Big Treasure Find Made In Rose-Red City Of The East.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18091, 26 February 1927, Page 5

Big Treasure Find Made In Rose-Red City Of The East.

OUTRIVALS EVEN THE SPLENDOURS OF LUXOR AND TUT’S TOMB.

(Special to the “ Star.”) * r:

T.OXDOX, January (V, EXQUISITE golden ornaments and engraved precious stones ' -part of what may prove the greatest ancient treasure ever recovered, making insignificant even the splendours of Tutankhamen’s tomb—have come into the hands of an eminent archaeologist connected with the British Museum. The story of the discovery by a wandering Bedouin, who literally tripped on the “ Open Sesame ”to a labyrinth of underground passages that led to the treasure-house of a long-vanished race, transcends the imaginings of the “Arabian Xighfs’ ” author. Further romance is added by the theory that the treasure includes the loot of ancient pirates. So plausible, however, does that slory appear in the light of the genuine finds—including a Cretan gold buckle of the prehistoric period—that an expedition of scientists has been sent to the site of the mysterious stone city of Petra, between the Gulf of Akabah and the Dead Sea.

Investigation revealed that the first treasures had been obtained from an Arab sheik at Jerusalem, who furnished protection to caravans in Northern Arabia. After months of effort this man was traced. It was then discovered that the treasures had been unearthed by Arabs at Petra. Deserted for Centurion, Petra, deserted for centuries, is perhaps the most astonishing city ever created by man. It lies in a once populous valley, shut in by precipitous cliffs of sandstone. Its only entrance is through a gorge about twelve feet wide, whose gateway could be held against an army by a few men. Tombs, temples, and houses were chiselled out of the rose red rock, and stand to-day almost as perfect as they were when occupied. It has long been suspected that within the heart of these sandstone cliffs are other chambers, galleries, and tunnels cut out by the ancient dwellers. Legend tells of treasure hidden by the old inhabitants, but until now little has ever been found to substantiate these stories.

Conquerors of Edom. The city was, in its prime, the capital of the Nabataeans, an ancient Arab tribe which conquered the Edom of the Bible, and a hundred years before Christ had created a powerful kingdom extending north to Damascus, and west to Gaza, where Samson carried away the gates, and into Palestine and Central Arabia.

The Nabataeans controlled the caravan routes of the interior and were also great sailors and pirates. They were feared in Egypt. Both King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba used them to carry goods by sea and land to distant countries. They developed a high stage of civilisation, made glass that rivalled that of the Phoenicians, wove beautiful fabrics, and modelled pottery. Into Petra for centuries poured the riches mf northern Africa and of Asia, while to this was added the loot of the pirate ships. This region remained unconquered until a mysterious and unrecorded tragedy emptied it of its hundreds of thousands, practically wiped out the Nabataean race and made it shunned for centuries by the Arabs and nomads around it. This sudden eclipse of a civilisation with not even vague legend to account for it, is one of the strangest things in the history of man. Perilous Expeditions. There is no record that the accumulated wealth of Petra has ever been carried away. If that treasure existed, it is believed that it still must be there. Expeditions before the war were dangerous because of the attitude of the Arabs and the isolated locality. The city was lost to European knowledge for centuries until it was redis-

covered in 1812 by the German explorer, Burrkhardt. Since then not more than a dozen archaeologists have visited it because of its inaccessibility.

Two German expeditions were not even allowed to pass through the gorge. But since the war, under the British protection of Palestine, mattdrs have changed, and the party now on its way under military guard will have no trouble in investigating and excavating. The clue to the treasure chambers is shown close to a remarkable building called "The of Pharaoh,” cut out of the side of the mountain.

According to the story of the Arab, some wandering Bedouins encamped in Petra, in the upper valley, close to the Treasury. One of them passed back into the deep rooms within the cliffs. Poking around among the debris he stepped upon "a moving stone.’’ Vain Cry for Help.

The stone tilted an<i dropped him into a shallow vault, then crashed back into place, leaving him in darkness. He cried out in vain for help. Feeling around the vault, he came across the opening of a passage. After feeling his way about it for what he thought half a mile, always moving upwards, he saw a faint light. He came out into a large chamber, from which six other passages led further back into the mountain. In the centre of the chamber, on a pedestal, was a huge urn. He climbed the pedestal and within the urn saw a heap of gems and gold.

Taking a couple of handfuls, he knotted them in his cap and went to a fissure in the wall through which the light streamed, but found it too narrow for him to slip through. He picked up a large rock on the floor, and in desperation hammered at the sides of

the fissure, around which he had noticed a wide crack.

This crack enlarged under his blows, and a large piece of rock dropped away, showing a wide aperture. He crawled along this and found himself out on the side of the mountain far above the valley.

Scrambling and falling, he got safely to his camp near sunset.

“Stone That Moved.” He showed his find to the half-dozen members of his family, and they spent several days trying to find the “stone that moved” and the fissure, but without success.

The ancients had great skill, British Museum authorities point out, in contriving secret passageways and doors whose entrances were apparently part of the stone walls themselves, but which, by a cunningly devised system of balances, would easily open under pressure at a certain point. If the story of the Arab was true, it may be that the Bedouin by accident stepped on the spot that controlled a counter-balance opening a secret door and allowing him to drop through. The slab would close up behind him, not to be opened except by someone who knew where to press it from withGenuine Treasure. The treasure may have been found in an entirely different way, but as it is genuine, the Arab’s story is considered worth investigating. The Egyptians were particularly skilled in devising secret entrances of this sort, and the influence of Egyptian architecture and symbols is so strongly marked in Petra that the original builders had plainly been in contact with the builders of the Sphinx and the Pyramids. The Egyptians were also great contrivers of labyrinths, or underground mares, and the great labyrinth of Egypt, near Memphis, was their storehouse of incalculable treasures. This, too, could only be entered by knowledge of a complex system of moveable stones in walls, floors, and pillars. Such a labyrinth may well have existed in mysterious Petra, ancT the secret entrance to its vaults have been forgotten or have died with its ancient priests.