THE AGE OF BRONZE IN EGYPT. 503 



points at which thfiy have been met with — have they not been accessi- 

 ble to man from time to time dnring the thousands of years that liave 

 followed the construction?* 



Can it be affirmed that the layers of stone under which they were 

 lying were intact, and that the blocks had never been displaced and 

 afterwards restored to their place f In our days these blocks have been 

 removed without any harm being done to the solidity of the edifice. 

 The circumstances of the bearings do not extinguish ail possibility of 

 their introduction at an epoch more or less late, and it does not seem 

 that we are justified in drawing from these discoveries the conclusion 

 that iron was already known and employed by the Egyi)tians 3,000 

 years b. c.t One has so much the less the right to an opposite con- 

 clusion, as we are about to see, from all that is known elsewhere con- 

 cerning the epoch when iron was used, not only in Egypt, but even in 

 other countries. 



Lepsius, who supposes that iron was in use in Egypt from the fourth 

 century,f is obliged to avow that in Egyptian tombs, until now, few 

 objects in iron have been found, and that these objects are some of an 

 uncertain era, others recent. This declaration of one of the most emi- 

 nent scholars in Egyptian antiquity was made, it is true, 12 years ago, 

 but, more recently, in the special circle of Egyptologists doubts have 

 been manifested concerning the antiquity of iron in Egypt. § 



Incontestable proofs of the existence of iron before the epoch of the 

 new empire, that is to say, before the middle of the second millenium, 

 B. c, have not been produced. Having maintained as evident that 

 the Egyptians were in possession of iron at an epoch far more remote, 

 they have meanwhile tried to explain the absence of this metal in the 

 most ancient Necropolises and Mausoleums by invoking a religious 

 prejudice. 



Iron was regarded as the bone of Typhon, the enemy of Osiris, and 

 for this reason considered impure; one could not make use of it even 

 for the most ordinary requirements of life without polluting his soul 

 in a way that would cause him harm both on earth and in the other 

 world. Meanwhile, Mr. Maspero, one of the most eminent Egyptolo- 

 gists, has demonstrated that this explanation is not satisfactory, for 



* Vyae says (" Pyramids of Gizeli," i, p. 4) that the mouth of the atmospheric canal 

 in question is found partly enlarged before he began his labors there. 



t The scruples I have expressed in respect to the discovery of iron in the great 

 pyramid are not now presented for the first time ; compare the work of Rhind, ]>ub. 

 lished in 18(j'2, Thebes, its Tombs and their Tenants, p. 227. 



t Lepsius, Les Metaux, p. M. 



SS In the official guidt;, printed in 1879, for the use of the visitors to the British 

 Museum {A Guide to the Et/i/pUnn Rooms, p. 40) we read: "It is doubtful if the use 

 of iron was knowu at a very remote period." In the same way people expressed 

 themselves later, in 1884. See Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, session of March 25, 1884. Compare, also, Perrot and Chipiez, 

 Histoire del' Art, etc., vol. i (printed 1882), pp. 7.^)3, 754, and 830. 



