EGYPTIAN RELICS

Evening Star, Issue 25169, 8 May 1944, Page 2

EGYPTIAN RELICS

FINE COLLECTION AT MUSEUM ENTERPRISE OF COLONEL F. WAITE As a result of the enterprise of Colonel the Hon. F. Waite, M.L.C., during the period that he was in Egypt as overseas commissioner of the .National Patriotic Fund Board, the Otago Museum now possesses a magnificent collection of ancient and more modern Egyptian articles, and other New Zeamuseums are benefiting from gifts of duplicates from the collection. Colonel Waite went overseas with wide knowledge and a deep interest in Egyptology, and he used ail his opportunities to make contact with the peasants, who are constantly finding relies of ancient human occupation of the land. The registering, sorting, and mounting of the collection has taken a considerable time, but the bulk of pieces whicli will be displayed are now on show. They cover an extremely wide range, from palaeolithic times, perhaps halt a million years ago, to comparatively recent civilisations. The collection k specially 6trong in the predynastic section, the series of ancient stono implements being both large and of the greatest interest. OPALESCENT GLASS, In a case on the ground floor the Arabic collection has been filled out, and perhaps the most interesting feature to the general public is the samples of opalescent glass. The opalescent effect is, in actual fact,_ accidental, being due to chemical action in the soil in which the pieces have been buried. In a series of weights ranging from tho pre-dynastic to Arabic ages, displayed on the first floor, is one piece of most remarkable opalescent beauty. The immensely old pieces of stone implements dating from the palaeolithic period are 'both numerous and very interesting. The exact age of them cannot bo established, but the British Museumj which is generally conservative in its estimates of antiquity, has suggested that such pieces are probably 500,000 years old. Later cattle the first signs of civilisation, when human beings, instead of living on natural resources, became food producers. Wheat was probably the first plant developed for food, and the collection includes a number of toothed flint sickles for the reaping of the grain. They bear the polished surface which could be acquired only through long tise in cutting the stems of cereal crops. ADVANCING CIVILISATION. There is a Very fine collection of adzes and knives with fine serrated edges used for cutting flesh. Mace heads and arrow heads form a striking portion of the exhibit, together with a number of specimens of plumb-bobs, which had previously been neglected in Egyptian collections in New Zealand museums. Other items in the series are palettes for grinding malachite and a large collection of tools. Examples of the advance of civilisation are to be found in a number of copper pieces comprising arrow heads, bi-dents apparently used for sacrificial purposes, and axes. Some of them are identicol with the flint weapons, suggesting that the officers were equipped with metal weapons, while the rank and file carried stone ones.

The collection of pottery is extremely large and valuable. It includes a large number of pots, vases, and boW'ls, ranging front very small to large, of slate, basalt, diorite, and granite. The alabaster specimens are particularly beautiful and reflect deli» cates tones of colour.