populations, while it leads us to regard them as
forming a single human stock, also suggests that their
origin must be found in Africa. In the Italian
edition of this work I had placed the centre of origin
and diffusion of this stock in East Africa in the
region of the great lakes, near the sources of the
Nile, and including Somaliland. Many arguments
led me to that conclusion, especially the very ancient
existence of a population which in the Egyptian
monuments is recorded as giving origin to their race,
the Punti, and whose physical characters resemble
and are often identical with those of the Egyptians ;
also the discovery of flint implements resembling
those of palaeolithic age in Europe, and the existence
of unexplored tumuli in the territories of the Dinkas
and the Somali's.
The flint implements of palaeolithic type have been
found by Revoil, Jousseanne, Scton-Karr,1 and others.
Seton-Karr believes that the stone implements of
Somaliland arc scattered over the whole region,
but probably mostly beneath the present surface, in a
region bounded approximately by the Red Sea and
lat 9 30' N., and between long. 44" and 45 E. The
same explorer gives some indication as to the relation
that these implements bear to the soil and the geological
features of the country.
Little is yet known of the tumuli of which RcVoil
has given various drawings. Bottago also saw some
of these, and was told that they were the work of
Galla tribes, to which statement he objects that no
such constructions arc seen in the country of the
Gallas.
In North Africa and Sahara also very numerous
flint arrow-heads and fragments of worked flint have
been found, a certain proof of the existence of a large
population.
1 The idea has thus arisen that Sahara
rather than Eastern Africa was the original home of
the populations which have occupied the Mediterranean
basin and Hamitic Africa, or Africa north of
the Sudan.2
THE CENTRE OF DIFFUSION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
FAMILY.
Author: SERGI
The Cradle of the Mediterranean Stock The Hamiies.
The Cradle of the Mediterranean Stock. I owe it
chiefly to my craniological method that I have been
able to see the characteristic resemblances and differences
among this chaos of peoples, formed from the
most ancient times, and re-mingled with each other
and with foreign elements. No pre-conception has influenced
me in attempting to re-unite in one synthesis
the analytic elements of my researches; it has come
naturally as the result of previously established facts
which were themselves a revelation, as I studied in
succession the peoples of the Mediterranean and their
physical characters, especially the forms of the skull
and face. The ancient skulls of continental and insular
Italy, and the persistence of their forms in the
modern population, wherever it has been preserved,
the skulls of the Iberian peninsula, of Greece, of
ancient Egypt, then those of the rest of northern
Africa and of the Canary Islands, all revealed by
their constant uniformity, and the uninterrupted succession
of the same forms, that they must necessarily
belong to a single original stock.
But that original stock could not have its cradle in
the basin of the Mediterranean, a basin more fitted
for the confluence of peoples and for their active
development ; the cradle whence they dispersed in
many directions was more probably in Africa. The
study of the fauna and flora of the Mediterranean
exhibits the same phenomenon and becomes another
argument in favour of the African origin of the
Mediterranean peoples.
To-day, however, some years after I first reached
this conviction, a confirmation, almost unexpected,
has come from prehistoric archaeology and related
studies, as I shall show in the sequel when discussing
the primitive civilisations of the Mediterranean stock.
For the present, keeping within the domain of
physical anthropology, we shall find confirmation
and demonstration in an almost complete study of
certain African populations occupying an extended
area and possessing marked homogeneity in skeletal
characters, to a less extent also in external characters,
as well as in the languages formerly and still spoken.
I refer to the populations which pass under the old
name of Hamitic, chiefly on account of the linguistic
characters which have contributed to classify and
group them in a single stock.
The Hamites. As I have said, many of the peoples
called Hamitic still preserve their ancient language
in a more or less altered form ; among these may be
included the inhabitants of the Sahara, the Berbers
of every type and every region, while many others
have wholly or partially lost their language, like the
Egyptians, the Wahuma, the Masai. But they still
show the physical character of their stock in spite of
the incongruous and hybrid forms which have resulted.
These physical characters I mean the
fundamental skeletal, and especially cranial and
facial characters are common to the populations of
the Mediterranean ; so that it may be said that the
area of the so-called Hamitic stock extends from IO
north latitude towards the west,- and from 8" south
latitude towards the east, throughout the Mediterranean.
We shall sec, however, that it is not confined
to this basis, but has extended into Europe at
the north.
I divide the Hamites of Africa into two great
branches, an eastern branch in the north-east of the
continent, and a northern one in the north-west
/. Eastern Branch:
1. Ancient and modern Egyptians (Copts,
Fellaheen), excluding the Arabs.
2. Nubians, Bejas.
3. Abyssinians.
4. Gallas, Danakil, Somali's.
5. Masai.
6. Wahuma or Watusi.
//. Northern Branch:
1. Berbers of Mediterranean, Atlantic, and
Sahara.
2. Tcbus or Tubus.
3. Fulahs or Fulbe's.
4. Guanchcs of the Canaries.1
Of these populations the Egyptians are still Mediterranean,
and the Berbers Mediterranean and in part
Atlantic ; the name "
Berber," which is recent, corresponds,
in great part at least, to the ancient "
Libyan,"
and is the name which I shall here adopt.
Now the convergence of physical characters in all
these populations, while it leads us to regard them as
forming a single human stock, also suggests that their
origin must be found in Africa. In the Italian
edition of this work I had placed the centre of origin
and diffusion of this stock in East Africa in the
region of the great lakes, near the sources of the
Nile, and including Somaliland. Many arguments
led me to that conclusion, especially the very ancient
existence of a population which in the Egyptian
monuments is recorded as giving origin to their race,
the Punti, and whose physical characters resemble
and are often identical with those of the Egyptians ;
also the discovery of flint implements resembling
those of palaeolithic age in Europe, and the existence
of unexplored tumuli in the territories of the Dinkas
and the Somali's.
The flint implements of palaeolithic type have been
found by Revoil, Jousseanne, Scton-Karr,1 and others.
Seton-Karr believes that the stone implements of
Somaliland arc scattered over the whole region,
but probably mostly beneath the present surface, in a
region bounded approximately by the Red Sea and
lat 9 30' N., and between long. 44" and 45 E. The
same explorer gives some indication as to the relation
that these implements bear to the soil and the geological
features of the country.
Little is yet known of the tumuli of which RcVoil
has given various drawings. Bottago also saw some
of these, and was told that they were the work of
Galla tribes, to which statement he objects that no
such constructions arc seen in the country of the
Gallas.
In North Africa and Sahara also very numerous
flint arrow-heads and fragments of worked flint have
been found, a certain proof of the existence of a large
population.
1 The idea has thus arisen that Sahara
rather than Eastern Africa was the original home of
the populations which have occupied the Mediterranean
basin and Hamitic Africa, or Africa north of
the Sudan.2