The four heads are entirely denuded, but little appearance of bitumen remaining; nor is the ethmoid bone perforated. The bones bear the impress of age, and, in one instance, have become softened, and almost friable, from decomposition.
FOURTH SERIES.
FIFTY-FIVE HEADS FROM THE CATACOMBS OF THEBES.
The greater part of this extensive and singularly perfect and varied series of heads, was collected by Mr. Gliddon during two visits to Thebes. They were all taken from the catacombs at El Gourna, on the western bank of the Nile. If we may judge by the different degrees of care manifested in the embalming process, they embrace individuals of every class excepting the highest and lowest; for the latter, according to the testimony of Herodotus, were never embalmed in the proper sense of that word; and the former were deposited in more elaborate sepulchres.
Plate [VI]., Fig. 1. (Cat. 860.) A man of fifty, with a small but well proportioned cranium. The bones of the face are small, and the whole osseous structure very thin.—I. C. 80 cubic inches. F. A. 82°. Egyptian form.
(Cat. 853.) Head of a man of fifty, with a low coronal region, receding forehead, full occiput, aquiline nose, and remarkable flatness beneath the temporal muscles.—I. C. 95 cubic inches. Egyptian form.
Plate [VI]., Fig 2. (Cat. 865.) An oval head with a full but retreating forehead, a large, aquiline nose, and angular, prominent face. The eyes are embalmed open. Semitic form.
Plate [VI]., Fig. 3. (Cat. 893.) A singularly thin cranium, especially in the lateral parietal regions. The forehead is moderately expanded and the nose straight.—I. C. 85 cubic inches. F. A. 81°. Pelasgic form.
Plate [VI]., Fig. 4. (Cat. 850.) A large oval cranium, with a voluminous forehead, a small aquiline nose, and rounded orbits. Age, seventy to eighty years?—I. C. 86 cubic inches. Pelasgic form.
Plate [VI]., Fig. 5. (Cat. 859.) An octogenarian female, with a small but well proportioned head, and delicate facial bones. This cranium, which is remarkable for its tenuity, retains a very little smooth, long hair.—I. C. 82 cubic inches. Pelasgic form.