RARE FINDS IN EGYPT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23109, 8 February 1937, Page 10

RARE FINDS IN EGYPT

DRAUGHTSMEN MADE 5000 YEARS AGO Discoveries of great historical interest and rare artistic, value have been made by the chance excavation at Sakkara, near Cairo, of an Egyptian cemetery of about 3000 8.C.. stated the Cairo correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph recently. Makramallah Effendi, working on behalf of the Department of Antiquities, stumbled upon this ancient grave yard while engaged upon re-excavating the famous Avenue of Sphinxes. It is a middle-class cemetery, in contrast to the royal tombs which have been the subject of most previous ex+ cavations. It consists of rectangular holes in a curious group formation, cut in the desert sand. The bodies had been placed in wooden coffins. So far about 130 graves have been opened, most of which are intact. The bodies are wrapped in linen or mats, and are not embalmed. They are in contracted positions, lying on their loft sides so that they face oast. The tombs contain a large collection of vessels of alabaster, schist, dolomite, and Breccia. The workmanship is of great skill, and three vessels arc unique. In one grave were found two sets of ivory draughtsmen. One set of seven consists of conical pieces and the other set of seven is hemispherical. The Cairo museum does not possess a collection like this. As the sets were found in an unplundered tomb, it is evident that in those days the game was played with on’* 14 pieces instead of 24. In another grave were found a very beautiful ivory hairpin and a large bronze bowl. A flint knife of exquisite workmanship and almost transparent was discovered in another tomb. Among the statuettes is one of the goddess Mut, wearing a crown, the front of which is silver. Her eyebrows, necklace, and finger and toe nails arc all inlaid with The cemetery’s date would seem to be fixed by the discovery of a seal of Den the Fifth, a king of the first dynasty, and the same name in red ink on a pot.