The herald., 1922-04-20

ciety. Washington. d. CO
Stanley journeyed thousands of miles
TO lay bare the secrets Of Africa TO
the. world; but in the northeastern
corner Of the same continent even
more thrilling exploration has been In
progress during the past few decades
through a relatively few feet OF sand.
The excavators who with pick and
shovel have been bringing to light the
details of Egypt's ancient civilization
and the everyday life of her people.
where before only the barest outline
Of the nations history was available,
are as truly discoveries Of unknown
civilizations as far-faring Marco Polos
or Pizarros.
For a long time Egypt was to the
rest of the world little more than a
gea of sand with a few dominant mon
uments-the pyramids, the Sphinx, the
colossi Of "Memnon"-to point to her
past greatness. Relics Of various dy-
nasties existed side by side, their re-
lations often unknown.
The names of many kings and some
of their noblest exploits were known,
but there was general ignorance in re-
gard to the less exalted Egyptians, to
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 Ptolomies,
had rified many tombs and so made
much Of the early scientific excava-
lions barren Of results. And the early
excavation Of Egyptologists 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
TO the delving for the buried secrets
Of the ancients, and now every cubic
foot Of sand about promising site is
combed or actually sifted that no
broken fragment of pottery, scrap of
papyrus, or jeweled bauble may es-
cape detection. In early days the
most common method Of dispOsing of
the removed sand and debris was by
means Of basket brigades which
dumped their loads nearby. Now light
tramways are used and care Is taken
10 haul the discarded material to
point where Il Is definitely known that
nothing of value will be covered
Where formerly "find" was Sind
and was assembled with all others
now any object partially uncovered II
photographed in place frequently al
the sand Is removed, so that no pos
sible significance Of its position or re
lation to other objects will be over
looked; and before II Is stored II Il
carefully tagged, numbered and card
indexed.
Getting Real Picture Of Ancient Life
These painstaking methods hav'
fully justified themselves. Instead o
having a confused mass Of facts, man!
Of them most interesting in them
selves, but often perplexing. we ar
getting by degrees q complete, intel
ligible picture Of Egyptian life over
period of thousands of years. Seem
ingly unimportant things help great,
to fill in the picture. One would hard
ly make the mistake Of picturing tn
old Egyptians scratching matches I
light the kitchen fire. but there wa
for long no true picture to take tn
place Of fancy. None Of the discovere
hieroglyphics showed the making o
fire. and 1t appeared to be entirel
without religious significance. In n
cent years, however, one Of the ne'
school Of excavators sifted from tn
sand a well-preserved f1re-bow an
drill and even board with burn
holes. and the problem was solved.
Temporary towns besides the site
Of great engineering projects are n
new thing I'm the world Cities for ID
borers were constructed for use Will
some of the pyramids were unde
construction. One such town has bee
completely uncovered and gives
cross-section of life under such cond
lions more than 4,6o0 years ago. TIL