TREASURES OF EARLY EGYPT

Evening Star, Issue 18048, 16 August 1922, Page 5

TREASURES OF EARLY EGYPT

YIELD FROM FIRST DYNASTY TOMBS. It is now over twenty years ago that the Royal tombs at Abydos were finally cleared, after the ravages of treasure hunters of various periods (Dr Flinders Petrie, the famous arciueologist, writes to the London ‘Times’). Around those tombs were rows of graves of the courtiers and servants, and when all this was recorded it seemed as if my work there had exhausted what could bo gathered of the first dynasty of Egypt. A chance discovery of more graves of that age, by another excavator,' at about a mile distant from the Royal tombs, led to the work of the British School in Egypt last winter being started in the region of the ancient fortresses known now as the Shuneh and the Coptic Deir. There we discovered three great squares of graves, between 250 ft and 400 ft wide; these had contained over 500 burials. The pottery showed the reigns in which they were made, and this was exactly confirmed by the ivory carvings and metal work bearing the names of Zer, Zet, and Merneit, of the third to fifth reigns of the first dynasty, dated by the Egyptians’ reckoning to 5437-5363 B.c. Only a minority of the graves had any remains left in them, and but few had anything of importance. Some unique objects have been kept at the Cairo Museum, and the bulk of the results will be exhibited at University College. The ivory carvings comprise the comb and labels of King Zet, and labels of King Zer, also a large draughtsman of a Queen Mer-nesut. Many figures of lions were used for some game; those which have been called dogs, because they wear collars, are evidently tame lionesses, which were probably used as decoys in lion hunting. A curved wand, ending in a ram’s head, was used to beat time in dancing. There were hundreds of tie ivory points for arrows, and many small pieces l of work.

The copper tools were l in fine condition, and some - bear the Royal names minutely engraved, only found after cleaning the faces. The adze was the commonest, found in pairs; axes also were found, and largo knives backed to servo as saws, chisels, borers, and many needles. Flint knives are of unusual size, and of two types, the very thin blades, a couple of inches wide, for slicing, and the thick and narrow blades for scraping. Great quantities of prepared flakes wore also with these.

The work was obstructed by the quantity of later tombs which crowded the whole ground, and which had to bo examined as we went along, thus obtaining some large stiles of the eleventh and twelfth dynasties, and smaller ones down l to (Ptolemaio times. In tho ditch of the fort were the inlaid ebony figures from the funeral shrine of the great high priest Un-nefer. , A complete Coptic hermitage, with painted decoration, was found up in the desert The next work of the season was an examination of Oxyrhynchus, whence so many papyri have been obtained. Any Egyptian remains are now entirely under water, which reaches to the Roman ground level. The great theatre was found and planned. It was 400 ft across, 100 ft high, with a stage 200 ft long. The back of tho singe was straight, with' pilasters, and opposite alternate pilasters were columns of polished red granite 17ft high, with marble capitals of fine work. Many examples of the cornices have been brought away. The theatre held ten thousand spectators; it seems to have been built about the time of Severus, but to have reused the capitals and statues of the Muses of perhaps the age of Hadrian. Leading toward it Was a colonnade which we traced for twenty-eight columns, and which probably extended to eighty-five columns.

Of later age are the tombs which we planned, some with chapels, others with wide balls, others with high -platforms upon which chambers were built. These seem to be about the time of Justinian. A draped statue of fair work 1 and _a _ largo jar of engraved -glass were the principal discoveries left at Cairo; many of the foliage friezes were brought away, which show the starting point of medieval work. A large quantity of papyri wore obtained, among which are some literary and astrological, but mostly letters and accounts, from the reign of Augustus down to Islam. The earliest Hebrew manuscripts known are among these, dating about the reigu of Severns.