BACK TO THE PHARAOHS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21409, 10 August 1931, Page 8

BACK TO THE PHARAOHS

f, —— . RELICS OF ANCIENT DAYS REMARKABLE DISCOVERY. Lost property left behind by a woman 4000 years “ago; the ancient home of the Pharaohs of Egypt, 20 times'larger than Troy, and with houses into which one can 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 while excavating in Palestine. The world-famous archaeologist, who is celebrating the jubilee year of his life-long researches, recently, with his wife, returned to London from the Holy Land after five years 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 on 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 Daily Express representative, “have been lucky enough to discover for the first time at Tel-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 astounding B.C. mound, untouched and unaltered by the passage of centuries. “ Nothing in it ife later than 2000 B.C. Here we have been able not only to step straight back into the Bronze Age, but to find relics and evidence that illuminate some of the earliest Bible passages that have eluded and baffled scholars for centuries. “ We have unearthed,” continued Lady Petrie, “more than 80 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, near the sea, and overlooking a river. It was evidently a key town, of great strategic importance 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 history. I think that the answer can be put down to the incursion of a plague of mosquitos from the surrounding swamps. We found the neighbourhood most malarious, and the proud Pharaohs were clearly vanquished by the petty mosquito.” • Lady Petrie 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 beauti-fullv-embroidered dresses. The treasures of this Old Testament mound will be exhibited this month at University College, London. Sir Flinders Petrie hopes to return to Palestine in the autumn.