Grafton Elliot Smith - Wikipedia

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Anatomist and egyptologist
Professor
Sir Grafton Elliot Smith
FRS
FRSE
FRCP
Grafton Elliot Smith
Born
1871-08-15
15 August 1871
Grafton, New South Wales
Died
1 January 1937
(1937-01-01)
(aged 65)
Broadstairs
Kent
England
Alma mater
University of Sydney
University of Cambridge
Spouse
Kathleen Macreadie
m.
1902)
Awards
Royal Medal
(1912)
Fellow of the Royal Society
Scientific career
Fields
Anatomy
Archaeology
Sir Grafton Elliot Smith
(15 August 1871 – 1 January 1937) was an
Australian
British
anatomist
Egyptologist
and a proponent of the
hyperdiffusionist view of prehistory
He believed in the idea that cultural innovations occur only once and that they spread geographically. Based on this, he traced the origins of many cultural and traditional practices across the world, including the New World, to ideas that he believed came from Egypt and in some instances from Asia. An expert on brain anatomy, he was one of the first to study Egyptian mummies using radiological techniques. He took an interest in extinct humanoids and was embroiled in controversy over the authenticity of the
Piltdown Man
Professional career
edit
Smith was born in
Grafton, New South Wales
to Stephen Sheldrick Smith who had moved to Australia from London in 1860 and Mary Jane, née Evans. He received his early education from Grafton Public School where his father was headmaster. When the family moved to Sydney in 1883 he went to Darlington Public School before joining
Sydney Boys High School
. He attended evening classes on physiology by Thomas Anderson Stuart and took an early interest in biology. In an autobiographical note Smith noted that Stuart had shown them the convolutions of the human brain and declared that nobody understood them fully. Smith decided at that point that he would work towards understanding them. Accordingly, he went to study medicine at the
University of Sydney
in 1888 and received a Doctor of Medicine in 1895, with a dissertation on the fore-brain of the
monotremes
) and developed an interest in the anatomy of the human brain. He received a James King travelling scholarship and went to
St John's College, Cambridge
, graduating BA in 1896. Afterwards he catalogued the human
brain
-collection of the
British Museum
Smith obtained an appointment at the
Cairo School of Medicine
in 1900 on the suggestion of his anthropologist friend Alexander Macalister. Smith became
archaeological
advisor to the archaeological survey of
Nubia
in the wake of plans to construct the
Aswan Dam
which threatened to drown numerous archaeological sites. Smith conducted investigations on the
brains
of
Egyptian
mummies
. He was one of the first to non-destructively use
x-rays
to study mummies.
Smith took a special interest in the pathologies indicated in ancient skeletal remains. He noted for instance that many Egyptian skulls had biparietal thinning which had been common in European aristocrats in the past. Smith hypothesized this was the result of wearing heavy wigs or headgear. From 1909 to 1919 he was Professor in anatomy in
Manchester
1919–1937 he held the chair of Anatomy at the
University College London
. He was elected President of the
Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland
for 1924 to 1927.
During World War I he took an interest in the neurology of
shell shock
, visiting military hospitals and serving on the British
General Medical Council
Smith was the leading specialist on the evolution of the brain of his day.
Many of his ideas on the evolution of the primate brain still form the core of present scholarship. He proposed the following stages of development:
a smell-dominated insectivore of the jumping
shrew
-type
vision-dominated animals with an expanded cortex of tree-shrew-type
acutely visioned, manually dexterous mammals of tarsius-type
monkeys
anthropoids using their hands to use and produce tools
Honours and awards
edit
Smith was decorated by the
Khedive
of Egypt,
Abbas Hilmy
in 1909 with an Insignia of the Third Class of the Imperial Ottoman Order of the Osmaniah.
He became Fellow of the
Royal Society
in 1907,
FRCP
, elected to membership of the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
on 4 October 1910,
10
President of the Society 1919, cross of the French Legion of Honour, and was knighted in the
1934 Birthday Honours
11
In 1912 he received the Royal Medal of the Royal Society, in 1930 the Honorary Gold Medal of the
Royal College of Surgeons
, in 1936 the
Huxley Memorial Medal
from the
Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
European hypothesis
edit
British anthropologists
Arthur Keith
and Grafton Elliot Smith both supported the European origin of humankind as opposed to models of Asian and African origin.
12
In several of his works, Smith argued that Europe was the cradle of humanity, identifying a European
Mediterranean race
as the occupants of the original home of modern humans. His cradle was large, as he claimed the Mediterranean race had occupied the
Levant
Egypt
and western Europe, including the
British Isles
. He especially linked the Mediterranean race to the civilisation of Egypt. Smith's arguments later became known as his theory of
diffusionism
13
According to Smith and
William James Perry
, Egypt was the source of all cultural innovations and the ultimate source of human civilisation.
14
According to Smith, "Man did not become truly erect until his brain had developed in a very particular way to make it possible for him to use his hands". That line of reasoning reinforced the European origin of human, which Smith and Keith supported, as the mostly large brained specimens such as the
Cro-Magnon
had been found in Europe.
15
Hyperdiffusionism
edit
The term '
hyperdiffusionism
' seems to have been coined by the British archaeologist
Glyn Daniel
in his book
The Idea of Prehistory
(1962) with a somewhat derogatory intention. It was intended to represent extremes of
diffusionism
, a theme popular in early 20th century archaeology that itself has been subject to criticism. Smith believed that all megalithic phenomena, whether in Northwestern
Europe
India
Japan
or
Mesoamerica
, had 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
, and other areas were influenced by secondary diffusion. The
Neolithic
culture of Europe was derived from Egypt as well, according to Smith. He even interpreted a mummy from a
Torres Strait
island as definitely being indicative of an Egyptian influence.
16
The concept of hyperdiffusionism is now referred to by more neutral terms (when referring to the Americas) such as
Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
Smith interpreted a small carving detail in Copán
stela
B as an elephant, an animal unknown in the New World.
Alfred Maudslay
had described the detail as being a stylised tapir. Smith argued that the carving shows an elephant with a mahout atop it. He went on to point out many Asian features in the sculpture in his book
Elephants and ethnologists
(1924).
17
Egypt
edit
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 had originated 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)
Cultural diffusion map from Egypt by Grafton Elliot Smith (1929).
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.
Karl Wittfogel
's hydraulic hypothesis). Later on, the leading engineer became a
sacred king
(cf.
Henri 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)
Calendar
Seagoing ships
"Art of shaving"
Wigs
Hats
Pillows
The invention of
metallurgy
was the most important, as it quickened the pace of invention, widened the scope of human endeavour, stimulated the advancement of arts and crafts, and awakened courage and the spirit of great adventure. The search for copper was to become the most important factor in the universal spread of civilisation. Prospectors settled in foreign countries and introduced agriculture, burial customs, and their religion as well.
At first, Smith remained vague on the reasons for the spread of Egyptian influence to places without mineral deposits like
Polynesia
. However, in 1915
William James Perry
, a 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 the 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.
However, in
The Ancient Egyptians and their Influence Upon the Civilization of Europe
, written in 1911, he clearly demonstrates a steep rise in "Asiatic traits (Armenoid, Alpine, Celtic)," within the Egyptian aristocracy, to Dynastic Egypt itself (among other pre-historical phenomena).
In early 1923, Smith wrote a series of articles for
The Daily Telegraph
regarding the
discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun
. Those articles deal with the condition of royal and other mummies that were found before 1922.
18
19
20
Smith stated that Tutankhamen "narrowly escaped" the fate of being "hacked to pieces" by robbers, as was the case with the mummy of
Amenhotep II
19
History
edit
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 that they were doing themselves.
Later on, hyperdiffusionism supplied a single simple explanation of the complex process of neolithisation that made it attractive to amateur archaeologists worldwide. It could be used to retain a
Eurocentric
view on history in the face of increasing evidence for impressive autochthonous development, such as in Zimbabwe (
Great Zimbabwe
), Polynesia (
Easter Island
), and Micronesia (
Nan Madol
on the island of
Pohnpei
).
Now, it is widely believed that the megalithic graves of
Britain
Ireland
France
Portugal
, the
Netherlands
Denmark
, northern
Germany
, and
Poland
are much older than the Egyptian pyramids, and the Mesoamerican pyramids are more recent and considered to be local cultural innovations.
Private life
edit
His father had migrated to
New South Wales
from London. He had attended a working men's college under
John Ruskin
and later became a teacher and headmaster in
Grafton
, New South Wales. His older brother (Stephen H. Smith) was later Director of Education in New South Wales; his younger brother (Stewart Arthur Smith) was Acting Professor of Anatomy at the University of Sydney.
21
He married Kathleen Macreadie in 1902 just before moving to Cairo. During his time in London, he lived variously in Hampstead, Gower Street, and at
Regent's Park
. During his London years, he became a friend of
W. H. R. Rivers
Smith's youngest son, Stephen Smith, died in an accident in 1936. Smith spent his final year in a nursing home in London.
Grafton Smith died on
New Year's Day
1 January 1937 at
Broadstairs
in
Kent
22
Bibliography
edit
Hathor (fig. 18 in
The Evolution of the Dragon
Warren Dawson
's list of Smith's publications includes 434 publications. Among the most important are:
The Natural Subdivision of the Cerebral Hemisphere (1901).
The Primary Subdivisions of the Mammalian Cerebellum (1902).
The Ancient Egyptians and the origin of Civilization (London/New York, Harper & Brother 1911).
Catalogue of the Royal Mummies in the Museum of Cairo (Cairo 1912).
The Egyptian Mummies
(with Warren R Dawson (New York, 1924)
The Migrations of Early Culture
(1915)
On the Significance of the geographical distribution of Mummification – a study of the migrations of peoples and the spread of certain customs and beliefs (1916).
The Evolution of the Dragon
(1919)
(with
T. H. Pear
Shell Shock and its Lessons
(1917, 2nd edition)
Tutankhamen and the Discovery of his Tomb
(1923)
Evolution of Man: Essays (1924, 2nd edition 1927)
Human History (1930)
The Diffusion of Culture (London, Watts 1933)
Elephants and Ethnologists
(1924)
Serle, Percival
(1949).
"Smith, Grafton Elliot"
Dictionary of Australian Biography
. Sydney:
Angus & Robertson
A. P. Elkin/N. W. G. Macintosh, Grafton Elliot Smith, The Man and his Work (Sydney University Press 1974)
W. R. Dawson, Sir Grafton Elliot Smith: a Biographical Record by his Colleagues (London, Cape 1938)
Works cited
edit
Smith, Graftoon Elliot (19 January 1923a). "The Tomb of Tutankhamen".
The Daily Telegraph
. pp.
9–
10.
Smith, Graftoon Elliot (23 January 1923b). "The Tomb of Tutankhamen".
The Daily Telegraph
. p. 9.
Smith, Graftoon Elliot (25 January 1923c). "The Tomb of Tutankhamen".
The Daily Telegraph
. p. 9.
References
edit
Wilson, J. T. (1938).
"Sir Grafton Elliot Smith. 1871-1937"
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society
(6):
322–
326.
doi
10.1098/rsbm.1938.0014
JSTOR
769069
Smith, Grafton Elliot. (1895),
The comparative anatomy of the cerebrum of platypus
, Sydney: G. E. Smith
, retrieved
6 October
2025
– via Trove
Blunt, Michael J. (1988). "Smith, Sir Grafton Elliot (1871–1937)".
Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography
. Australian National University.
Todd, T. Wingate (1937).
"The scientific influence of Sir Grafton Elliot Smith"
American Anthropologist
39
(3):
523–
526.
doi
10.1525/aa.1937.39.3.02a00120
A report in
The Times
in 1912 headed "Conversazione of the Royal Society: recent advances in science" mentions the exhibition of "the desiccated brain of an aboriginal Tasmanian". The Times, Thursday, 9 May 1912; pg. 4; Issue 39894; col A : "A rather gruesome exhibit was that of Professor Elliot Smith, the desiccated brain of an aboriginal Tasmanian, believed to be the only Tasmanian brain now in existence."
"The Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland – Presidents of the Society"
(PDF)
. The Anatomical Society. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 13 October 2018
. Retrieved
21 October
2012
Waldron, H.A. (2000).
"The study of the human remains from Nubia: the contribution of Grafton Elliot Smith and his colleagues to palaeopathology"
Medical History
44
(3):
363–
388.
doi
10.1017/S0025727300066758
PMC
1044289
PMID
10954970
Macmillan, Malcolm (2009). "Evolution and the neurosciences down-under".
Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
18
(2):
150–
96.
doi
10.1080/09647040701662377
PMID
19367486
S2CID
24320175
Edinburgh Gazette, July 8, 1910. p. 720.
"For the people - for education - for science"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 13 June 2025.
"No. 34056"
The London Gazette
. 1 June 1934. pp.
3555–
3574.
Henke, Winfriend; Hardt, Thorolf (2007).
Handbook of paleoanthropology. Vol. 1
. Springer. p. 31.
ISBN
9783540324744
Yoffee, Norman; Sherratt, Andrew (1993).
Archeological theory, who sets the agenda?
. Cambridge University Press. p. 47.
ISBN
0521449588
Shaw, Ian (2002).
A Dictionary of Archaeology
. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 200.
ISBN
0631235833
Corbey, Raymond; Roebroeks, Wil (2001).
Studying human origins, disciplinary history and epistemology
. Amsterdam University Press. p. 51.
ISBN
9053564640
Pretty, Graeme L. (1969). "The Macleay Museum Mummy from Torres Straits: A Postscript to Elliot Smith and the Diffusion Controversy".
Man
(1):
24–
43.
doi
10.2307/2799262
JSTOR
2799262
Yetts, W. Perceval (1924). "Elephants and Maya Art".
The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs
45
(261):
262–
265,
268–
269.
JSTOR
862358
Smith 1923a
Smith 1923b
Smith 1923c
Royal College of Physicians - Lives of the fellows
Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002
(PDF)
. The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006.
ISBN
0-902-198-84-X
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 4 March 2016
. Retrieved
18 July
2018
External links
edit
Media related to
Grafton Elliot Smith
at Wikimedia Commons
Works by or about
Grafton Elliot Smith
at
Wikisource
Works by Grafton Elliot Smith
at
Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Grafton Elliot Smith
at the
Internet Archive
Works by Grafton Elliot Smith
at
LibriVox
(public domain audiobooks)
Academic offices
Preceded by
J. B. S. Haldane
Fullerian Professor of Physiology
1933–1935
Succeeded by
Edward Mellanby
Professional and academic associations
Preceded by
William Thomson
President of the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
1919
Succeeded by
Sir Henry Alexander Miers
Preceded by
James Thomas Wilson
President of the
Anatomical Society
1924–1927
Succeeded by
Edward Fawcett
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
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