New-York tribune., 1910-12-21
DIGGING AT MEMPHIS
Interesting Light Thrown on the
Growth of Egyptian Art.
From The London Times.

From The London Times.
At Memphis the work was renewed in
the spring. For two years past different
parts of the city had been excavated,
while waiting to make agreements with
the various owners of the site of the
great temple of Ptah- At last the re-
peated Oriental delays have been sur
mounted, and many contracts are signed.
The work this season was partly expert
mental to see how far the site should
be cleared exhaustively, what depth OF
clearance was needful and what methodS
should be followed. The destruction by
the builders of Cairo has been more ex-
tensive than any one has supposed. Ihe
entire clearance of the ground would
prove too costly, and the most profitable
course will be an extensive plttlnS over
the ground and clearance around any
stones that are disclosed. The depth is
less than was expected, for objects of
different ages show that about twelve
feet of soil must be removed to reach
the level of the early dynasties. The
water in April is about three feet down;
pumping over the whole area of work
takes it down to six feet: baling out OF
the small pits as they are SucceSSiVely
worked enables the clearance to be made
down to twelve feet or thirteen feet, and
then three feet deeper is probed with
iron rods before leaving the ground.
Each deep pit is finished by the evening,
and left to fill up with water by next
morning The work is thus found to be
quite manageable without heavy prep
arations, but it needs close organizing
and direction at every stage. The great
est and oldest temple site of Egypt is
we'll within our reach if only the work
is firmly supported in future years
The main produce from the temple this
year has been the remains of large
shrine built of quartz rock by Amen
hotep III, from which two fine blocks
with figures of the King and a goddess
have been brought away. Also a perfect
portrait head of King Amasis, on scene
from a shrine of his. Two granite drums
of columns of Rameses II have likewise
been brought away. At the Palace site,
cleared last year the depth of the foun-
dation proves 10 be enormous. The great
court of Apries, which rose about forty
five feet high, extends in it's foundations
to an equal depth below the pavement.
Not much was done here, as the temple
site absorbed the labor. But a curious
patch Of sweepings of a Persian office
was found, with Aramaic labels which
came off parcels from Syria, and some
dozens of sealings. These are mainly
Persian and Egyptian; and one seal
shows an alliance between a Black Sea
King and the Hittites, doubtless coming
off parcels sealed with a Royal seal from
the north. A perfect steel sword of
Persian age. massive bronze corner of
a cedar door with the long titles of
Psamtek I, a group of figures of Horus
and many other interesting objects We're
found also at the palace.
The kilns for glazed pottery were eX-
plored by Mr.. Bushe Fox, who turned
over all the debris of the factory. A
complete view of the various glazed fab
RIGS of about the age of Augustus has
thus been obtained-kilns, saggars. stilts
III ..,ff v,1
patterns of glazing. Some complete
groups of products from burned houses
serve to give an exact knowledge of the
dating of bronzes, glaze, pottery and
figures.
This season has thus been varied in
interest, and the principal advances have
been in illustrating the rise Of the archi-
lecture and sepulchral system, and sue
cessfully opening the search over the
great metropolitan temple of Egypt.