284 



NATURE [April 27, 191 1 



This distressful country well earned her anci< 

 " wretched Nn" " " 



In the rep. archasolofjical survey of NuIk. 



there Is presi (ii.u i lomplete nnd itnpnrtial descri|)- 

 tion of nil the historical niateri.il ilm- nsciitd from 

 .1... .,.;i ,.;i;.. .11. ,^;(i..,l ,f, ,m i il in i liniiuilta'ii al 



ord' 

 intt ! j.. 



Hut ill thi-. \..l MirilniiK 



mon- Ih.iii I. . -\. 1 Mii(i,rful 



.!•, i-, siirli ,111 .!( hiiv I nil 111 iti "I: Nca-Min ^ 



wt.ik, l<M lir li.^s .,U,, j;iv.-ii ll).' I- , i-'Ir aiid 



trustu 01 ili\ .1M..U11I of ilii- f.iiliisi -.ta^rs in tin- 

 evolulioii ol l'.;;\|ilian ( i\ ilisati< m. Il is Inir thai lliis 

 has (ifl'n l>i< 11 .iiti-m|)ti(l liv (illiiT urilirs: hut in ail 

 cas("> fa( I lias lirc-n s(i iiitci \\.i\rn uilli fancv liial 

 th<- i)iituirs |,,iini..i liavc been more or ie-s .lisioricd 

 tiavi >tii;> of ill.- irutli. Dr. Reisncr's report will cvi i 



issue presented in 



.'^'.•., compliment to Dr. 



-lant professor of Harvard 



St n for this work; for he 



h,:. . t and intimate knowledge and 



in K>^ypt such sites as were of 



1 Nubia, and had learnt thereby 



<• f!istinrtinn«; fhrit cnnhlrd him 



to (llsi I II i III . • ■ ■ 'i 



ill tiiiif, till .> 



stalls ill tin- (li\ ( I ^iiii r lirtwci.n l:-j;yplian and Nubian 

 liiiriai I ustoiiis l)ifor<- they became obtrusive. It was 

 til,- jiossrssion of this spfcial knowledge that <!■ ■ : 

 luiiitd the is-,ti'- in Nutiia; and no Impartial ob-' 

 can (i'ii\ tliat Dr. Rcisner was the man mof^t hiyni\ 

 (.jualiliifi to undertake this work. 



No OIK who was privileged to witness the excava- 

 tion of rli( first site dug In the course of this survey 



111,. 1 Tilt; .ispect of Nubi.i near Dabod during the iiiundat. n hy u.uci 



iiinain a storehouse of accurate information concern- 

 ing the springs of Egyiiti.m civilisation, and a work 

 of fundamental Importance to all students of ih« 

 bejijinnings of culture In other lands. 



In the preface to this volume Captain II. G. Lyons, 

 F.R.S., formerly director-general of the Egyptian 

 Survey Departnu nr, now lecturer in geography at 

 Glasgow University, explains why this survey was 

 undertaken, and describes the tneasures adopted to 

 make it as thorough and searching as possible ; but 

 he does not tell the reader that to him belongs the 

 credit ot initiating and organising the excellent plan 

 of campaii^n in Nubia. 



When Captain Lyons was entrusted with the task 

 of arranging for carrying out the proposed survey, 

 'he was singularly fortunate in securing probably tlie 

 only arch.'eologist competent (in the sense that his 

 training and experience specially fitted him to cope 

 successfully with the tangled problems of Nubia) to 



NO. 2165, VOL. 86] 



(see chapter iv.) can fail to realise the enormous 

 ditVicuIties th.it liad to he overcome before even the 

 alphahet of Nuhia's historv could be read, and that 

 these ditVicuhies were eventuallv resolved only by the 

 einiiloynu'iU of the most rigorous scientific methods 

 ami painstaking analvsis of a complicated mass of 

 data, and by tlie coniiii.ind of an exceptional know- 

 ledge and experience to explain them. 



In the vast plain surrounding the southern ter- 

 minus of the Egyptian railroad at Shellal there had 

 heen buried the remains of people who had died at 

 every historic period during the last fifty centuries, 

 not only in L;r;\v<s of known Egyptian forms, but in 

 a variety of then unknown Nubian and Sudanese 

 types. Every kind of confusing clement was present 

 to complicate the problem : cemeteries of one period 

 intruded in those of earlier date, so that graves of 

 the most varied periods and peoples were apparently 

 inextricablv intermingled ; the results of the plunder- 



