The archaeology of race
Subtitle: the eugenic ideas of Flinders Petrie and Francis Galton
By: Debbie Challis
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2013
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9781780934204; 9781472502193; 9781472502209
Subjects: Eugenics; Philosophy; Archaeology; Race; History
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
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Races and men : 'all is race'; title: Galton and genius; title: Fitting aesthetics; title: Photographing races from antiquity; title: Greek art, Greek faces?; title: Peopling the Old Testament; title: Akhenaten's bloodline; title: The new ancient race; title: Flinders Petrie and Edwardian politics; title: Heads; title: Afterword / by Kate Sheppard; title: Appendix A: Memphis heads / compiled with Alice Williams.