TOMB OF PHARAOH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22939, 18 January 1938, Page 9

TOMB OF PHARAOH

DISCOVERY IN EGYPT PROBABLY THAT OF MENES LONDON, Jan. 9 "It is the greatest discovery ever made in Egypt," said Dr. A. M. Blackman, Professor of Egyptology at Liverpool University, speaking of the finding by the Liverpool archaeologist Mr. j Walter Emery of an enormous tomb near the Sakkara pyramids, 40 miles, from Cairo. It is believed to be the tomb of the earliest Pharaoh, Menes, who lived 5300 years ago—2ooo years before King Tutankhamen. ! Mr. Emery found in five subterranean chambers a valuable collection of pottery and stone vases bearing the Royal seal "AHA." The walls bear traces of the origin of wallpaper in the form of mud-plaster on which are stuck patterned, light reed mats. The vases are of an entirely new shape and of exquisite workmanship. Worshipped as a God The pottery shows hunting scenes and includes gazelles, lions and other animals. There are also fragments of ivory furniture. A variety of excellently preserved seals inscribed in black ink forms a most valuable addition to the limited written material of the First Dynasty. Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt and diverted the Nile to build the capital at Memphis. He was worshipped by later Pharaohs and by the Greeks as a god, and was said to have invented the art of serving dinner, eating it while lying down. Menes was killed at the age of 80 by a Nile hippopotamus. Parts of the early history of Egypt need rewriting as a result of this discovery, because it was hitherto believed that Menes was buried at Thinis. an obscure city near Abydos. Missed by Other Archaeologists Mr. Emery, who is director, under the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, ' of the archaeological survey of Nubia, has been working single-handed at Sakkara for some seasons, in spite of the fact that it had already been investigated by many notable archaeologists. Mr. Emery and his wife lived alone in the desert. He discovered in 1929 the tombs of the Sacred Bull of Buchis, Speaking by telephone from Cairo, Mr. Emery said:— f< "We are still digging, and must carry on for weeks and perhaps months before saying definitely whether it is the tomb of Menes."

Proof is expected to be forthcoming when Mr. Emery uncovers intact the subsidiary graves of servants situated around the central tomb.