The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-02-15

Of rnen and birds ana beasts enctrcie
, this apaTtnhAI11 which was dimiy light
ed by the EeypttAn sun through slit
in the thick wall. At one time these
walls must have biased with brilliant
colcr. The. male figures in red, the
women in yellow, the bright-blue
vases And green- piants--everythins
was vividiy painted. and an astonisn-
|inx amount OF color remains. in spite
Iof the vsveges Of forty-sise centuries;
The scenes represeut professions %
men and women bearing gifts to the
tomb, oxen and geese. vegetables ana
great jars Another shows the priests
washinx the offerings and present.
ing them to the dead noblemaf' a
large figure Of perneb occupies one
wall and kneeling MT his feet are ms
wife, son-in-law and his son, very
small In 4ize to represent their rela-
ton 10 the head OF the house.
F1nger-Prints In Mortar.
Albert NJ. Lythgoe, the archeoiogist
in charge OF the Egyptian collection
pointed out some of the casual traces
left by the Egyptian workmen during
it's construction. At the back of the
wallis, for example, the mortar before
the hardened imprints of the fingers
OF the iaborers as distinctly as on
the QAH the St0AltS AetN PiASS~'
in position. North of the tomb q
mass OF dried paint was discovered
buried where the painters had thrown
1t.
The archeolorist also brought TO
New York a part of pottery basin
marked with the workman's rough
tally, and handful of nutshells found
under the plaster and mud flooring
Of the offering chamber, the remains
Of workman.s lunch eaten on the
day he was laying the floor OF thar
part OF the tomb.
1t In difficult to visualize the priests
who offered food generation after
generation to Perneb's spirit, and VINO
doubtless ate 1t themselves aa Mr.
Lythgoe guessed: but any one can see
the workman who hides the refuse
OF his lunch under the floor
For several generations. accordln :
TO Mr. IEthgoe. the priests fulfilled
their duty. Then the tomb was visit
ed by piunderers, who cleared the
burial shaft Of the stones and bouid-
ers with which it had been choked
and broke into the burial chamber.
deep underground. Smashing open
the sarcophabus, they stripped the
mummy Of Its rich ornaments and
scattered about the floor the pottery
vessels containing food and drink. and
the Canopic jars of limestone with
which a mummy usually set up house
keeping in the cellar of his tomb.
when political disruption fell on the
Kingdom at the end OF the Sixth Dy-
nasty the drifting desert-sands COW
cred 1t until it was lost to view. Later
great heaps of rubbish were piled over
it. 1t was thus saved from the de-
struction that fell to many others at
the hands OF the Kings and mobiles
from the middle Kingdom on, who
found them q convenient quarry to
obtain blocks for their own tonhs.
which were rayageH-tn turn by their
descendants ---s--s-
In 1907 the expsdittcno of tho Met
repolitan Museum NE--Ast attacked
the mound which hid Pernebs tomb.
and after cutting away~eone side OF
1t, discovered the roof of tho tomb.
Through hole in the stones d.
rectly over the statue-chamber the ex-
plorers dropped into the room, which
was found to be half filled with sand.
AS the walls of the tomb teemed N
such condition that 1t could never nc
| opened to the public, Sir CASTOR Mas
pero. director-general of antiquities at
Cairo, gave consent to its purchase
by the Metropolitan Museum OF Art