22 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES. (ENGLAND.) 



very obscure period of Egyptian history, of 

 which the known relics are very few. The 

 tomb is composed of two chambers, tunneled 

 in the hills, in a rock, the friable character of 

 which obliged the artist to line the walls with 

 ks of limestone, on which to place his em- 

 blematic paintings and inscriptions. The sar- 

 eopha-us, which was decorated, had been rifled 

 of its 11 in m my, and was lidless. Texts from 

 the Book of the Dead and the Funerary Rit- 

 ual were found. The discovery is of particu- 

 lar interest, because it supplies a distinct con- 

 necting link between the Mastabah tombs of 

 the <>Mer dynasties and the tunneled tombs of 

 the Theban Renaissance period, between which 

 M. Mariette supposed a "complete rupture of 

 all artistic traditions " had taken place. 



The Necropolis of Khemnis. During the spring 

 of 1884, M. Maspero discovered at Ekhmeen, 

 a large provincial town of Upper Egypt, about 

 halt- \\ ay between Assiout and Thebes, and rep- 

 resenting the ancient Khemnis, or Panopolis, 

 a hitherto undiscovered and unplundered ne- 

 cropolis of immense extent. Within three hours 

 he verified the sites of more than one hundred 

 catacombs, all absolutely intact, five of which, 

 on being opened, yielded 120 mummies. The 

 remains, so far as explored, are of the Ptole- 

 maic period. 



Koman Belies in England. Relics of the Roman 

 occupation have been frequently uncovered in 

 the excavations for the erection of new build- 

 ings, and for other public works, in various 

 parts of England. Several such remains were 

 found during 1884 at York. A dedicatory tab- 

 let of Marcus Aurelius was unearthed in dig- 

 ging for the foundations of the new Mechanics' 

 Institute in that city. A flanking wall of the 

 Roman bridge, which is known to have crossed 

 the Ouse, running at right angles to the bridge- 



were found parts of two altars, with the arm 

 or handle of a large vessel of gritstone, curi- 

 ously ornamented. Of one of the altars only 

 the base remained, on which had been roughly 

 cut the letters " S. P. R." The other altar, of 

 fine limestone, had been broken, but bore an 

 elegantly cut votive inscription by L. Celernius 

 Vitalis, cornet of the ninth legion, with a cau- 

 tion against any violation of the offering. 



A Roman family burial-place was discovered 

 at Lincoln, in the heart of the city. The " lo- 

 culus" consisted of a stone chamber, 5 feet 

 10 inches long, from 2 feet inch to 3 feet 

 1 inch broad, and 3 feet 9 inches high. Con- 

 nected with it by a short passage-way was a 

 quadrangular chamber measuring 4 feet 2 inch- 

 es by 4 feet 10 inches. Within the loculus 

 ten vessels were found imbedded in lime ; not 

 ordinary globular - shaped funeral urns, but 

 pitchers, like ordinary domestic jugs, contain- 

 ing ashes and fragments of burned bone. They 

 were of coarse ware, with a greenish glaze, and 

 unornamented. Several of them were covered 

 with saucers or small cups, inverted and made 

 to do duty as lids. Upon the upper or eastern 

 end of the loculus was built a furnace, which 

 was between five and six feet long and one foot 

 nine inches wide and high. The discoverer be- 

 lieves from the small dimensions of this fur- 

 nace that it was not used for cremation, but 

 was in fact a Norman oven. 



A Roman villa has been opened, under the 

 Hill of the White Horse, at Uffington, Berk- 

 shire. It contained a pavement that consti- 

 tuted a very fine specimen of the third-century 

 tessellaD, which is illustrated in the engraving. 

 Six skeletons were found, which are supposed 

 to be of Saxons who occupied the villa after 

 the retirement of the Romans. A massive 

 building has been uncovered at Chesterhope 



CSft 

 ' ( f s^ ^ 



^-."r.-.v.-f 





TESSELLATED PAVEMENT OP A ROMAN VILLA. 



head, and nearly parallel with the river, was 

 red in preparing for the foundations of 

 the new post-office, and was bared for forty- 

 five feet ; under it ran a carefully constructed 

 drain. At another place were found two Co- 

 rinthian capitals, finely carved in limestone, 

 but in considerable decay. Upon the mount, 

 which has always been nch in Roman remains, 



in Northumberland, in which have been found 

 two or three inscriptions that are attributed to 

 the reign of Alexander Severus. 



Greek Inscription at Brongh-under-Stammore. 

 Interest has been directed to a stone contain- 

 ing a Greek inscription, discovered in 1879 

 under the poroh of the church at Brough- 

 under - Stainmore, Westmoreland. It was? 



