C.—FROM THE FRONT OF THE NORTHERN BRICK PYRAMID OF DASHOUR.
Three skulls exhumed by Mr. Perring from the above mentioned locality in the Memphite Necropolis. They were discovered in the month of August, 1839, in the process of trenching to find an entrance to the pyramid. The following extract from Col. Vyse’s admirable work embraces all the information we possess in relation to these remains, merely premising that none of the mummied heads alluded to has come into my possession.
“At the depth of about four feet six inches, above fifty bodies were found, ten of which were mummies, embalmed and deposited in the usual manner. The others were much decayed, and had been buried in their clothes, and in some instances were bound round with common cord and laid in wooden coffins, or among a few branches of date trees. Some of the clothes were woollen, others coarse linen, with a fringed border of bright scarlet worsted. The heads were covered with bright red network. Mr. Perring imagined that these bodies had belonged to a pastoral people, probably to Bedouins, and that they had been interred, together with the mummies, at a very early period, before the introduction of Christianity.” Vyse, Pyramids, III., p. 60.
These crania, which are remarkably small, possess much of the Egyptian form, and are well represented in the following outlines.
(Cat. 795.) An oval cranium with a receding forehead, full coronal region, strongly developed upper maxilla, and prominent face.—I. C. 75 cubic inches. F. A. 76°.—Egyptian blended with the Negroid form?
(Cat. 796.) A small oval head, low forehead, and salient and very aquiline nose. Facial bones thin and delicately proportioned.—I.C. 80 cubic inches. F.A. 75°. Egyptian form.
(Cat. 797.) A small, thin, irregularly formed head, with a full forehead and salient nose. The alveoli are absorbed by age. A woman of 70 years?—I.C. 76 cubic inches. Egyptian form.