Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-08-01
AN ALABASTER SPHINX.
\ Recent Discovery IN ERypt-Bed
stead and linen 5000 Years Old.

Another sphinx weighing ninety tons
and carved from a single block OF ala
haster. has been unearthed at a point
between the world famed Colossi on the
waterlosged plains Of Memphis in Egypt.
For hundreds Of years IT has lain in a
recumbent position buried beneath the
sands on the road to Sakkareh. To-day
it Is half exposed to view and next year
II Is to be raised to vertical position
above the water line.
This newly found sphinx was betrayed
in its hiding place by It's tall. which Mr..
Mackay. one of the students of the Brit
ish school in Egypt. discovered about a
year ago. This year when the water on
the plain subsidized the complete figure
was excavated and was found to measure
some fourteen feet high and twenty six
feet in length Alabaster being a rock
foreign to the ncighborhood says the
London Standard. the new sphinx ranks
as the largest that has ever been trans
ported. The figure bears no inscription.
but is considered by Prof Flinders
Petrie. the director Of the British school
in Egypt, to have been carved about 1Soo
g. c.
Many other remarkab BILE discoveries, TAX
ing the mind back as far as $500 b. c.
and lifting the veil of centuries from
Egypt's romantic story. have also been
made by the same school, and with the
exception of red granite group of Ra-
meses ii and the god Ptah, which will
be sent direct to the Carlsberg museum
at Copenhagen. and n few other details
are now on exhibition at University Col
lege. Cover street. They include many
objects quite now to Egyptologists.
Among these are cofYins made Of basket
work. reeds or withes. sandal trays. an
exc handle in which the grip is composed
of delicately knotted string. a pot Of I'M
burnt incense for a fire offering OF 1000
+. c.. and numerous pieces of timber
showing by their formation tho principles
Of building construction that were in
vogue nearly 5000 years B. c. Most of
the relics come from Tarkhan. an extern
sive cemetery about 81 miles south OF
Cairo. which dates from the earliest his
tortc age down to the pyramid period.
The site is the most northerly upon
which Professor Petrie has conducted ex-
cavations and the results have been most
gratifying. In spite OF the great antiquity
Of the graves the objects found are In a
remarkable state of preservation. There
ire bedsteads with hooflike feet. which.
although nearly 5000 years old. look capa-
BILE OF sustaining a fair weight to-day. and
long rolls of soft linen cloth. also e.0o0
years old, but as tough and pliable as
any modern texture straight from the
loom.
One OF the witty hampers now In
the Cairo museum, although OF the
same age. had the small leaf buds Of
the withes stil showing when II was
found. Some Of the bedsteads even re-
tain the rush webbing and plated
palm fibre.
The graves OF the early Egyptians
were always we'll provided with such
necessartes as were thought essential
for the spirit of the departed when 1t
gain materialized. Consequently the
relics from Tarkhan include head rests
(some OF them carved out of trees
trained specially into peculiar shapes),
sandals. large Jars OF food and various
vesseis OF gypsum and semi-trans-
parent alabaster
Some Of the vases bear the name Of
Mena, the earliest known Egyptian
King. They are considered by some
experts to be a tribute corresponding
to the modern floral wreath.