The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1922-04-07

Prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington, u. @
Stanley journeycd thousands Of miles
to lay bare the secrets Of Africa t.
the world; but In the northeastern
corner Of the same continent ever
. more thrilling exploration has been in
progress during the past few decades
through q relatively Few feet of sand.
.he e~XcavatorS who with pick and
lovel have been bringing to light the
tails of Egypt's ancient civilization
ad tire everyday life Of her people.
gNhore before only The barest outline
If the nations history was available,
are as truly ~discorererS Of unknown
civilizations as far-Gfiue Marco PoIos
or PIzarros.
For a long time Egypt was to the
rest Of the world little more than a
sea Of sand with a few dominant mon
umeutS-the pyramids, the Sphinx. the
colossi q "Memnon'-to point to her
past greatness. Relies Of various dy-
naSties existed side by side, their re-
lationS often unknown.
The name of many kings and some
Of their nOhIeSt exploits were known,
hut there was general ignorance in re-
gard to the less exalted Egyptians. 10
the activities that made up the life OF
this mysterious nation beside the Nile
four and perhaps five and six or more
thousands of years ago. Grave rob
hers, whose activities extend back into
the DAYS long before the PtOlomles,
had rifed many tOmbs and so made
much Of the early scientific exCava-
tions barren Of results. And the early
excavation Of Psychologists was itself
a careless procedure aiming at the big
goals and destroying and burying
many small objects Of incalculable
value In the indications they might
have given Of manners and customs.
Recent exploration In Egypt has
been a vastly different matter. Modern
efficiency methods have been adapted
60 the drlving for the buried secrets
Of the anct nts, and now every cubic
foot of SAID about a promising site IS
cOmbed or actually siftPd that no
broken fragment of pottery, scrap Of
papyruS. or jpNelpd bauhle may es-
cape detection. In early days the
most common method of diSpOSing of
the removed sand and debris was by
means of basket hrigades which
dumped t,atr loads nearby. Now light
tramWay> are used and care is taken
to haul tie Discarded material 70 a
point where II is definitely known that
nothing of value will be covered.
Where formerly - find" was 4 find"
now any object partially uncovered is
photographed IN place frequently as
the sand * removed. 50 that no pos
Sihle Significance Of its position or re-
lati3n to other objects will be over
looked; and before II is stored 1t Is
carefully tagged, numbered and card
indeXed.
Getting Real Picture OF Ancient Life.
These painstaking methods have
fully justified themselves. Instead Of
a confused Of facts, many
Of them most Interesting in them
selves, but often perplexing, we are
getting by degrees a complete, intel
picture of Egyptian life over a
period Of thousands of years. Seem
unlmpOrtant things help greatly
to fill in the picture. One would hard
ly make the mistake Of ~picturing the
old Egyptians scratching matches TO
light the kitchen fire. but there was
for long no true picture to take the
place Of fancy. None of the discovered
hieroglyphics showed the making OF
fire, and il appeared to be entirely
without religious significance. In re-
cent years. however, one Of the new
school Of excavators sifted from the
a wellpreServed fre-bow and
drill and even d 6oard with burnt
holes, and the problem was solved.
Temporary towns besides the sites
OF great engineering projects are no
new thing In the world. Cities for la
.orers were constructed for use while
some Of the pyramids were under
construction. One such town has been
uncovered and gives a
of life under such cOndi-
lions more than 1900 years ago. The