The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-10
PREnIsToRIc NAV Nv EGYPT.
Important Deductions from Late Diseov
erien Made by Mr.. q. de Morgan.

cries NAhno w NnEs ~. ue "oFRhns
CAIRO. April 10.-G. do Morgan, Director
General OF the Antiquities, has returned from his
inspection In the Fayoum and has completed
his expedition to the Bahz- Bala- Mah. or water
less river. lie was assisted in his exploration
by Mr.. Gequier. a Swiss Psychologist, member
of the French Oriental Institute of Cairo. One
of the scientific results OF this exped ition has
been the certainty obtained by the ex Explorer that,
since the quaternary period and it's immense
drifts, the Bahz- Bala- Nah, in the vicinity of the
Fayoum. has ceased to be habitable, and that
no traces of human life are to be observed there.
The flint implements, which are abundantly
found near Bitket Karoum In the Fayoum, are
not, as stated by certain writers. OF the Roman
times, but, on the contrary. belong to tho
neollthic period that Is to say. nntedate the
arrival in Egypt of the knowledge of metals.
These two observations are OF great impor-
lance as regards tho origin OF Egyptian history,
for up to this time many savants, among them
Marietta, have denied the prehistoric mans OK
istcnce in the Nile Valley, believing that the
ahz-Bala-Ai was the site of Civilizations
beginnings. Nothing, says Maspero. or next to
nothing, remains of the primitive generations;
most OF tho cut flint arms and implements
which have been discovered at various places
cannot be for tho present attributed
to them with certainty. The inhabitants
OF Egypt continued to employ stone
implements for, yorious purposes when
made stone arrow heads, hammers. knives,
scrapers. during the Pharaoh-, the Roman. and
not even now ceased entirely. The objects and
the places of fabrication may be. In fact. less
mcnts. Further, Mr.. Ma.pcro adds: The in
spection of the spots leads me to believe, with
Marietta, that none of the places of fabrication
mentioned up to date Is anterior to the histor-
ical time"
Now. from the inspection made by MIR. q. do
Morgan comes the report that neolithic stations
similar to those discovered in Europe exist in
Egypt. stone implements are not necessarily
prehistoric; some were unquestionably used at
belonging to the time OF Snefrou of the WITH
dynasty. that is to say. to the thirty-eighth cen.
tury b. c., was found a flint Ratchet in company
with bronze objects. But this mIstdbd had been
ransacked by SPECTATORS: and this flint imnle-
+. Petrie also mentions the presence Of stone
implements at kahoun, among, ruins OF
the Xdith dy = a ,ssS ,oI H ;eTn THAT stone
an undisputed fact. Mariette tells us of one OF
his res. Salib of Abydos. who used to shave
himself with n flint razor. resurting afterward
to an application of green leaves to sooth the
burning effect Of this barbaric process. The
point at issue now is, was Egypt in its earliest
time, like Europe in the crude state Of infant
civilization. characterized by the sole use OF
stone implements' exslustye OF any metal :
seem to have decided aiiirma,ively.
When we gaze at the wonderful development
before our era. when we consider that the fur
ther back we go into the arcana of its past
the more simple and true we find its art, we
can hardly imagine such a race in a state OF
burbarism. Egypt. the cradle, OF history, Is
difficult to reconcile withithe idea of the pre-
historic man. Still, here. AS all over the globe,
humanity began its existence in n condition OF
life very near that of the wild beasts it was con-
tending with. Civilization is but a slow move
ment of progress upon progress, the present,
beneflting by tho past. to be the pioneer OF to-
morrow. Owing to the more favored condi-
ticEs of certain races. the advancement was
more rapid in some cases than in others, hut
the starting point was the same. infancy, even
for Egypt, strange as 1t may seem to us.
According to the last Information obtainable
here Mr.. q. de Morgan is gong to start upon a
new scientific exped ition, This time 1t is the
Sinai district which Is going to be visited. Al
this was always the road of Asiatic invasions
into Egypt, many points relating TO the origin of
the Egyptian nation may be elucidated.