BACK TO THE PHARAOHS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20922, 11 July 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

BACK TO THE PHARAOHS

RELICS OF ANCIENT DAYS.

REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES. CITY OF THE SHEPHERD KINGS. Lost property left behind by a woman 4000 years ago; the ancient home of the Pharaohs of Egypt, twenty times larger than Troy, and with houses into which one cam still walk; a tunnel that is probably the oldest in the world—these are some of the marvels that have suddenly been revealed by Sir Flinders Petrie and Lady Petrie whilo excavating in Palestine. ..

The world-famous archaeologist, who is celebrating the jubilee year of his lifelong researches, ve'cently, with his wife, returned to London from the Holy Land after five years spent in careful exploration and excavation. The cellars at University College are full of their remarkable finds. More are on the way, and it is expected that a special museum will be set up in London shortly, to be devoted to exhibits from Palestine.

Tutankhamen and his Egyptian regalia may have to take a back seat for a time when the first' Pharaohs from Palestine arrive on the scene and begin to harden their hearts where rivals are concerned.

They have dropped not only a brick but a whole brick city oil an unsuspecting world, and excavation is corroborating the Old Testament story of Abraham and the Shepherd Kings. "My husband and I," said Lady Petrie, the most celebrated living woman Egyptologist, to a Dajly Express representative, " have been lucky enough to discover for the first time r.t, Tol-el-Azzul, near Gaza, a complete brick city of the

nomad Shepherd Kings._ This is the first proof that they lived in fixed towns at all. It is an " astonishing B.C. mound, untouched and unaltered by the passage of centuries. " Nothing in it is later than 2000 B.C. Here wo have been able not only 4 to step straight back into the Bronze Age ;> but to find relics and evidence that illuminato some of the earliest Bible passages that have eluded and baffled scholars for centuries. / . " We have unearthed," continued Lady Petrie, "more than, eighty rooms, complete with landlord's fixtures, besides habitable houses, streets, and a public square that were peopled with life and activity more than 4000 years ago. " Tel-el-Azzul is a hill, covered .with potsherds, nflfcr the sea, and overlooking a river. Ifc was evidently a key town, of great strategic impm-tance in prehistoric days. It was from ' here that the Shepherd Kings, went on ultimately to conquer Egypt and to hold the Israelites in bondage. " The extraordinary thing is that the whole city was suddenly abandoned, bag and baggage in 2000 B.C. This hurried exodus provides one of the strange riddles of histoid. I think that the answer can be put down to the incursion of a

plague of mosquitoes from the surrounding swamps. We found the neighbourhbod most malarious, and the proud Pharaohs were clearly vanquished by the petty mosquito." Lady Pctrie found that Bedawy Arabs made excellent workers. The women and children, besides the men, took their share in the labours. Most of the girls wore veils and some of them had beautifully embroidered dresses.

The treasures of this Old Testament mound will be exhibited this month at University College, London. Sir Flinders Pctrie hopes to return to Palestine in the autumn.