ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 223 



if legal proofs, arguments, and conclusions were kept 

 freely open to revision for years ; if they were printed 

 in every textbook for beginners ; if all students were 

 encouraged to find fresh evidence, and to upset what 

 was laid down, and if the high-road to position lay in 

 reversing the decisions of past authorities, it seems only 

 too likely that there would be a greater wreckage of 

 bad cases and bad law than there now is of bad 

 archaeology. 



The earliest stage of history is that of tribal tradition, 

 materialized by localities, relics of past men and events, 

 and mnemonic helps such as knotted cords, group drawings, 

 and the like ; as for example among the native peoples 

 of North America. The rhythmical tale or poem, such 

 as the Song of Lamech, Beowulf, or the Sagas, is the 

 highest form of this stage, culminating in such poems 

 as the Iliad. 



A register of great events in writing may look back 

 into the earlier stage, as the Lombard history of Paul 

 the Deacon, or the earlier part of the Anglo-Saxon 

 Chronicle. Or it may, like the historical parts of the 

 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, epitomize what records are 

 possessed. The most remarkable example of this class 

 was the register of about a thousand years of the early 

 history of Egypt, of which some fragments have been 

 preserved to us. This gave the eponym events of each 

 year, and the height of the Nile, the exact length of 

 every king's reign, to a day, and in the later times long 

 entries of the great works of the year. About 4000 B.C. 

 we read in one year of the reign of king Snefru : ' Building 

 a ship of 170 feet long, and 60 ships of 100 feet long. 

 Conquest of the negroes, and capture of 7,000 slaves and 

 200,000 head of cattle. Building the walls of the southern 

 and northern temples. Bringing in 40 ships of cedar.' 



