7 
evidently a game of ninepins. In Norfolk to-day, said Professor 
Petrie, they still play skittles by bowling through an arch, so 
that the game can be traced back to the respectable antiquity of 
something like eight thousand years. 
The audience were much interested in the lecturer’s explan- 
ation of the system by which the comparative dates, though 
not, of course, the actual dates, of these ancient relics could be 
approximately determined. Certain classes of pottery and other 
articles were always found together, and the problem resolved 
itself into dividing them in sections, and gradually sorting out 
by statistical methods. The last section was found to correspond 
very closely with the objects found belonging to the earliest 
historic times. The pre-historic Egyptians, said the lecturer, 
were evidently closely allied to the peoples living in Syria and 
Lybia. There was no practical difference between them, and the 
earliest pottery of the Egyptians is almost exactly like that of 
the Kabyles of the present day. 
About 4,800 to 5,000 s.c. the historic times begin, when an 
entirely new race of people came in and founded the First Egyptian 
Dynasty. The Professor showed pictures of various utensils of 
this time, whereon, easily recognizable, were carved such animals 
as the giraffe, lion, leopard, ibex, and others, which have for 
long ages been extinct in the land. Another instance of the 
wonderful handiwork of the old Egyptian craftsmen was a 
circular pot of syenite, two feet across, yet so thin (about a 
quarter of an inch) that it could easily be lifted with one hand. 
Continuous history begins at 4,800 s.c., with a record of ten 
kings before that, which brings us to about 5,000 3.c. From 
what we know, the probability is that the very earliest records 
have only undergone a few copyings. 
On the broken forearm of a Queen of the First Dynasty, 
who had been dust for millenniums, his men had found a 
beautiful group of four bracelets, of alternate beads of turquoise 
and gold, threaded with ball beads. Every piece was numbered 
in order, and the Professor said that these jewels showed the 
highest technical perfection in the art of soldering. Each 
bracelet was entirely separate in design, and every piece was 
made for the place it had to occupy. ‘“ A far better idea of what 
jewellery should be than any we have at the present day,” 
commented the Professor. Gold wire and lapis lazuli are also 
found in the jewellery. In the course of his excavations, the 
Professor found examples of concentric brick arches dating back 
beyond the Pyramids to about 4,200 .c., thus taking back the 
history of the arch many centuries earlier than anything found 
hitherto. He also found the oldest metal sculpture in the world, 
dating about 3,500 B.c., in some small statues of the Sixth 
Dynasty, all beaten out in copper, yet as free and life-like in 
portraiture as if worked in clay. 
