Grafton Elliot Smith
Grafton Elliot Smith, (August 15, 1871, - January 1, 1937) was an Australian anatomist and a famous proponent of the hyperdiffusionist view of prehistory.
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Professional Career
He was awarded a degree in medicine at the university of Sydney and developed an interest in the anatomy of the human brain. From 1900-1909 he was the first chairholder of anatomy at the Cairo School of Medicine and investigated the brains of Egyptian mummies.
In 1907 he became archaeological advisor to the archaeological survey of Nubia. From 1909-1919 he was Professor for anatomy in Manchester, 1919-1937 at the University College London.
He became a Fellow of the Royal society and a peer in 1934.
Hyperdiffusionism
Smith believed that all megalithic phenomena, be it in Northwestern Europe, India, Japan or Mesoamerica, originated in ancient Egypt. "Small groups of people, moving mainly by sea, settled at certain places and there made rude imitations of the Egyptian monuments of the Pyramid Age." (Smith 1911, ix). Smith believed in a direct diffusion to Syria, Crete, East Africa, Southern Arabia and Sumer, while other areas were influenced by secondary diffusion. The neolithic culture of Europe was derived from Egypt as well, according to Smith.
The Role of Egypt
Egypt held a fortunate geographical position that made contacts to western Asia and the Mediterranean possible, while being safe from invasions. The fertile soil led to ample leisure, in art and the crafts could be cultivated. Smith believed that agriculture did originate in Egypt, and only later spread to Mesopotamia. "The earliest cultivators of the soil in Egypt were in fact laying the foundations not merely of agriculture and irrigation but of all the arts and craft, the social organization and religious beliefs which became an integral part of the civilization that was being built up sixty centuries ago and in later ages was diffused throughout the world. (Smith 1911, 6)."
Artificial irrigation led to cooperation and the development of a central government that was based on professional knowledge, a rule of hydraulic engineers. The prosperity of everybody depended on a successful administration and a strong central government (cf. Wittvogel's hydraulic hypothesis). Later on, the leading engineer became a sacred king (cf. Henry Frankfort) and a god (Osiris) after death. Ritual and magic formed the germs of the first sciences, of biology and physics. The building of tombs initiated the development of architecture.
Other inventions of the Egyptians were:
- Weaving
- Metal working (gold and copper)
- A calendar
- Seagoing ships
- The "art of shaving"
- Wigs
- Hats
- Pillows
At first, Smith remained vague on the reasons for the spread of Egyptian influence to places without mineral deposits like Polynesia. But in 1915 William James Perry, professor of comparative religion at the university of Manchester advanced the view that the "megalith-builders" were looking for pearls and precious stones, which Smith adopted as well.
Smith did not believe that this spread of culture was necessarily connected to a certain race, in contrast to other diffusionists like the German prehistorian Gustaf Kossinna. While he saw a racial affinity between the Egyptians and the first agriculturalists of southern Europe, both being of the "brown race", the spread of civilisation was mainly a spread of ideas, not of tribes or people.
The History of Hyperdiffusionism
In the age of Colonialism, hyperdiffusionism proved attractive, as it showed how missionaries, engineers and prospectors had spread civilisation all over the earth, as the colonial nations believed to do themselves.
Later on, hyperdiffusionism supplied a single, simple explanation of the complex process of neolithisation that made it attractive to amateur archaeologists and crackpots worldwide. It could be used to retain an Eurocentric view on history in the face of increasing evidence for impressive autochthonous development, for example in Zimbabwe (Great Zimbabwe), Polynesia (Easter Islands) and Micronesia (Nan Madol on the island of Pohnpei).
We believe today that the megalithic graves of Great Britain, Ireland, France, Portugal, The Netherlands, Denmark, northern Germany, and Poland are much earlier than the Egyptian pyramids, while the Mesoamerican pyramids are much later and securely based in a local development.