Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-02
Site Of Royal Tombs.


| Omm- el-Gaab, an Arab name signifying
| Mother of potts. was the site selected
for the royal tomb. It is on a low spur
from the hills. slightly raised above the
plain and has a deep drainage. ravine on
| the west, SO that 1t could never be flood
ed in the ancient times.
At Abydos the fund has commodious
! quarters. Mr.. Ayrton built one house
| for the use of the staff two years ago
| and second house quite near was OBJ
tanned by taking over the concession of
| the Liverpool University. Consequently
| an enlarged and valuable area is at the
disposal of the fund and the camp is
| we'll supplied with convenient premises
not only for the staff of excavators, but
also for housing securely all the antiqui-
ties which may be unearthed,
| In his address before the twenty-sev-
| enth annual meeting in London last year
M. Naville stated what the past season
fully confirmed as just appraisal of the
| situation
| I'm settling at Abydos, at place where
We shall have to remain for several years.
we make no new departure-We do not
| act differently from what we have done
at Deir-el-Bahari. We initiate no new
| method. We are following. the principle
| which has now been adopted in Egypt by
all really scientific explorers.
Habit Of Excavators.
Scientific excavators do not change
every year their sites. They settle in
one place and do not leave 1t before they
know what there was in antiquity at the
| spot where they are working. They do
not dig merely for filling museums or
| making private collections; they do not
declare a site to be worthless because
they have nothing to carry away from it.
| The clearing may solve important his
| tOrical or artistic questions"
The Egypt Exploration Fund was the
| first to adopt this method of work-that
| of clearing old monuments, of showing to
| the world what they were. 1t Is on this
principle that We cleared the two tenn
| Piles at DerelBahari. The magnificent
| eighteenth dynasty temple of Queen Hat
shepsu is entirely unique among the many
| beautiful buildings Of Egypt, and It's an
| cient model. the eleventh dynasty temple.
antedates that of the queen by 800 years.
Antiquities, however. do result in
| abundance And how greatly is their
| value increased by the fullness of knowl-
edge attained through thorough and ex-
| haustive research.
All Europe Excited.
The wonderful Hathor shrine coming
to view so suddenly in the excavation of
| 1908 at the eleventh dynasty temple at DER
el-Bahari. with its marvelously life like
the lunar disc, trailing lotus blossoms
| from her splendid head, with the stars of
heaven cleaning along her form. god
dess Of love divinely tender. nourishing
| the infant king kneeling beneath her.
defending the dead king standing before
| her. excited all Europe for five months
| with her wondrous beauty. But now ex-
| ceedingly enhanced was the attractive
| charm of the goddess when the six beau
| tiful shrines of her royal priestess were
xL4 rNrs,,o DO,
lying in state in the tomb below, as the
| crypt of cathedral
Just as Deir-el- Bahari. now one of the
| chief attractions at Thebes. will ever
society has done SO is Abydos richly re-
warding for all time the painstaking
:horoughness of our excavations.
Use of Railway Free.
BY the courtesy of S:r CASTOR Maspero
| the government has again loaned the
light railway, used for ten years at Deir-
| el-Bahari. This railway was brought
| from Luxor last season. rapidly relaid
and by January 1910. was in full opera
| ton at the royal tOmbs. employing the
trained men who had been in our service
| at r-el-Bahari. Work was continued
| with cars and baskets as long into the
spring as possible.
| The working season in Egypt is brief.
FROM Dect mOer 10 April generally
represents every working day. The cars
worked on two separate lines. branching
off from the northeastern corner of the
| mounds. One branch went straight south
toward the tomb of Den. stopping at the
top of the staircase. going down into the
tomb chamber The other branch went
west to the tomb of Ter. starting from
| the curious lines of vases which for want
of better term were at first called
| causeways.
Their walls were made of two rows of
| large horizontal pots. In the mounds
| which covered these causeways were
| thousands of terra-cotta cups. cups of
| coarse ware which seemed never to have
| been used. Last winter. very soon after
the work was resumed at this interrupted
| point, It, was settled that the rows of
horizontal pots were not the lining OF
| ROADS.
Antiquity Established.
The pots for the most part were not
older than the eighteenth or nineteenth
dynasty. A great number of painted
fragments are Of the we'll known work
Of that time. Seti / Of the nineteenth
dynasty Is said to have made extensive
| repairs here. and these pots may have
81 ESnAV rs t. dHvN HI n