THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1926. TUTANKHAMEN'S TOMB.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19474, 2 November 1926, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1926. TUTANKHAMEN'S TOMB.

With the wrapping again, of Tutankhamen's body in its original shroud and its reinterment in the sarcophagus, there comes to an end one phase of a very alluring and arduous quest in Egypt's famous Valley of the Kings. The tug of that lure has been felt by a great host. Who is not moved to wonder what life was like in that far-away day, nearly four thousand years ago, when one of earth's longestenduring civilisations reached a climax of splendour and renown? Yet it has been given to few to pursue the quest with the vigour and success that stand to Mr. Howard Carter's credit. Already, when he began his work in the wildly desolate valley eroded in the desert plateau fronting the wostern plain of Thebes, research had brought much to light. Excavators had located some sixty tombs of that eighteenth dynasty of Egypt's rulers to which Tutankhamen belonged Those of this young king's immediate successors had been found, and objects bearing his name had been recovered from the centre of the valley; but a conviction was prevalent that no more tombs were to be found. Courageously disagreeing with this general opinion, Mr. Carter undertook nine years ago, in the Earl of Carnarvon's employ, to wrest from the valley's central masses of decayed and fallen rock whatever secrets they might still hold. There was for than both the encouragement of knowing that the rocky slopes of ' the valley had been laboriously pierced of old with long corridors terminating in chambers meant to house eternally the bodies of Egypt's royal dead, and they'refused to think that this gap in the chain of discoveries could not be filled. The task they set themselves was colossal. It was made doubly difficult by the masses of rubbish left by earlier excavators. Only in the sixth of their annual seasons of tremendous toil, when hope had dwindled, did a last desperate campaign disclose the entrance to the tomb long sought. That proved the beginning of an achievement second to none in the annals of archaeology, the only shadow lying on it being the death of Lord Carnarvon before its full success was reaped.

Even when the entrance was found | there was a fear lest the quest should ' prove fruitless, after all. There was no surety that the tomb had not been rifled by the robbers whose grim attentions to these treasure storehouses had played havoc in a later dynasty. In that winter of 1022 this doubt could not be resolved; but in the succeeding February it had most satisfying answer. Before the gaze of Lord Carnarvon and Mr. Carter the doorway was opened and a series of gold-covered shrines revealed within, the door of the second still bearing an unbroken seal. Their first glimpse of the ante-chamber left them almost speechless, so rich were the treasures heaped all about: furniture shining with gold overlay and elaborate designs in multicoloured glass and precious stones, couches, chairs, caskets, chariots, statues, weapons, and wondrous alabaster vases. It was at once realised that the discovery was of immense importance, for these were not special duplicates, as in the case of most discoveries of the kind, but actual articles in use in the age when Tutankhamen was buried. Tutankhamen died at a very early age, prob ably with suddenness, and apparently, without waiting to make reproductions, the priestly craftsmen collected the actual articles they thought their reawakened beloved young king would need and deposited them in the tomb. So now, in the long gallery reserved in the Cairo museum for these treasures, can be seen the couch on which he lay, the throne on which he sat, the garments and the ornaments he wore and the things he handled. They have a vividly human tale to tell They bridge with certainty the broad gulf of years, and make many things in that remote age clear to modern eyes. The enthusiasm of the ex cavator never had greater justification or reward.

The reverent reinterring of Tutankhamen's body betokens the spirit i:n which these quests are becomingly conducted. They are not mere adventures of plunder, as were the raids of the robbers whose depredations Lord Carnarvon and Mr. Carter feared had preceded their entry to this tomb, but searches for gain to be added to all men's store of knowledge. From this particular quest great things have resxilted. Not that all the treasures placed in the keeping of the Egyptian Government so far art*, marvels of art and workmanship. M. Maeterlinck has described ''the furniture of poor Tutankhamen" as "surely the most extraordinary medley of crazy bric-a-brac that ever figured in an auctioneer's nightmare." Yet even this comment adds testimony to the discovery's value, for there is given to modern judgment an opportunity to appraise accurately the defects as well as the excellences of taste and skill in what was a remarkable period of Egyptian culture. There abound, however, examples of artistic workmanship fit to rank, as M. Maeterlinck ardently acknowledges, "with the most adorable pieces of Greek sculpture"; ai*d Mr. Caster has put on record the fact that, even in the utilitarian objects recovered, there is abundant evidence of the value set, within Egyptian convention, upon refinement of decoration. The savants may be left to discuss these things to their hearts' content. What appeals to the plain man, eager to find out. and profit by

what can be learned of earlier days that had a glory of their crwn, is that these excavations have made much in the life of ancient Egypt more readily and surely understood. They have a value that is not art's alone, unless the art of living be accounted the most enthralling art of all. In the material found in Tutankhamen's tomb there is testimony that domestic affection, rather than the austerities of conventional religion so plentifully honoured in other burial places of this Theban valley, had in his day a large place ; and the lesson of this for men and nations who would be securely great is one not lightly to be lost. Had ancient Egypt remained true to that it might, not have fallen from its high estate.