The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-03-27
UNEARTH|NG RELICS
OF THE ANCIENT TIMES
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVA-,
MA CONDUCTING EXcAVA-
TIoNS AT FOUR POINTS.
MANY TREASURES ARE FOUND
Now in Valley of Kings, Where the
Statue of Father-in-Law of Tutank-
hamen Was Uncovered. Was Capt.
tai Years Before Christ.

hamen Was Uncovered. Was Capt.
tai Years Before Christ
| PHILADELPHIA, Pa.-The Uni
versity of Pennsylvania Egyptian
expedition, which has been delving
into buried history at the entrance to
the Valley Of Kings, where the tomb
of Tutankhamen was recently found,
is preparing to move to cooler cli-
mate to continue searching for bits of
information relating to the activities
of men in past ages.
| The university is now conducting
four expeditions One is the Valley
of Kings, another at Memphis, which
was the oldest capital of Egypt;
third in Palestine, and another in
| Babylonia, where, in connection with
the expedition of the British museum,
an ancient temple believed to have
been built 5000 years before the birth
of Christ, was discovered. Announce
ment of the finding of this temple was
recently made. inscriptions were
found showing that King Nebuchad-
nezzar repaired the place during his
reign in the sixth century b. {.
Move to New Spot.
The university has arranged the
work of her excavators so that when
the hot weather season comes in one
place they move to another, thus as
surfing almost continuous effort.
The work now coming to a close
is at Thebes in an area adjoining the
concession of Lord Carnarvon. Dur
ing the two seasons of digging at
Thebes several tombs have been dis
covered constructed in the same way.
as that of Tutankhamen, but all Of
them open and looted. The objects
found in each were not of interest to
robbers, such as canopic jars, ashab-
tbs, inscriptions and payri.
In the last-named class of objects
really notable discovery was made at
the close of last season when two
sealed pottery Ncylinders were found
within the entrance chamber of
tomb which contained rolls of papyri.
These were in perfect state of pres
ervation. On the outside of each roll
was a docket written in ancient Greek
and upon examination of the papyri
proved to be Denote documents, dat
! ing from 318 B. c. to 265 B. c. They
are mostly contracts, and contain the
business transactions of family dur
ing the period of years which they
covered. These papyri are now being
translated in the university museum.
Tombs of Officials.
All of the tombs discovered on the
museums concession were of officials
of the government of Thebes who
wished to be buried near the kings
and whose tombs are therefore found
in close proximity to the royal resting
places.
At the same time that the univer-
sity museum is working this conces-
sion at Thebes it is also excavating at
Memphis, IA miles above Cairo, where
the museum expedition discovered
several years ago the royal palace of
Merenptah, an extensive structure
covering a large area and enclosing
numerous courts. The floors of this
surface of the ground. The lower
walls, and sometimes doorways and
parts of columns, are found standing.
One of the interesting discoveries
made at this palace is the head of a
life size statue of Akhnaton, the faith
er-in-law of Tutankhamen. The feat
ures are exquisitely modelled and the
sensitive face is rendered in a won
derful lifelike manner
The throne room of the Merenptah
palace especially the dais, shows rich
sculpture and elaborate use of color.
The ornaments and hieroglyphic in
scriptions on the columns, and the
stonework surrounding the doorways,
are inlaid with beautiful pale blue
fayence. Surrounding the throne room
are dressing rooms, retiring rooms and
bathroom which originally had run
ming water.
Excavation here is still in progress,
and its completion is expected to
throw much light on the domestic and
official life of the Pharoahs.
Capital Down to 1000 B. c.
Memphis was the capital of Egypt
from the earliest times down to about
1000 B. c. Then the Pharoahs moved
their capital south to Thebes, which
arose to great splendor. Herodotus
bes. This city remained the capital un-
til Alexander the Great founded the
new capital at Alexandria, except for
that brief interval when Animation
built his new capital at Tell-el-Amar-
ma in order that he might START every
thing in Egypt afresh religion art,
architecture and government. His in
teresting experiment lasted for about
generation, or until Tatankhamen
restored the old religion, reversed the
policy of his father-in-law, changed
his name from Tutankhaton to Tut
ankhamen as a symbol of his rever-
sion, and went back to Thebes as the
seat of his government.
Merenptah, who is regarded by
most authorities as the Pharaoh of
the Exodus, reigned 1925 to 1215 B.
c. or about 125 years after Tutank
hamen.