'GAZA DISCOVERIES

Evening Star, Issue 19330, 17 August 1926, Page 9

'GAZA DISCOVERIES

TO OF HETEP'HERES Report of the progress made daring the last year by Dr George Eeisnor and the Harvard-Boston Expedition in the excavations near the Gissa Pyramids was brought from Egypt by Mr Dows Dunham (Boston, U.S.A.),who returned to assume the responsibilities of assistant curator of the Egyptian department at the Boston Museum of Pine Arts (states the ‘ Christian Science Monitor ’). Since announcement was made months ago that the now tomb which is now the centre of excavation activity was probably that of the mother of Cheeps, little 'detailed information outside the formal communiques has ’come from expedition headquarters. Mr Dunham says that the necessarily slow work has, however, revealed some fragments of information immensely valuable in the final piecing together of tho narrative, of this particular site and that the final revelations will doubtless constitute one of the most remarkable discoveries in tho long history of Egyptian excavation. SCENE OF THE EXCAVATIONS. Mr Dunham described the scone in which the expedition is working, thus contributing for tho first time to the bettor orientation of those in the United States who are interested in the operations. Dr Kcisner’s camp is some 200 ft west of the Great Pyramids. The nights are clear and cool on this plateau in the desert with its endless reaches of fawn-colored sand to bring back _ remembrance of Omar Khayyam's line, “Tho stars are setting and the caravan starts for tho dawn of Nothing—Dli, make haste!”. In the evening light the Great Pyramid is muted copper with great funnels of lilac haze borrowed from the afterglow of brilliant sunsets to tamper and make it even more mysterious than history has made it. By day the sunlight is torridly brilliant, the sky is always flecked with puffs of peculiar white cloud, and the rays of the heat make blocks of hard red and yellow along the rolling stretches of sand to the valley with its dark palms. Two hundred yards cast of the Pyrivmids, all mixed up with the smaller Pyramids of lesser queens and princes, is the tomb upon which the .expedition is at work. The nearest town is Giza, Rome five miles distant, and a suburb of Giza. A native village close by Mena ilouse, tho only hotel nearer than Cairo, is a mile distant from the camp. WORK IS GUARDED. There is a small community of guards and workmen always at hand, for even though this site is more isolated than many of tho Egyptian excavations, unauthorised and curious persona have an uncanny way of gathering-, and no risk can be taken that the extraordinarily painstaking work of shoring and other means of making ready the tomb for its ultimate inspection shall bo undone, Mr Dunham brought back with him no Hems of antiquity irom the scene. Only a very few have been found films far. A few pieces of furniture, greatly decayed, a table or so, two chests or boxes and a bed, the wood overlaid with plates of thin gold (no thicker most of it than a sheet of paper! have been unearthed. An inscription has been found on one of tho pieces of furniture • —in hieroglyphics, of course—which reads: “ llclep-heres, King’s Mother, King’s Wife, King’s Daughter.” The moaning of “ Hetep-hercs ” is “Peace be unto her” or “peace to her face.” It is probable that the tomb contains tho sarcophagus of the mother of Cheops, who built tho great pyramid bearing his name. The conclusion reached by Dr Eeisnor and his staff is that tho sarcophagus lid has not been lifted in 5,000’ years. GOLD-COVERED FURNITURE.

All the gold covering the furniture was originally inlaid with laience, but because of the general disintegration of the articles the most careful weighing must he made before any round conclusion can bo drawn concerning the original shape and size of the articles. There is a mass of material, rubbish, and tangled debris heaped up in the tomb, all of which must ho handled bit by bit and with the utmost caution. The shaft by which access was gained is sft or 6ft square, and goes straight down about 100 ft. The tomb chamber opens horizontally to the south from the bottom of the shaft, and Die sarcophagus stands at the oast side, wilh tho remainder of the space filled with material long since crumbled to dust. Dr Rpisnor’s camp is built about a hollow square, and the courtyard is filled ■with work benches and tho fittings required by the staff in its enormously complex work of restoring each little piece of salvaged material. Tho camp itself is made of rough stone, plastered over with a thick coating of Nile mud, which is the substance that masks all permanent dwellings in tho desert. No intimation is made by Mr Dunham as to the length of time required yet for the completion of the work which will anticipate the actual study of tho sarcophagus and its opening.