The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-04-24
REVEAL CULTURE
OF ETHIOpIANS
Tombs of SO Kings Opened by
Harvard-Boston Expedition.
HAD SCRIPT OF THEIR OWN

HAU SGKRl Ut iHEK UWn
The history of the ancient Kingdom
of Ethiopia through the long span
Of LOO years-from $50 B. G. to $50
A. D.-has been completed in principal
outline by excavations in tombs and
pyramids in the Anglo-Egyptian Sou
dan by the Harvard-Boston expedi-
tion headed by Professor George A.
Reisner.
The most recent researches Of the
expedition in the pyramids at Meroe
have established that the culture OF
the Philippians stood as an outpost
OF Egyptian civilization in middle
Africa, Dr. Reisner said in the report
| which he has Just made; that in the
art Of the Ethiopians Greek influ-
eIce obtained and that in the inven-
| ton Of script of their own was evil
dence that the Philippians were peO-
pie of genius.
The Philippians, Doctor Reisner de-
clared are not and were not African
negroes. He described them as
dark colored races in which brown
prevails" adding, however, that many
individuals show a mixture Of black
blood
Discoveries at Meroe.
This latest report from Doctor Refs
ner has to do principally with dis
coveries at Meroe, which is not far
from Khartum and some 600 miles
south of Luxor and the Valley of
the Kings, where the discovery OF the
King Tut-Ankh-Amen tomb was recent
ly made. The report picks up the
main outlines of the history of Ethi-
opfa from 300 b. c., where Doctor
Reisner's earlier report of researches
at Napata left off. The capital of
Ethiopia was changed from Napsta
to Meroe at that time. Doctor Refs
ner, whose report from Napata made It
possible for the first time to write the
history of Ethiopia from $50 b. G. to
300 b. c., now brings the story of the
kingdom in main outline through the
following six and half centuries up
to its conquest by the Abyssinians
about $50 years after Christ.
The principal achievement Of the
expedition during the last three years,
under the auspices of Harvard univer-
sity and the Boston Museum Of Fine
Arts. has probably been scientific ex-
animation and analysis of the fifty |
royal tombs in the cemeteries at
Meroe, and the resulting determine
ton Of the chronological basis for |
the history of Ethiopia during the |
era, the report Indicated
1.-THE period is long one, and to
the layman the effort to fix the order
Of fifty royal tombs situated in APP
parent confusion on two separate hills
may appear almost hopeless, although
he procedure is really quite simple
said Doctor Reisner.
The custom of Sati-Burial. accord
ng to which the members of the kings
household killed themselves or were
zilled when he died and were buried
n the same tomb, prevailed at Meroe
rom the second century B. c.. on
yard, says Doctor Reisner.
''The great outstanding feature OF
he history of Ethiopia was that the :
Ethiopian culture unit stood as an
utp0st of Egyptian civilization In
middle Africa" Professor Reisner said
Ethiopia had become thoroughly :
,gyptianized while 1t was under the
way of Egypt, and the Egyptian In
uence, though gradually diminish
,g, remained dominant for hundreds
years.
Their Own Script. :
"The Ethiopians, however, were not
, entirely dependent on Egyptian
utilization as this might seem to in
Icate, for they invented script OF =
leir own, as few other nations have n
one, unique in the form Of the let
RS adapted only to the writing OF :
leir own peculiar language The 2
lrsive was invented first for the
tactical purposes OF daily life and
fused an immediate decline In the
lowledge of Egyptian and when the .
lowledge Of Egyptian hieroglyphics
as lost they invented hieroglyphic
rIpt of their own. These inventions y
e warnings that the genius of the ~
ople of Meroe is not to be under -
The excavations also uncovered
" objects of Greek art. con- .
1erable quantity of objects of Hell %
lstic-R Roman art, nearly all of them
imported and some forms VI
native pottery derived from Hell rs
listic forms, showing that there was
Greek influence on Ethiopian art.
GAS always throughout Eth'opin.
'ctor Reisner said. "the burial chrnl- -
RS of every tomb which we ex-
vated had been pundereh and :
ually very completely pIunteretl. -,
The most important objects of loc:i - -,
nufacture found by the expedition
re the products Of the goldsin tbs Ell
ctor Reisner said These included re,