ANCIENT KARANIS

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3940, 25 March 1930, Page 2

ANCIENT KARANIS

STOREHOUSE UNEARTHED

The excavation conducted by the University of Michigan on the site of the ancient Ka- nis, Egypt, were confined during the last season to an area of some 200 by 80 metres in order to determine the different phases of occupation with their respective levels in a definite and characteristic section of the hill. Among the ho ses discovered was one which must have been an immense storehouse. It consisted of three storys of high-vaulted chambers typical of storerooms, built around an open court. A balcony-like passa go way, giving access to some of the store-rooms, ran around the sides of the inner court, supported on the large arched entranceways to the basement vaults. In one of these entrances was found a striking wall painting. The central figure was the sphynx-headed serapis lion, with serpent’s tail and wolf s and clog’s heads. Each paw was entwined with snakes and grasped a dagger. Harpocrates, seated in a broad-backed chair, and two black bulls before the altars completed the group. The most interesting objects were glass, bronzes, ostraka, papyri, and wooden articles. The glass, which is usually found stored away in pots,^was mostly what we call tableware, bowls and oblong plates, decanters, flasks, and lamp glasses. The other houses unearthed were particularly interesting as showing three periods of use. The better houses, of which there are quite a number, consist of basement, ground and first floors in all casos, and show also stairways leading to another floor or to the roof. . In the first period of occupation the whole of the house was used. Later on the basement became filled with rubbish, and the former ground floor became the basement. Old doorways and windows were blocked up and new doorways were put in. In the latest period of occupation the inhabitants rarely used anything more than the mere tops of these houses, and did not follow the ground plans of the latter.

PLASTER MADE OF MUD. A characteristic feature of houses which show three periods of occupation is that the outer walls taper noticeably and are built in pancauses. The use of wood for windows - and doorways and the plastering of the walls with mud covered with a black wash are other typical features of these houses. _ , The archaeological objects iound in the houses were numerous. One house yielded thirty-seven complete unbroken specimens. The bronzes, few in number, consisted of statuettes, seldom entirely complete, pins, pendants, rings, often in sets, and larger objects, such as cases, bowls, a few lamps, mirror cases, a bronze box seventeen centimes high, a small candelabrum and incema» burner. The ostraka deal mainly with trade in grain and records of business done, especially on the canals. In one house were found papyrus letters of unusual interest, mostly in good condition. Six were mostly private letters of Claudius Terentiaups in Alexandria to his father, the veteran Claudius Tiberianus, in Karanis. There were also fragments of a report of legal proceedings, a declaration or petition and a contract of sale. All were of the second century.

A wooden box (perhaps a larnax) about sixty centimeters high, and of special interest, was found in one of the better houses. It stood on four slender legs, and was decorated with carving in floral design and painted stucco. The lid bore the portrait of a woman with lotus buds and doves.

at that time, the letter got into print and caused no end of commotion. SECRET SERVICE TWADDLE.

Admiral Sir Reginald Hall, who was head of our War Intelligence, has given a prompt categorical denial to one sensational story in the latest book of Secret Service revelation. This story is that a young wireless expert with a Polish name, to whom the confiding German authorities entrusted their secret code, bolted to London with a copy, which he handed over to our experts. His reward was that, lest he might brag about his feat and thereby apprise the Germans of their loss, he was murdered by our Secret Service. Now, apart from all other improbabilities, imagine the Germans, after the sudden disappearance of the invaluable young Pole, not guessing that their code had been given away! This sort of twaddle is really to jejune even for stunt journalism.

NEW CHALLENGE TO THE STARS

1 hear that the Air Ministry is not minded to Jet the Germans have all their own way in giant seaplane development. We now have a huge monster under order which is a direct answer to the challenge of the German Do-X. This new British flying boat will he six-engined, weigh about 40 tons, and carry fifty passengers. Only one such model is being built, but if she answers well to her test trials, no doubt we shall construct a fleet of them in time. Though the naval uses of such craft are manifest, the Air Ministry is mainly concerned with commercial and civilian potentialities, and especially with the utility of such big amphibians for linking up the Empire by air. Aviation enthusiasts are positive the air liner is already menacing the ocean liner with eclipse.

HUG MAKING FOR GENERALS. Forty or so years ago, if an elderly and retired major-general had been seen making his way into a wool shop, most of his friends would have deduced a fascinating widow and a romance. Not so to-day. A general in a wool shop is a commonplace, and he will be there to buy wool for his important hobby of rug making, which I am assured is immensely popular with elderly service men. One London shop lias more than ten old gentlemen who are regular wool customers, and notone of them would admit that wool work is anything but a proper occupation for an active man. One cavalry colonel who is over seventy, prides himself on his speed. He lias embarrassed all bis young friends by ceremonial presents of rugs in the most unsuitable colours. A niece, win has a rose-du-barrie bedroom, was presented with an enormous wool rug in black and orange.