EGYPTIAN EXCAVAITON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16450, 11 June 1921, Page 4

EGYPTIAN EXCAVAITON.

ANCIENT MODELS FOUND, j WORLD OF 2000 B.C. REVEALED. An interesting: account of excavation operations in Egypt is given bv Mr Ambrose Lansing in a recent issue of the j “Illustrated London News.” "While at work in a cliff-tomb near Thebes, the excavators discovered a small chamber containing numerous little models—fiotvanfcs, boats, buildings—of Egyptian life 4000 years ago. This discovery ranks among the greatest archaeological j “finds” of recent years. The thrilling; story of this chance discovery is thus related by Mr Lansing. In clearing the fallen rock from the main, corridor, a workman dislodged a loose stone from the side near the floor, and the small chip began trickling into a. small dark hole. The hole was small and the massage dark, and even matches helmed little to show what was hidden within. A CHAMBER OF MODELS. A hurriedly written note brought Winiock and myself up from the house witn an electric torch. Lach of us in i turn glued his eye and the torch to the ! hole in the reck. A one ol : us expect | ever again to have such a sight appear 1 to us. “ The beam of light shot into a little world of 4000 years ago. and 1 was gazing down into the midst of a myriad of brightly painted little men going this way and that. A tail, slender girl gazed across at me perfectly composed ; a gang of little men with sticks in their upraised hands drove | spotted oxen: rowers tugged at their | oars on a fleet of boats, while one ship I seemeck floundering right in front of me, with its bow balanced precariously in , the air. And all of this busy going and coming was in uncanny silence*” The next three days were the busiest of our several careers. To clear that small chamber of its contents before the change of air loosened the friable shale of the ceiling, and yet not to remove the different objects before all tho evidence was recorded and tho necessary photographs taken, was a job requiring hard work and nice judgment. But it was done; and just, in time, for soon after we had everything out the stones began to fall. The set of models, by far the finest as regards completeness and preservation. ’ which have over been found in Jfkrvnt—j the two companies of soldiers from Meir are the only ones which compare in | workmanship—present a picture of the j life of an Egyptian noble and the activities on liis estates which volumes \>f j writing could not equal. THE NOBLE'S ESTATE.

In the largest scene he in seabed 1n :1 portico. Beside him {our scribes enumerate and record the herds of cattle being driven before him. From among 111050 rattle 1h», choicest, boeves are selected. and they are shown in the model of a cow stable, some eating {rum :1 numgen and others being fed from a pile of green fodder. It is evident, that they are being maimed—indeed, the model—:xmker 1m: given them such proporLions that ihoy Could. not; squeeze through the dnors of the stable if they tried. A third mode] in this group _is the slaughterhouse, where. two oxen, bound in thy. manner in whidyt'neyfirc

shown on tho reliefs are having their throats cut. A further set of three models gives us a picture of tile disposition of the produce of the fields. Sacks of grain are brought to the gran ary, in the ante-room of which scribes take down the amount coming from each farm, and give credit to the proper person. It is measured out, carried up a flight of steps, and dumped into bins*. In another model, the baking of bread and cakes is proceeding on one side of a dividing wall, and the brewing oi beer on the other. The third shows a weaving establishment with women workers. HOUSE MODELS. The most interesting of the- house models are two gardens, almost identical. A porch, whose roof is supported by eight brightly-painted columns, looks out on a tank surrounded b'- seven sycamore trees. In the models, the pool is lined with copper, and may possibly have held water when it was placed in the tomb. These models are especially interesting from an architectural point of view, as few traces of columns from private houses have come down to usThe noble—he was a prince and chancellor of the kingdom about 2000 B O. by name Mehenkwetre, was evidently very fond of boating on the Nile for no fewer than twelve different boats were found among this collection of models: boats rigged for sailing up stream, and others for paddling or row-

mg down-stream; comfortable boat?, with large and accompanying kitchen tenders, and smaller boats, for afternoon on tings on the river. Such is the life which the prince honed to enjoy in the future world, through the magical virtue of these models.