Evening star., 1923-02-23

and they showed that the royal NOR
| tuary furniture with which such an
| august sepulcher was always equip
ped was likewise still within. On
December 20 had left the tomb with
this Knowledge and had voyaged
| slowly back to Cairo dreaming OF the
| marvellous possibilities Of such an
almost untouched royal burial, an
| absolutely unprecedented treasury OF
| ancient art, religion and history.
On February Is ! stood before the
sealed doorway again. The magnin
| cent furniture which had hlled tne
antechamber had been removed ana
| only the statues of the king remain
| ed on guard. Thus cleared the door
| way was more accessible than before.
| and 1t confirmed the first conclusion
| had drawn. Nevertheless. 1t was a
thrilling experience the next a1ter-
noon to see Howard Carter's hammer
| and chisel skillfully breaking away
the first hard plaster bearing seals
| and then dislodging the masonry NIL
ing behind. thus producing In quar-
| ter of an hour a small opening which
| revealed one corner of the imposing
the body Of Tutankhamen. We were
| the first men of the modern world TO
| look into the buriel hall OF an ancient
| kings tomb, still remaining essential.
| ly as 1t had looked when priests and
royal officers closed and sealed 1t
$3.50 years ago.
Unheed Silent Protests.
| Through all the sweep of centuries
no human eye had looked into this
royal sepulcher. to step between the
kings two silent statues, unheeding
| their mute protests. to pass along tne
through It's open doors. to see WITHIN
| two closed inner doors. upon Wn1cn
the royal seal impressed there by
mortuary priest was still unproken
4 a
still slept within-all these were eX-
periences which make one keenly
aware of the feebleness of language.
! Beyond the sepulchural hall lay an.
other chamber. undoubtedly the lass
in the tomb. Even the marvels or
| the antechamber, to which rev
weeks of familiarity had accustomed
US. had not prepared us for the amaz-
ling revelation of this innermost cham-
ber. Among all Its myriad treasures $
III Garry with me an imperishable
vision Of four lovely goddesses In
shining gold standing in wlnsome
grace with outspread arms ana neaos
icharmingly poised on one side as they
guard the sumptuous, gold-coVereo
shrine containing the kings four NOR
ituary vases. commonly called canoplc
jars. These exquisite girlish hgures
are fundamentally a new revelation
They are quite equal to anything ever
produced in Greek sculpture and rival
the greatest works of art Of any age.
UNIQUE Revelation Noted.
The great value and significance OF
this most marvellous archaeological dis-
covery of modern times lies In the
fact that in this tomb we have pre-
lunique revolution in art and religion
which had preceded Tutankhamen.
This revolution was due to the unique
genius Of Tutankhamen's father-in;
law, Ikhnaton. He had introduced
the earliest known monotheism and
infused into art a freedom. power and
beauty which completely trans
formed II.
This revolution marked the highest
level Of ancient culture before the
Greeks. The fanatical reaction which
| followed left very little of the new
thought and art to reveal to us It's
character Ikhnaton's beautiful cap
ital at Tel-El-Amarna was swept
away and with 1t perished the great
! works of art which his tremendous
revolution had brought forth: Some
| of them, however. were brought back
| to Thebes, the old capital, by Tut
were piously placed in his tomb by
his surviving relatives.
Tutankhamen's tomb. therefore, be-
came a treasury and magazine In
which have been preserved the only
| surviving monuments and works of
art of the first days of Intellectual
emancipation in the human career
and the only one antedating the
| Greeks.
| Nature of Evidence Withheld.
| Having been asked by the discov-
erer to undertake a full study Of all
the documents and evidence made
available by this extraordinary. dis
covery for the purpose of furnishing
! for the final official publication a COM
| pletely documented historical inter-
probation of the tomb. 1 am not in a
| position to disclose the interesting
evidence on which the above state
ment OF the value of the discovery
| rests, but the evidence will be made
available to science in due time.
| Meantime we may rest content with
| the assurance that at last the great
est civilization antedating the Greeks