202 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE STONE AGE IN EGYPT. 



By J. DE MORGAN. 



THE investigation of the origin of man in Egypt is a very com- 

 plex problem, belonging as much to geology as to archaeology. 

 The earliest evidences we have of human industry, in fact, go back 

 to so remote a period that they should be regarded rather as fossils 

 than as archaeological documents. They are very coarsely worked 

 flints, which are found near the surface of the ground among the 

 pebbles of the Quaternary or Pleistocene epoch, and similar to those 

 which occur abundantly in Europe, America, and Asia; but the 

 study and collection of them have been pursued with less method 

 than in those countries. The more recent monuments, so much more 

 conspicuous and more easily accessible, have attracted most attention, 

 while these have been left in the background. 



No region in the world presents a clearer and more distinct indi- 

 vidual character than Egypt. Each village is a special world, each 

 valley a universe that has developed its own life; and man has felt 

 the special local impressions; and even in modern times, while all 

 the Egyptian villages present a similar aspect, and although the 

 fellah appears to be the same sort of a man everywhere, each locality 

 has its special individual characteristics. One who knows how to 

 observe men and things critically will find considerable differences. 

 These dissimilarities are as old as Egypt itself. They have always 

 existed, and are as much more intense as the communications be- 

 tween district and district were formerly more difficult. They are 

 due to physical conditions special to each village, to the prevailing 

 winds, the form and character of the mountains, the extent of cul- 

 tivable lands, and the supply of water. A study of the detail of the 

 country is a very important preliminary to the examination of 

 Egyptian history. Every village and every nome had formerly its 

 special divinity and its particular usages. Are we sure that the gods 

 and customs were not imposed by local conditions? At Ombos two 

 hostile gods were adored in the same temple. May we not see in 

 this fact a recollection of the hostility which has always prevailed 

 between the inhabitants of the two banks of the river, and still con- 

 tinues? 



Previous, however, to investigating these details which have 

 been so influential on Egyptian civilization, we ought to dispel the 

 darkness which hides from us the earliest traces of man in the valley 

 of the Nile, and examine how man lived in his beginning, to study 

 the geology of the country and its condition when it issued from the 

 seas. As one of the results of this study we find that palaeolithic 



