who contended that there existed once a single great Iberian people, speaking a distinct language of their own; that an essentially “Iberian” population was to be found in Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, in southern France, and even in the British Isles; and that the Basques of the present day were remnants of this race, which had elsewhere been expelled or absorbed. This last was the central and the seminal idea of the work, and it has been the point round which the battle of scholarship has mainly raged. The principal evidence which Humboldt adduced in its support was the possibility of explaining a vast number of the ancient topographical names of Spain, and of other asserted Iberian districts, by the forms and significations of Basque. In reply, Graslin (De l’Ibérie, Paris, 1839), maintained that the name Iberia was nothing but a Greek misnomer of Spain, and that there was no proof that the Basque people had ever occupied a wider area than at present; and Bladé (Origine des Basques, Paris, 1869) took the same line of argument, holding that Iberia is a purely geographical term, that there was no proper Iberian race, that the Basques were always shut in by alien races, that their affinity is still to seek, and that the whole Basque-Iberian theory is a figment. His main contention has met with some acceptance,[1] but the great current of ethnographical speculation still flows in the direction indicated by Humboldt.
4. Anthropological.—Humboldt’s “Iberian theory” depended partly on linguistic comparisons, but partly on his observation of widespread similarity of physical type among the population of south-western Europe. Since his time the anthropological researches of Broca, Thurnam and Davis, Huxley, Busk, Beddoe, Virchow, Tubino and others have proved the existence in Europe, from Neolithic times, of a race, small of stature, with long or oval skulls, and accustomed to bury their dead in tombs. Their remains have been found in Belgium and France, in Britain, Germany and Denmark, as well as in Spain; and they bear a close resemblance to a type which is common among the Basques as well as all over the Iberian peninsula. This Neolithic race has consequently been nicknamed “Iberians,” and it is now common to speak of the “Iberian” ancestry of the people of Britain, recognizing the racial characteristics of “Iberians” in the “small swarthy Welshman,” the “small dark Highlander,” and the “Black Celts to the west of the Shannon,” as well as in the typical inhabitants of Aquitania and Brittany.[2] Later investigators went further. M. d’Arbois de Jubainville, for example (Les Premiers habitants de l’Europe, Paris, 1877), maintained that besides possessing Spain, Gaul, Italy and the British Isles, “Iberian” peoples penetrated into the Balkan peninsula, and occupied a part of northern Africa, Corsica and Sardinia; and it is now generally accepted that a race with fairly uniform characteristics was at one time in possession of the south of France (or at least of Aquitania), the whole of Spain from the Pyrenees to the straits, the Canary Islands (the Guanches) a part of northern Africa and Corsica. Whether this type is more conveniently designated by the word Iberian, or by some other name (“Eur-african,” “Mediterranean,” &c.) is a matter of comparative indifference, provided that there is no misunderstanding as to the steps by which the term Iberian attained its meaning in modern anthropology.
Authorities.—K. W. von Humboldt, “Über die cantabrische oder baskische Sprache” in Adelung, Mithridates iv. (1817), and Prüfung d. Untersuchungen ü. die Urbewohner Hispaniens vermittelst der waskischen Sprache (Berlin, 1821); L. F. Graslin, De l’Ibérie (Paris, 1838); T. B. G. M. Bory de St Vincent, Essai géologique sur le genre humain (1838); G. Lagneau, “Sur l’ethnologie des peuples ibériens,” in Bull. soc. anthrop. (1867), pp. 146-161; J. F. Bladé, Études sur l’origine des Basques (Paris, 1869), Défense des études, &c. (Paris, 1870); Phillips, Die Einwanderung der Iberer in die pyren. Halbinsel (Vienna, 1870), Über das iberische Alphabet (Vienna, 1870); W. Boyd Dawkins, “The Northern Range of the Basques,” in Fortnightly Rev. N.S. xvi. 323-337 (1874); W. T. van Eys, “La Langue ibérienne et la langue basque,” in Revue de linguistique, pp. 3-15 (1874); W. Webster, “The Basque and the Kelt,” in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. v. 5-29 (1875); F. M. Tubino, Los Aborigines ibericos o los Berberos en la peninsula (Madrid, 1876); A. Luchaire, Les Origines linguistiques de l’Aquitaine (Paris, 1877); W. Boyd Dawkins, Early Man in Britain (London, 1880); A. Castaing, “Les Origines des Aquitains,” Mém. Soc. Eth. N.S. 1, pp. 183-328 (1884); G. C. C. Gerland, “Die Basken und die Iberer” in Gröber, Grundriss d. roman. Philologie, 1, pp. 313-334 (1888); M. H. d’Arbois de Jubainville, Les Premiers habitants de l’Europe (1889–1894); J. F. Bladé, Les Vascons avant leur établissement en Novempopulanie, Agen. (1891); W. Webster, “The Celt-iberians,” Academy xl. 268-269 (and consequent correspondence) (1891); J. Rhys, “The Inscriptions and Language of the Northern Picts,” Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. xxvi. 263-351 (1892); F. Fita, “El Vascuence en las inscripciones ógmicas,” Bol. Real. Acad. Hist. Madrid (June 1893), xxii. 579-587; G. v. d. Gabelentz, “Baskisch u. Berberisch,” Sitz. k. preuss. Akad. Wiss. 593-613 (Berlin, 1893), Die Verwandtschaft der Baskischen mit der Berber-Sprache Nordafrikas nachgewiesen (Braunschweig, 1894); M. H. d’Arbois de Jubainville, “Les Celtes en Espagne,” Rev. celtique, xiv. 357-395 (1894); G. Buschan, “Über die iberische Rasse,” Ausland, lxvi. 342-344 (1894); F. Olóriz y Aguilera, Distribucion geografica del indice cefalico en España (Madrid, 1894), “La Talla humana en España” in Discursos R. Acad. Medicina xxxvi. 389 (Madrid, 1896); R. Collignon, “La Race basque,” L’Anthropologie, v. 276-287 (1894); T. de Aranzadi, “Le Peuple basque, résumé” Bull. soc. d’anth. 510-520 (1894), “Consideraciones acerca de la raza basca” Euskel-Erria xxxv. 33, 65, 97, 129 (1896); H. Schuchhardt, Baskische Studien, i. “Über die Entstehung der Bezugsformen des baskischen Zeitworts”; Denkschriften der K. Akad. der Wiss., Phil.-Hist., Classe, Bd. 42, Abh. 3. (Wien, 1893); Ph. Salmon, Rev. mens. Éc. d’anthr. v. 155-181, 214-220 (1895); R. Collignon, “Anthr. du S.-O. de la France,” Mém. Soc. Anthr. § 3. 1. 4. p. 1-129 (1895), Ann. de géogr. v. 156-166 (1896), and with J. Deniker, “Les Maures de Sénégal,” L’Anthr. vii. 57-69 (1897); G. Hervé, Rev. mens. Éc. d’anthr. vi. 97-109 (1896); G. Sergi, Africa: Anthropologia della stirpe Camitica (Turin, 1897), Arii ed Italici (1898); L. de Hoyos Sainz, “L’Anthropologie et la préhistorique en Espagne et en Portugal en 1897,” L’Anthropologie, ix. 37-51 (1898); J. Deniker (see Collignon) “Les Races de l’Europe,” L’Anthropologie, ix. 113-133 (1898); M. Gèze, “De quelques rapports entre les langues berbère et basque,” Mém. soc. arch. du Midi de la France, xiii. See also the works quoted in the footnotes; and the bibliography under Basques. (J. L. M.)
IBEX, one of the names of the Alpine wild goat, otherwise
known as the steinbok and bouquetin, and scientifically as Capra
ibex. Formerly the ibex was common on the mountain-ranges
of Germany, Switzerland and Tirol, but is now confined to the
Alps which separate Valais from Piedmont, and to the lofty
peaks of Savoy, where its existence is mainly due to game-laws.
The ibex is a handsome animal, measuring about 412 ft. in length
and standing about 40 in. at the shoulder. The skin is covered
in summer with a short fur of an ashy-grey colour, and in winter
with much longer yellowish-brown hair concealing a dense fur
beneath. The horns of the male rise from the crest of the skull,
and after bending gradually backwards terminate in smooth
tips; the front surface of the remainder carrying bold transverse
ridges or knots. About 1 yd. is the maximum recorded length
of ibex-horns. The fact that the fore-legs are somewhat shorter
than those behind enables the ibex to ascend mountain slopes
with more facility than it can descend, while its hoofs are as
hard as steel, rough underneath and when walking over a flat
surface capable of being spread out. These, together with its
powerful sinews, enable it to take prodigious leaps, to balance
itself on the smallest foothold and to scale almost perpendicular
rocks. Ibex live habitually at a greater height than chamois
or any other Alpine mammals, their vertical limit being the line
of perpetual snow. There they rest in sunny nooks during the
day, descending at night to the highest woods to graze. Ibex
are gregarious, feeding in herds of ten to fifteen individuals;
but the old males generally live apart from, and usually at
greater elevations than, the females and young. They utter
a sharp whistling sound not unlike that of the chamois, but when
greatly irritated or frightened make a peculiar snorting noise.
The period of gestation in the female is ninety days, after which
she produces—usually at the end of June—a single young one
which is able at once to follow its mother. Kids when caught
young and fed on goat’s milk can be readily tamed; and in the
16th century young tamed ibex were frequently driven to the
- ↑ W. van Eys, for example, “La Langue ibérienne et la langue basque,” in Revue de linguistique, goes against Humboldt; but Prince Napoleon and to a considerable extent A. Luchaire maintain the justice of his method and the value of many of his results. See Luchaire, Les Origines linguistiques de l’Aquitaine (Paris, 1877).
- ↑ Compare the interesting résumé of the whole question in Boyd Dawkins’s Early Man in Britain (London, 1880).
