A CITY OF TWENTY THOUSAND DEAD

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 44, 20 August 1938, Page 27

A CITY OF TWENTY THOUSAND DEAD

20,000 dead and a richly ornamented funeral causeway have befen unearthed from the dust of fifty centuries at Sakkara, says a Cairo message; to the/New York Times." The discoverer, Selim Bey Hassan, said that at least-20,000 mummies lie in-the necropolis under the causeway, wliichV connected a valley temple with the fiineral chapel of Unas, last king of rthe fifth dynasty. The necropolis antedates the causeway—or walled passage—by about 300 years; but Selim Bey said that he found evidence it was used long after the causeway was built. The .disco very of the latter was termed; ab'"find of highest importance becjitiSe inscriptions on the walls answered the puzzling question of where atysest.Egyptiahs cut and dressed granite;;*ised for statues arid temples. l"hese inscriptions told the story of a technical school beside the quarries of Asswan. ft.here all trie dressing*was done £nd where men learned how to crit -this stone that was shipped north-wards-by way of the Nile. The richly-ornamented causeway is a passage 700 yards long and 7 feet wide. The side walls, 9 feet high, wei.e ! ; coveted with; the largest- known cbilettibn of old kingdom inscriptions and sderies.'With a ceiling . with blue-pairit6d stdne to>represent the §ky, the passage wais. covered' ;■ with: large limestone

f blocks, with a central slit running its whole length to admit light and air. Walls and floor were on white tura limestone.. Scenes depicted included the transport by boat of red granite columns and capitals from Asswan to the pyramid of Unas, wrestling between Egyptians and Bedouins, and transport by boat of Asiatic prisoners. King Unas, who reigned over Egypt 5000 years ago, was shown in company with a multitude of gods, preceded by bearers of offerings. Other scenes showed work in the fields m the four seasons, including gathering of honey and figs, harvesting, bird catching, and breeding of animals. Marketing scenes depicted trading by barter, men beating out gold leaf, and the casting of metal, polishing of gold and stone utensils, and weighing of goods in fine scales. Discovery of the route from the chapel led to the finding of the valley temple itself. More than 300 stelae (slabs or pillars) and false doors were found in the temple—placed there to remind their owners of benefits conferred by the king. The cemetery was cut from solid rock and covered several acres. It was traversed by long galleries from which passages led to funeral chambers and storerooms. Along with the thousands of mummies were found pottery vases and fragments of alabaster vases.