628 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



looted in the last few years without any record, and it is only the 

 chance of some new discoveries that can be looked to for filling 

 up the history. We can at least say that the pottery of the early 

 kings is clearly derived from the later prehistoric types, and that 

 much of the civilization was in common. But it is clear that the 

 second prehistoric civilization was degrading and losing its artistic 

 taste for fine work before the new wave of the dynastic or historic 

 Egyptians came in upon it. 



These early historic people are mainly known by the remains of 

 the tombs of the early kings, found by M. Amelineau at Abydos 

 (1896-'99), and probably the first stage of the same race is seen 

 in the rude colossi of the god Min, which I found at Koptos (1894). 

 Unhappily, the work at Abydos was not recorded, and it is not 

 known now out of which of many kings' tombs, nor even out of 

 which cemeteries, the objects have come. Hence scientific results 

 are impossible, unless enough material has escaped the careless and 

 ignorant workmen to reward more accurate reworking of the same 

 ground. We can at present only glean a general picture of the 

 early royal civilization from Abydos, supplemented by some splen- 

 did carvings of two reigns found at Hierakonpolis (1897-'98) by 

 Mr. Quibell. 



The burials continued to be in tombs of the same form — rectan- 

 gular pits lined with brickwork and roofed over with beams and 

 brushwood. But they were made larger, and, in the case of the 

 royal tombs, great halls were formed about fifty by thirty-five feet, 

 roofed with beams eighteen or twenty feet long. In these royal 

 tombs were placed a profusion of vases of hard and beautiful stones, 

 bowls of slate, and immense jars of alabaster; these contained the 

 more valuable offerings of precious ointments and other funereal 

 treasures. Besides these, there were hundreds of great jars of pot- 

 tery, containing provision of bread, meats, dried fruits, water, beer, 

 and wine. Doubtless there were many vases of metals, but these 

 have been almost always robbed from the tomb anciently. Around 

 the tomb were the small graves of the retainers of the king, each 

 with a lesser store like that of their master. The royal tomb was 

 denoted by a great tablet bearing the king's spiritual name by 

 which he would be known in the future world. The private tombs 

 had small tablets, about a foot and a half high, with the names 

 of their occupants. As all these tablets show considerable weather- 

 ing, it seems that they were placed visible above the tomb. Tombs 

 of the subsequent kings were elaborated with small chambers 

 around the great one, to contain the offerings, and even a long 

 passage was formed with dozens of chambers along each side of it, 

 each chamber containing a separate kind of offering. 



