THE STEP-PYRAMID

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 22, 25 July 1935, Page 15

THE STEP-PYRAMID

NEW FINDS IN EGYPT

RECOVERED CIVILISATION

FAR-REACHING WORK

What is characterised by the most eminent Egyptologists of today as the greatest and most important piece ;of archaeological research undertaken in Egypt since the Great War is at present being completed at the famous' Step-Pyramid at Sakkara, writes Arthur Merton in the "Daily Telegraph."

This gigantic and far-reaching work was started in 1923 by Mr. Cecil Firth; who, before his untimely death in 1931, had made a series of highly interesting discoveries on this ancient 5p0t......... ...■■• .•••■'■ ..

' Sakkara—the word is thought to be a form of the name of the god of death, "Seker"—is the great necropolis of the Memphis period. "It is situated some 15 miles south of Cairo on the edge of the Lybian Desert, where some', of the kings of the Third and Sixth Dynasties built their pyramids 3000 years 8.C., and where also the Serapeum, or tombs of the sacred Apis bulls, is situated. The site is rich with historical and scientific records, but it was not until Mr. Firth turrieU'his attention there that anything outstanding was discovered. ! THEORIES UPSET. In 1924 he revealed the, chapels connected with the beautiful.- pyramid temple of Zoser, the first king oi' the Third Dynasty, who was buried in the Step-Pyramid.' This discovery completely upset accepted theories as to \ne' origin of the "Doric Columns." These chapels had some remarkable fluted columns, which ante-dated those at Olympus, hitherto regarded as the first of their kind, by some 1500 years. , This was followed by the discovery of a very fine colonnade, some 17 yards long, with 48 columns 16ft high and over a yard in diameter at the base. They had curious false doors at the east and west ends, and were arranged in pairs, the columns being carveid to imitate 'bundles of reeds. Close to this was found what turned out to be a Heb-Set Temple, the only one extant. The Heb-Set is the jubilee of the king, usually celebrated-after 30: or 33 years' reign. ■ The existence of this temple'afforded further proof of the ancient belief that the king could celebraite'his jubilee in ■.eternity,, the temple being provided for the use of his^Ka1; in- the afterlife: : ]Vfany,.;interesting, relics .were found at Ihis': date, including two heads in diorite",representing foreign prisoners in ithe\style of the famous "Hyksos" statues, which hitherto had been; regarded as belonging to the Middle Kingdom. The discovery of such heads in !thi3 exclusive Third Dynasty area lead to the ■deduction that;those •curious sculptures are at- least 2000 years Older than had;hitherto-been believed. v TWO /INSCKIWIONS. In addition, some,'interesting graffiti were, noted. • Among -these .were.two which tend^to bridge■ over a period of some"*3o centuries',. and *to show-that Sentiment*,and habits then and how were Atery much?alike: . '

Thei;flrat; was r-aii; inscription of: a Greekitoafist,! who 'had recorded his visit'iOl'Sakkara as having taken place son^e'3(Wo: years agq;-'vHe had left wrij:-, ingiffp^theiJffect^iha^liej/had. cc-nii! to see"Sakkar'a,--th'eriVi.as now, a centn i{6i

wonderment, and had given himself a

holiday after several campaigns from which he was the sole survivor of his

regiment. The other was an inscription found at about the same time, this one cut by a member of the Australian Light Horse, who recorded that he had visited Sakkara on leave, and had come through Gallipoli and Palestine as the sole survivor of his squadron! '

In the years following various new chambers were found in the Pyramid, with beautiful blue tiles and low reliefs of a fineness which was a positive revelation at so early a period as the Third Dynasty. A curious discovery was that one of these reliefs was covered with black lines, horizontal. and vertical, cutting the picture up into small squares for copying purposes. This must have been done some 2000 years later, at the time of the Saite renaissance, when it is known that attempts were made to revive the old art, and these monuments were copied. Some architect of the period had evidently sought to copy this fine relief for a monument which he had received the Royal com-

Hanging down the side of one of the burial pits was found a fibre rope, left there possibly, by" one of the Saite artisans, who worked inside the Pyramid sortie 2500 years ago. UNDER THE PYRAMID. i When Mr.- Firth died he was engaged in investigating the subterranean passages of the Pyramid itself. The work was carried on by. the Department of Antiquities. It has resulted in the discovery of six corridors or > passages leading on parallel lines into the heart of the Pyramid a little below the level of the central burial chamber. <These are shafts of the burial places of what were undoubtedly members of the family of Zoser . buried as near their chief as possible. This throws fersh light on the object of the Pyramid, which had up to then been regarded as the King.'s tomb, but was obviously also his family vault. At the end of two of the passages were found two elaborate sarcophagi, in one of which was a wooden coffin with the bones of a girl, some twelve years of age, possibly one of the daughters' of Zoser. This coffin had been made of laminated sheets of wood, six in number, like our present-day sixply wood, with gold covering pinned to the wood by golden nails in quite modern fashion. Another passage was found packed with stone vessels, which are estimated to weigh 90 tons. Many had been broken by the collapse Of the roof. The deposit contained thousands of vessels representing all the known types; of the Third Dynasty,' and hundreds of luxury vessels, some of elaborate form, made for King Zoser personally. Many represent platters and ; baskets of wicker work, some beauti- ; fully moulded. In cases the stack of :: stone .bowls1 was Inscribed With the i;names'of an official, and it is to be pre- • sumedj;that the stack formed his per- j ;sonal contribution to; the funeral c burial furniture of the King. i LISTS OF NAMES. This not only throws light on the way the great ftoyal burial equipments [ were gathered together, but also gives ] for the first time a great corpus of , names and titles of persons who lived in the first reign of the Third Dynasty, that is, about 100 years before the | building' of the Great Pyramid of j Cheops. ;..■■■■ . ~.'■ -i There are also many other stohe yes- ] sels inscribed with the names of Kings | who reigned before Zoser. These are c probably taken from ceremonial equip- j ments dedicated to those older Kings, and placed in the temples of the gods j or in their own temples. s M. Lacau,' the Director-General of v

Antiquities, is himself working on the spot on these names, and will publish a full account of the facts with the necessary archaeological and historical deductions. The general work is being done under the direction of Mr. J. E. Quibell, former keeper of the Cairo Museum. At the same time, M. Lauer has been engaged on a reconstruction of the great hall of columns and other architectural parts of the Zoser enceinte, and has made accurate plans of the construction of the Pyramid itself. .

As this research at the Step-Pyra-mid proceeds, it reveals continually new aspects of the art and history of the Third Dynasty. An enormous amount of data has been found during these past twelve years, adding immensely to the knowledge of this remote but most fascinating period of Ancient Egypt. The result has been to force the rewriting of the history of Egyptian architecture and Egyptian sculpture during its earliest and greatest period, when they passed from the use of crude brick and wood to massive blocks of stone, and the Egyptian sculptors gained their power over the hard stone used in the statues of the builders of the Second and Third Pyramids at Giza.