The Archaeology of Race: The Eugenic Ideas of Francis Galton and Flinders Petrie

Description

How much was archaeology founded on prejudice? The Archaeology of Race explores the application of racial theory to interpret the past in Britain during the late Victorian and Edwardian period. It investigates how material culture from ancient Egypt and Greece was used to validate the construction of racial hierarchies. Specifically focusing on Francis Galton's ideas around inheritance and race, it explores how the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie applied these in his work in Egypt and in his political beliefs. It examines the professional networks formed by societies, such as the Anthropological Institute, and their widespread use of eugenic ideas in analysing society. Archaeology of Race draws on archives and objects from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology and the Galton collection at UCL. These collections are used to explore anti-Semitism, skull collecting, New Race theory and physiognomy. These collections give insight into the relationship between Galton and Petrie and place their ideas in historical context. Cover Half-Title Title Copyright Contents Figures Abbreviations Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Races and Men: ‘All Is Race’ Robert Knox: Biographical sketch Knox: The lecturer and lectures Knox and Egypt Legacy and racial theory 2 Galton and Genius Race relations in the 1860s Inherent genius Muscling in Sport and race 3 Fitting Aesthetics Face of the past The chosen inch Defining eugenics 4 Photographing Races from Antiquity Scientific support Logistics and money The journey Back home 5 Greek Art, Greek Faces? Found and exhibited Greek in face From face to place Reconstructing faces 6 Peopling the Old Testament The ‘Perfect Composite’ Putting faces to the Bible Faces of Israel and Egypt 7 Akhenaten’s Bloodline Akhenaten and the Bible The face of Akhenaten Archaeological fantasy Trading race Queen Tiye and empowerment 8 The New Ancient Race Naqada I Measuring skulls Ipswich 1895 Galton in Egypt 9 Flinders Petrie and Edwardian Politics Edwardian eugenics 10 Heads Greek and Egyptian Memphis Petrie’s ‘Race’ heads The head of William Matthew Flinders Petrie Afterword Diffusionism Conclusions Appendix: Heads from Memphis and their Racial Types1 Bibliography Index