The Rhind lectures in Archaeology in connection with the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland : delivered in December, 1889, on the early ethnology of the British Isles / by John Rhys.

  • John Rhys
Date:
1890-91
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Rhind lectures in Archaeology in connection with the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland : delivered in December, 1889, on the early ethnology of the British Isles / by John Rhys. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    These facts pointiog to ancient totems I sliould refer to a non-Aryan source, as there is no good evidence of totemism to be extracted from our Aryan data, though I have little doubt that the Aryans once had their totems also; but it was earliei’, and the whole scheme had, as such, been blurred and obli- terated some time anterior to that which can be reached by Aryan philology. However, this is only an inference, and the case as to a non-Aryan race in these islands must rest much more on the proper names, which yield us very definite non-Ary an formulm. These, together with other indications of a like nature, go to make up a case against the notion that the Aryans formed the first and only human inhabitants of this country in early times; so the Celts of the present day represent in various degrees the two elements amalgamated, the Aryan conquering caste, and the non-Ayran aboriginal owners of the soil. John Rhys.
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