ANCIENT RELICS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 6 February 1926, Page 13

ANCIENT RELICS.

IN THE SAHARA. A QUEEN’S TOMB FOUND. Sm- atScTof £e-' SSe?ed d S’tK d H? a ‘ ea tad ZurzziiT ■ ot f er . *7X jewels. AL; y alue - deluding der the desert fou *d un9,0 unt Bryon do Pt 010 T L T h amam France the same I k ’ who left for had. brought away tltat eases, which had beena* 1Rn S 40 a.grt't to the Goverm>r 1 r aded over giers. eruor-General of Al-cm-f rorok 3 few days Times an e acc a ou S rr^>° t n n deat . <* ffi made by hi s p arfcv dls eovexies •leets discovered afe ° f th « °baad the S kel!ton ° o f lr tl dy A a which was taken out nf l queen,” ,S £® in ? t Iranspor fc e< £to^ F^ance^ UlC^ Xe> Sion and to £ r -f of the remonument of rough ana S 7' 1S a r Y standing 0 n the leav J masonAbalessa in the m Cast o£ a hill at anles from TanianrJEf 1 “ ouiltai ns, 50 legend, this tomb tvhich 4 eeordij ?S to %'g £’ Its existence has been 3 desceat * long while but hith i kn °wn f or a been entered The i? ert ° lfc had n °t lv circular- Ilie . m °aument is roughfrom nSi tn a3Uri tf at the ba se 86ft east to west. Count d?Prorok SiJ-TSM S 5f u “i Jong, 131 t wSSfS about Gift high. It had had two en Gances, one on the east side and one un Thi° u r Ut i hGS t had been called up. this, first chamber was not of t ieat archaeological interest, and an excavation of the floor begum Tins led to the discovery of a lower chamber, where the explorers had the happiness of finding what they had come to seek.

Stretched along a kind of couch was a human figure lying on th© back, with the head raised and facing towards the east. Near it was an assemblage of funerary objects, everything being obviously as left at the time of burial, a he figure was found to be a skeleton with red leather wrappings, but the leather at a touch become powder. It has been possible to preserve only a fc\v fragments. The. couch was-made of carved tvood, held together with twisted leather, so that the whole formed a sort of latticework. The head rested on a rounded bar of wood. The legs were slightly bent, and the armsi folded over the breast. The lower chamber measures Bft by 44fb, and is sft high. It appears to be established that the skeleton is that of a woman. The French army doctors at Insalah, who examined it-, came to that conclusion. It was abundantly clear trat here were the remains of a personage’ of importance, but the splendours of ancient Egyptian tombs were lacking. The necklaces were in ruins, though a hundred beads were on the collar bones and behind the head, some of pink stone, others of metal—perhaps antimony—and small gold rings and other ornaments were also found. Some of these arc finely worked—there was, in particular, a small piece of solid gold about an inch long, carved in the shape of a column. On the breast were white and red bends. On the arms, -we Tel metal bracelets, and around the ankles were bead bracelets. Close by the couch were t-liree baskets, made out of slender branches of trees. A leather bag, supposed to have barley, was near the body, and two empty gourds lay beside the left leg. Among the ornaments discovered was a primitive sculpture in stone about (>in high and 3in broad. A crude figure of a woman, it is of archaeological rather than of artistic value, and it is unfair to describe it as a “Libyan Venus.” M. Bevgasse, an authority, describes it as the only specimen of this kind of sculpture found in the Sahara. Although the wrappings and the woodwork, of the couch crumbled when handled, photographs were taken at overv stage of the investigation, and a record of the original state of the tomb has therefore heen kept. M. Revgasse, who has made an official report on the excavations, has recommended the Government to make a thorough investigation of the monument. From the size of the monument it is believed that there are other chambers yet to be discovered.