EGYPTIAN VASES

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6543, 13 November 1924, Page 3

EGYPTIAN VASES

MOST BEAUTIFUL FOUND Ancient Egyptian pottery, the finding of which puts back the known period of civilisation by 2000 years/ has been placed on view at London University College. The pottery is included in an exhibition of new discoveries by Sir Flinders Petrie and students of the British School of Archaeology in Egypt. An amazing feature of the pottery exhibits is that, although earliest in point of time, in beatuy of woi'kmanship they are the finest ever devised in ancient Egypt. Made of a black clay and apparently, glazed, the thin, delicate bowls and vases bear a remarkable similarity to the black household ware now so fashionable. “They belong to a period earlier than that hitherto known as prehistoric,” Professor Sir Flinders Petrie explained to a Daily Chronicle representative. “So far as can be jiidged, their date is about 10,000 years before Christ. • / “When they were made the potter's wheel Was not known and they were turned out entirely by the fingers and a sort of comb.* Here, you see, w 8 have a broken piece of one of the combs used. “The secret of their was lost, and, although the pottery made in ancient Egypt thousands of years later is good, none of it is so beautiful as this.” Other exhibits include some of the oldest bi'icks, probably, in the world. About 10,000 years old, they arc made of Nile mud and wattle. Painted on the of the tomb of King Nah-ka-ra was found the pattern known as “Greek-key,” but it* was designed about 2500 years before Greek civilisation rose.