Africans and not Jews or Arabs were the earliest inhabitants in Palestine, declared Sir Arthur Keith, eminent scientist, in the course of a discussion on the recent Mount Carmel excavations before the Royal College of Surgeons.
“The early Palestinians had short faces and long heads, very different from their tall, strong Cormagnon contemporaries in France. Their faces were short and their noses low-bridged and flat, with a distinct suggestion of African origin.”
Professor John Garstang, lecturing at the Royal Institute, declared that judging from recent excavations it is believed that the earliest Jewish inhabitants of the Holy Land date back to about 1400 B. C.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
