Note 1562 — THE ETHNOLOGY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN

L’Anthr., xvii, 1906, pp. 308-9. It has been maintained that another—the so-called steatopygous—race existed in Gaul in late palaeolithic times. If any reader does not know the meaning of ‘steatopygous’, let him use his dictionary, and he will pardon me for not having translated the word into plain English. The existence of this people is inferred from the discovery of certain ‘statuettes’ at Brassempouy in the department of the Landes (L’Anthr., vi, 1895, pp. 129-51) and near Mentone. I have not seen them; but when I saw the woodcut of one which was selected for illustration (Bull. et mém. de la Soc. d’anthr., 5e sér., iii, 1902, p. 775, fig. 4), it seemed to me that the carving was so villainous that no scientific conclusion could be drawn from it; and I am glad to find (p. 778) that this was the opinion of M. Manouvrier. M. Piette, however, assures us (L’Anthr., vi, 1895, p. 143) that the ‘Venus of Brassempouy’ is ‘l’œuvre d’art la plus parfaite qui soit sortie des mains des sculpteurs éburnéens’. Anyhow, though it would not be difficult for a sculptor to make statuettes of steatopygous individuals in the England of to-day, there is no evidence that the ‘race’ in question, if it existed in palaeolithic Gaul, ever penetrated into this country.