The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1901-07-16

hc bSJplldH BdlloTy at the BTU
ish museum has just come into pos
session Of the mummy of man which
may well be the oldest known body
of any human being. The facts con-
corning 1t are briefly summed up In
the following inscription reproduced
from the case containing the mummy:
Body Of man who was buried in a
shallow oval grave followed out of
sandstone on the west bank of the
Nile, in Upper Egypt Before burial
the body was treated with a prepare
ton of bitumen and was arranged In
the posture in which 1t now lies. on
It's left side, with the hands before
the face and the knees drawn up near
ly on level with the chin. The
grave (Which has been roughly imi-
tated by the model here exhibited
was covered with slabs of unworked
stone, and In 1t beside the body were
disposed flint knives and a number
OF vases partly filed with the remains
and dust of funeral offerings. The
man probably belonged to fair.
skinned, light-haired race, which
may be regarded as one of the abort
ginal stocks of Egypt, whose settle
menst are usually found on the west
bank OF the Nile. The lyle of the flint
implements found in the grave indi-
Gates that the man lived In the later
neolithic period of Egypt; that is, In
remote ages long before the rule of
Menes, the first historical king of
Egypt" The grave was first seen by
wandering Arab; he reported his
discovery to a British official, who
Immediately sent couple of Egypt
Ian soldiers to guard 1t day and night
until 1t could be safely removed. The
body Is not mummy of the ordinary
historic Egyptian period such as that
OF Rameses H., the father Of the Pha-
rosh OF the Exodus. 1t was never
bound up In linen or cased in any
painted cofin, but was merely coated
with preparation of bitumen, the
Arabic word for which is mumia;
hence, our word mummy.
To reach the period when this man
hunted along the banks of the Nile
1t is necessary to travel backward in
time through the modern period since
Elizabeth, through medieval Europe,
through the whole history of Rome
and Greece, past the time of the ear
Hest mummied king the museum pos
sesses. past even Menes, the earliest
king to which Egyptian records make
reference, who according to Mareitte,
ruled about 1904 B. c.. Then we are
among the prehistoric races, one the
conquerors and the other the conquer
ed, out of which sprang the Egyptian
race of the earliest dynasties. It ig
with these remote stocks that this
man is connected. Considering the
conditions in which he was found 1t
| Is evident that he was associated
with late period of the new stone
age of Egypt. He is buried in a char
| acteristically neolithic grave (the
graves of this period are covered with
rude slabs of stone), and has neolithic
pots and flint implements beside him.
1t Is curious to note that certain an
Gent Egyptian documents mention
| traditions of race called the Tre-
| hennu, who had red hair and blue
eyes. This man has distinctly auburn
hair. He was buried ON the western
shore. In later times every Egyptian
was buried on that side of the river,
and Egyptian models of the death
boats on which the bodies we're fer
ried over the stream may be seen in
the Egyptian gallery.