Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-03-17

il was 1900 or 1000 years ago, when the
world was young. The enterprise was
not at once begun. and after some years
delay. when sufficient funds were avail
able and an army of Arab laborers was
assembled, it was discovered that an
immense mou of preliminary work
was necessary ere the restoration could
be even commenced. The sands of the
desert. borne by the winds of centuries,
had covered the site OF the temple and
its vicinity TO a depth of many feet. It's
removal was a necessity ere the founda-
lions of the structure could be reached,
and it was in this process of clearing
away hundreds of thousands of yards Of
sandy dust that the discovery just al
luded to was made.
The workmen have reached the
ground floor of the temple, but to ex-
anime the condition of the foundations
an excavation on one side was necessary.
AS is generally the case in Egypt, where
the archaeologist may expect TO find al
nos anything anywhere, the discovery
was accidental. The trench neal the
temple foundation yielded a gilded
bronze statuette; further search devel-
oped another; an extension of the
trench brought to light still further dis
coveries; more and more came to view I
as the trench developed into a long and
broad pit. and up to the latest advices
over 5000 statues, statuettes mi busts
had been recovered, with prospects that
many others were still hidden beneath
the surface of the sand.
The excavations have been under the
direction of M. lie Grain. IN eminent
French a~rchaeologist, who for nine years
has been in charge of the preliminary
work of restoring the temple of Ammon-
Most of the atu are inscribed and
through the inscriptions have been iden-
titled and their originals placed in their
proper positions in Egyptian history.
Several of the statues are of kings whose
names we're until now uncertain. but
the discoveries Of NJ. lie Grain have
placed these monarchs in their proper
chronological stations and enabled the
historians to fill gaps which made the
annals of the earlier dynasties rather
guesswork than authentic records.
The ~statuettes are of every age before
the third century B. c.. and cover a
period estimated by somea at nearly 5000
years of human history. None, however,
have been found OF later date han the
Ptolemaic age. about 300 years before
Christ. How they came TO be thrown
pellmell into the pit where they were
found is one OF the mysteries which may
never be solved. like that of the hiding
OF the royal mummies in the hillside
neal Thebes. The most plausible con-
lecture is that an invasion of a foreign.
perhaps savage. enemy was anticipated.
perhaps from the direction of the
Soudan. and the priests of Ammon,
knowing that inevitable destruction
awaited the royal mummies and the
statues of the temple. hastily removed
the former by night to the hillside caves,
and as the danger stfiI threatened, hur-
riedly cast statues and ~statuettes into
the artificial lake or lavatory pool be-
side the temple, perhaps, also, If time
permitted. filling the latter with stand.
The mummies and { would thus
be safe from the savage invaders and
could be recovered and replaced when
the danger was passed. But the time or
! recovery never came, the secret OF the
priests died with them, and only by ae-
I cident. 2.200 years later, was the hiding
place of the royal mummies revealed
/, and the burial spot OF this greatest col
lection of statues uncovered. The works
are of bronze giEed, granite. basalt,
agate. beTyl, marble. %alabaster, even OF
limestone. and. thanks to the precau-
ton of the priests. are uniformly in an
excellent state of preservation.
A News want adv works wanders