EGYPTIAN DISCOVERIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 January 1928, Page 12

EGYPTIAN DISCOVERIES

EXCAVATIONS AT SAKKARA.

The expedition which Mr. Cecil Firth has directed for the past five years on behalf of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities recently re- • sumed operations of Sakkara (writes the Cairo correspondent of the “Times.”) The discoveries already made have opened an entirely new chapter in the history of the Egyptian architecture and sculpture, and may load to even greater revelations in the near future. Sakkara —the word is probably derived from th ename of the ancient Egyptian God of Death “Seker”—-des-ignated the necropolis which is situated some 15 miles south of Cairo on the edge of the Lybian Desert. On the plateau there certain kings of the 111. and VI. Dynasties built their Pyramids 2,000 years before the kings of Thebes were buried in the Valley of the Kings. In the winter of 192324 Mr. Firth and his colleagues uncovered the chapels connected with the beautiful Pyramid-temple of Zoser, probably the first king of the 111. Dynasty, whose Horus name was “Neter Khet” —divine body.

The discovery of these chapels with their extraordinary fluted columns showed that this famous element of Greek architecture had existed in Egypt 1,500 years before its hitherto generally accepted origin at Olympia. This was followed in 1925 by the bringing to light, first, of data which proved that the Step Pyramid had been covered with a coating of fine white limstone like the IV. Dynasty Pyramids at Giza, but in step form, and that the step-like structure now visible was only a rough core built in this form for constructional reasons; and secondly, of a “Serdab” or hidden cell containing a statue — unique in Egyptian sculpture by reason of its attitude and many of its details, and entirely different from the great sculptures of Chephren and Mycernius, which supplanting this early style, became traditional during ages in Egypt. The Step Pyramid is surounded by a. huge Temenos wall 500 yards wide, the greater part of which had never been cleared, and during 1926 ' Mr. Firth and his colleagues concentrated on its excavation. This revealed what is believed to have been the main entrance to the Pyramid area —a very fine collonade, some 80 yards long with 48 columns, 161 ft. high and over 3ft. in diameter’ at base, made of white limestone and arranged in pairs and carved to imitate bundles of reeds. The east and west ends had curious imitation doors carved in the masonry similar to those found in the chapel previously discovered. The was also a large temple in the ' .southern part of the enclosure adjoining the great entrance corridor, and this may be the “jubilee temple” of. Zoser. Last seasbn the work was continued with equally happy results. Clearance of the .western portion of the south Temenos wall, which was higher than the rest, had revealed the top of the' core wall built of small rough stones, and in this was a plunderers’ shaft cut in the rubble. On clearing this shaft a great rectangular space descended below the rubble into solid rocjf and that its floor sloped down to the east. Its purpose had obviously been to’ facilitate tire excavations and constructions which were later found farther underground. Along the southern side of this “cut a stairway, about 2ft. Sins, wide, was found made of slabs of stone and protected on the north by a retaining wall of rubble the rest of the space havingbeen filled in with small stones.

AN IMPORTANT TOMB. It took th© best part of a month to clear the upper part of the stairway, and in the course of the excavation it became evident why the Temenos wall was higher at this point. It had been the superstructure of an important tomb. This superstructure still had a small portion of the fine white limestone casing, but a XIX. Dynasty hieratic inscription showed that the rest of this casing had been removed at that later period for use elsewhere. Along the side walls of the great “cut” in the rock pairs of large holes had been cut, one opposite the other, in which enormous beams of wood had been passed to facilitate the sliding ,pf large blocks of stone down the sloping floor (blocks used in constructing the burial chamber), and perhaps also a granite sarcophagups. The great “cut” had clearly been used for the construction of an important tomb somewhere in the solid rock beyond its eastern end, and the descending stairway passage had been made along the southern side of the great “cut” in the rock.

About 20 yards beyond the point where the stairway (and the great “cut”) entered the rock a doorway was found with a lintel of hard limestone supported on one side by a limestone jamb. The stairway tunnel went on down, filled with rubble as the original builders left it, but the roof, being the roof of the great “cut,” was horizontalfi so that the stairway passage became deeper and deeper. High up the masons had set a series of wooden beams across the passage to support the northerly side, which was still built of rubble, and many of these

logs of .wood were still in place and fairly hard after five thousand years. The thief' who had dug the shaft in the outer filling had not penetrated the passage inside the doorway. The excitement grew as the clearance work proceeded, and day after day brought fresh evidence that an important tomb of the HI. Dynasty had been discovered —a tomb which by its position must bo the tomb of a member of the Royal Family or a very great courtier of the reign of Zoser. But the danger to the workmen increased and checked progress. Attention was turned to the Temenos Avail and a search made lor some plunderer’s hole, inside or outside, which might lead to the burial chamber. Several such holes were found of various dates, but each one had to be abandoned either because it was too dangerous or had failed to reach the coveted goal. Weeks went by in this search and in patiently persevering through fruitless, investigations. It -was finally decided that the passage leading past the two limestone chambers must be the true and only course, and excavators set their minds to circumscribe the danger which was threatened by cracked masonry. The masonry prop was more carefully rebuilt and the workmen set to dig down in the passage beyond the prop. Thus they reached a low vaulted tunnel the walls of which were formed of a lining of stones plastered with mud. This led after a few yards to two or three small rooms similarly constructed, which contained about twenty of the largest alabaster jars ever discovered in Egypt—some of them a metre high —and also pieces of a diorite bowl beautifully inscribed outside with the titles and the names of King Khasekhemuwy, the last king of the 11. Dynasty.

A week later the perseverance and daring of file exvava tors received a great, though probably not the final reward. The removal of the debris from the northern side of one of these small rooms laid bare the head of a well-built stairway, which turned out to be the entrance to one of the most extraordinary funeral apartments ever found. Below a low passage, walled with smoothly dresses limestone masonry, were two rooms lined with blue tiles similar to those already foupd in tfhe aparftments next the burial chamber in the Step Pyramid. The second of these two rooms had three false doors with beautiful low reliefs of King Zoser. The first showed the white crown; the second showed him standing wearing the red crown; while in the third he was seen standing wearing the white crown. Each is accompanied by an inscription in relief giving the king’s various names and preceded in each case by a vertical line, the exact meaning of which is still under discussion. Most of the rooms had their walls tiled so as to give the impression of being lined with green reed mats, the tiles being let into grooves in the stone, narrow bands of white limestone being carved to represent the fastenings by means of which the reeds are held together. The carved panels in the false doors and the drums over the doorways had the titles arranged horizontally and the cords vertically in such a way that it looked as if the mats had been rolled upon a drum to show the reliefs. The other room was tiled with a series of large panels representing mat-work. Each had an arched design above. The work in both these rooms is amazingly good; the reliefs particul-

arly are exquisite, every muscle in each figure being clearly indicated, although the design is not more than a 16th of an inch in height. It is, indeed, a positive revelation to find such fine reliefs so early in the 111. Dynasty. In one of these rooms behind a wall which had been broken down perhaps by those who removed the blue tiles, a series of passages were found, some tiled, some undecorated, ■which led back to the west and opened on the side of a huge pit filled with debris. It is on the xcavation of this pit—a gigantic task, since it involves the digging out of the whole of the great “cut” and so the removal of hundreds of tons of rubble under very exacting conditions —that Mr. Firth is now concentrating.