THE EISE OF MAN BREASTED 417 



dawn of civilization. Thus began an extraordinary social evolu- 

 tion much of which we can follow. Although its earliest stages elude 

 us, we have in the prehistoric cemeteries along the Nile a vast body 

 of fact and information concerning the earliest conquests which 

 lifted man from savagery to civilization, and form the oldest evi- 

 dences of the advance of man's developing mind. 



SALVAGING THE EARLIEST BUILDINGS AND INSCRIPTIONS PRODUCED BY 



CIVILIZED MAN 



As organized government advanced the monumental age began, 

 and the volume of evidence greatly increased. The vast cemeteries 

 of massive stone tombs with which Nile travelers are familiar along 

 the margin of the desert from Gizeh southward for 60 or 70 miles 

 are an illustration of the enormous body of unsalvaged evidence 

 which still remains to be recorded and saved for science in the 

 ancient Near East. It is the salvaging of this evidence which consti- 

 tutes probably the most important of the numerous responsibilities 

 of modern science in this region at the present da}^ The Oriental 

 Institute has therefore organized a group of staffs trained, equipped, 

 and adequately supported, to salvage this perishing evidence at every 

 possible point. At Sakkara, the cemetery of ancient Memphis, the 

 reliefs in the tomb chapels of 5,000 years ago, often with beautifully 

 preserved original colors, depict the whole range of ancient human 

 life, especially cattle breeding, agriculture, and highly diversified 

 industries. The expedition which is just beginning the work of copy- 

 ing these scenes in facsimile and publishing them in color is under 

 the field directorship of Prof. Prentice Duell, formerly of Bryn 

 Mawr College. These remarkable materials when published will fill 

 five folio volumes 24 inches high. 



THE DAWN OF CONSCIENCE 



With the development of the social fabric which arose on the 

 material basis so clearly disclosed in these early tombs, moral sensi- 

 bility appeared as early as the middle of the fourth millennium B. C, 

 and the sense of social responsibility also later arose for the first 

 time. Man began to contemplate society and to reflect upon the 

 quality of human conduct. Thus emerged a new realm of social and 

 moral values, which man began to observe for the first time. Con- 

 science gained influence and began to be a social force. This funda- 

 mental step in human advance is disclosed to us in the centuries 

 before 2000 B. C. in a large body of writings which we call the 

 " Coffin Texts," because they are written on the insides of ancient 

 Egyptian coffins. For the last eight years, under the editorship of 

 Dr. Alan H. Gardiner, of London, and Dr. Adriaan de Buck, of the 



