The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-12-21
ANCIENT EGYPT.
Much History Gathered from a
Single Site. Abvdos.


The continuation of the work of the
Egypt exploration fund at Abydos this
year has given a wider view OF the
early civilization. of which the general
lines had been fixed by the previous
work on the royal tombS and the town.
writes Prof. Flinders Petrie. The
clearance of the old temple site over
several acres has brought to light, in
a depth of about twenty feet, no less
than ten successive temples ranging in
age from about 5000 to 500 B. G. For
the first time we can see on one spot
the changes from age to age through
the whole of Egyptian history. To sep
arate these buildings was an affair OF
anatomy rather than spade work; the
walls of mud brick were so commingled
with the soil that incessant section
cutting with a sharp knife was the
only way to discriminate the brick
work. Often only a single course of
bricks or thin bed of foundation sand
was all that told of the great buildings
which had existed here for centuries
Over 5000 measurements were taken
for the plans and levels.
The main result as regards the re-
ligion is that Osiris was not the original
god of Abydos; the jackal god, Upuaut,
and then the god Of the west, Khenta-
menti, were honored here down to the
twelfth dynasty. The most striking
change is seen about the fourth
dynasty. when the temple was abol-
iShed. and only a great hearth of
tive clay substitutes for sacrifices. This
exactly agrees with the account of
HerodotuS that CheOpS had closed the
temples and forbidden sacrifices. This
more real by finding an ivory statuette
of Cheops of the finest work, which
shows for the Srst time the face and
character of the great builder and or
ment and civilization what it was for
thousands of years after. This carving
is now in the Cairo museum.
The discoveries of the civilization of
] kingdom, expand what we already mad
from my work in the royal tombs. OF
Menes, the founder, we have part of a
large globular vase of green glaze with
his name iHlaid in purple; thus poly
chrome glazing is taken back thou
sands of years before it was previously
known to exist. The free use of great
tiles of glaze for wall coverings show
how usual the art was then. In the
highest art of delicate ivory carving
there are several pieces of this age;
especially the figure of an aged king,
| for its subtlety and character. stands
in the first rank of such work, compar-
able to the finest carvings of Greece
or Italy. We must now reckon the
earliest monarchy as the equal of any
later age in such technical and fine art.
Pottery of forms and material quite I'M
known in Egypt also belongs to this re-
mote age, and it proves to be identical
age This fresh connection illustrates the
trade and the chronology of that period.
A head of a camel modelled in pottery
| takes back its relation to Egypt some A.
/ Geo years; hitherto no trace of it had APP
! peared before Greek times. An ivory cary
| ing of a bear extends also the fauna of
early Egypt.
The great fort long known as the Shu-
net ez Zehib is now connected with the
remains of another fort, which was dis
covered between that and the Coptic DER
which is in a third fort These buildings
prove now to have been the fortified res
| licences of the kings of the second dynas-
ty, whose sealings we have found in the
4 dwelling rooms.
OF a later age may be noted some large
DEGREES of the fifth and sixth dynasties,
the oldest example of iron yet known
which is of the sixth dynasty, and in the
| eighteenth dynasty great memorial tab
| let of the grandmother of that line and
| the remains of cliff temple of the type
of DER ell Bahri These are but the sail
ent points of winters work of much
| historical interest The collection will be
| exhibited usual at University college,
Cover street, from July 1 to 25.-London
Times.