ARCHAEOLOGY. 



25 



Summary of Results. Of the latest results 

 of the explorations of the ancient tombs Mr. 

 Petrie said, in his report to the Egypt Explora- 

 tion Fund at its annual meeting, Nov. 10, after 

 describing a system he had adopted of classi- 

 fying and dating the relics found : " Thus we have 

 a system just as convenient as a scale of years, 

 and every kind of object can be relatively dated 

 in it. From the order of the graves as found by 

 the pottery, I have obtained the history of the 

 development of stone vases, ivories, and the work- 

 ing of flint and metal, for even the earliest of 

 these tombs contain copper. And having done 

 that, a new piece of history becomes apparent 

 in the great change that passed over every kind 

 of work at one point of the scale about a quar- 

 ter through the prehistoric age that we are study- 

 ing. A new tribe seems to have come in with 

 very different notions. One of the most curious 

 differences is that the older people largely used 

 signs, which are the forerunners of the Mediter- 

 ranean alphabets, while the later people ignored 

 such signs. The earlier people used no amulets; 

 the later used amulets, several of which came 

 down to the historic times. The use of a fore- 

 head pendant and face veil seems also to belong 

 only to the later people. The characteristic pot- 

 tery of the earlier people is closely like the Kabyle 

 pottery of the present ; the later people had some 

 pottery almost identical with that of south Pal- 

 estine in historic times. All these indications 

 point to the earlier being a Libyan population, 

 overlaid later on by an eastern migration. These 

 results we have only reached in the last few 

 weeks. I hope now it is clear what a great step 

 we have made historically in the mode of re- 

 ducing the prehistoric chaos into orderly se- 

 quence, and in tracing changes in the civilization 

 of such ages. ... In other lines we have also 

 reaped a good harvest. The cemeteries of the 

 sixth to the twelfth dynasties have given us the 

 history of alabaster vases and of heads. The 

 cemeteries of the thirteenth to the seventeenth 

 dynasties have shown the development of pot- 

 tery, as yet unknown, and splendid dated exam- 

 ples of fourteenth dynasty copper work, which 

 fix the forms of daggers and axes. An entirely 

 fresh invasion of Egypt by Libyans at the close 

 of the twelfth dynasty has been traced; several 

 kinds of subjects known before, but without 

 dates, have taken their historical position, and 

 we have a sample of the civilization of the Libyan 

 tribes at about 2000 B. c. And coming down to 

 Roman times, we have found the continuance of 

 a longer and fuller alphabet of Asia Minor in an 

 inscription scratched by a Roman legionary at 

 the camp of Diospolis." 



Africa. Prehistoric Tombs of Carthage. 

 The excavations of M. Gauckler at Carthage have 

 been carried on in a tract near the cisterns of 

 Bordj Djedid, between the great trench where 

 Vernay first discovered Carthaginian tombs in 

 1885 and the Punic necropolis of Douimes, which 

 was successfully explored by Pere Delatre. This 

 .district is one of the most important in Carthage, 

 containing as it does traces of former civiliza- 

 tions in successive strata to the depth of 7 or 8 

 metres. In the superficial explorations relics 

 brought to the surface by the plow were ob- 

 served, consisting of tiles, lamps, coins, articles 

 of pottery, etc. At the depth of a metre and a 

 half Byzantine tombs were found with rude mo- 

 saics. Beneath these were various constructions 

 of the corresponding epoch, among others a Roman 

 house apparently of the period of Constantine, 

 together with remains of a more ancient epoch, 

 notably a colossal head of Marcus Aurelius in 



white marble. This house of Constantine's time 

 is very interesting. In the center was a foun- 

 tain; farther on were two rooms paved with 

 mosaics, one representing a seashore scene, com- 

 prising a pavilion with towers, persons fishing or 

 boating, and mythological scenes in the lower 

 part. Another mosaic is less important, repre- 

 senting a hunt of wild animals, and apparently, 

 from the style and design, not older than the 

 fourth century A. D. Still another mosaic is 

 marked by pagan traits, and is therefore prob- 

 ably more ancient. A narrow passage was dis- 

 covered, with steps, descending which a chamber 

 was found, the floor of which was covered with 

 fragments of painted and molded plaster. The 

 apartment had been divided by a wall, on the 

 other side of which the debris was of a different 

 character, and consisted of lamps in the Christian 

 designs of the fish, the palm, and the cross, 

 and fragments of pillars and plaster painted in 

 bright colors, of a style quite Pompeiian. One 

 of these fragments represents a young woman 

 or priestess dressed in white, with a lotus flower 

 over her forehead, holding a staff terminating in 

 a cross. Other figures in marble were of pagan 

 divinities, bearing ancient fractures and signs of 

 deterioration, indicating that they had suffered 

 at the hands of iconoclasts. Among them were 

 a pudic Venus on a dolphin, a Jupiter seated 

 with his eagle, a Bacchus giving a drink to a 

 panther, a young man seated dressed in the 

 chlamys, a mask of Silenus, a lion's-head water- 

 spout, two statues of Mithra in terra cotta (one 

 of which was trampling on the head of a bull), 

 articles of pottery, the lower part of a statuette 

 with the bust of the Carthaginian horse, a mask 

 of a goddess wearing a diadem, and a portrait 

 of a woman. In a far corner of the chamber, 



BULL, DEDICATED TO SATURN, FOUND IN THE SANCTUARY 

 OF JUPITER AMMON, GRAYISH-WHITE MARBLE, 0.35 

 MILLIMETRES IN HEIGHT. 



against the w T all, was a white marble slab, bear- 

 ing a dedication to Jupiter Ammon, who was 

 identified with the god Sylvain, adored by the 

 Berbers, " Jovi, Hammoni, Barbaro, Sylvano." 

 On the other side, and considerably farther back, 



