268 



NATURE 



[August 24, 191 1 



number of works, perfect in form and substance, classical 

 for all time, belongs probably to France ; the greatest bulk 

 of scientific work probably to Germany ; but of the new 

 ideas which during this century have fructified science, the 

 larger share belongs probably to England." 



After all, German chemistry can always point with just 

 pride to the great teacher of us all, Justus von Liebig. 



EXCAVATIONS AT MEROE IN ETHIOPIA.' 

 ""THE ruins of the Meroe' were noticed so long ago as 

 1772 by the famous traveller James Bruce ; but his 

 identification was not generally accepted, and it was not 

 until three years ago that Prof. Sayce, in the course of an 

 official inspection on behalf of the Sudan Government, 

 recognised that unquestionably they were the remains of 

 Meroe, and invited Prof. Garstang, then at work in Egypt, 

 to undertake the excavation. 



The Government of the Sudan encouraged the work by 

 facilities and assistance, including the construction of a 

 railway siding, the provision of water tanks, and materials. 



In addition to the visible results, archaeology has received 

 some new and important contributions, for, until this work 

 was undertaken, nothing was known of the subject of the 

 Ethiopian civilisation from the specialist's point of view, 

 and this fact naturally doubled the difficulties of an excava- 

 tion of this kind. For this reason, primarily, the first 

 experiments (season 1909-10) were made in the tombs and 

 isolated knolls, as being the most accessible sources of 

 information as to the character of ordinary Meroitic 

 objects. 



Hie tombs, being of unknown type and securely cemented 

 down, for some time baffled the workmen, but at last there 

 came to light some thousands of vases— found, in some 

 instances, as many as thirty or forty in a single tomb 

 chamber. They were all of a style new and peculiar, 

 without any noticeable trace of Egyptian influence. In the 

 tombs furthest to the north vases of a special and rare 

 kind were recovered made of thin pottery, decorated with 

 paintings in colours (the subjects being animals, trees, or 

 natural features), or with designs stamped upon the clay. 

 Similar vases in more perfect state were found in 191 1 

 among some ruined buildings in the west of the city area. 



the Temple of A 



In this way the wants of 500 or 600 workmen were pro- 

 vided for. The camp became a stopping place for certain 

 trains, which brought provisions, and it marks the site 

 of a new station which will shortly be available to visitors. 

 Practically nothing of the ancient city was visible above 

 the soil when the party arrived upon the scene — no ruined 

 buildings or connected walls, only mounds of debris and a 

 few carved stones here and there — for the well-known 

 pyramids of Meroe that mark the spot lie back several 

 miles in the solitude of the desert. 



The gates of the city opened, as it were, one by one 

 before the ordered and methodical attack of the excavator's 

 trained Arab workmen. Great temples, royal palaces, anil 

 public buildings emerged gradually from the sands ; the 

 city wall, and gates and quays stood once more in their 

 places; colossal statues, altar-, and public monuments dis- 

 clo ed their whereabouts; tin- tombs yielded up theii 

 small, artistic remains 



and numbers of 

 i in the busy sieves. 



1 From the Guide to th 

 at Meroe, and the second interim 1 

 Garstane- 



itial exhibition of antiquities discovered 

 the excavations, by Prof. J. 



"- '. J I1S2. VOL. 87] 



i, the high attar beyond. 



In addition to pottery vessels there were in the tombs a 

 variety of objects not merely funerary in character. 



In obedience to primitive instinct, the dead was laid to 

 sleep on his bed in his subterranean chamber surrounded 

 by the things which would be to him the most useful upon 

 his awakening. The soldier had his weapons (sword, 

 lance, dagger, &c., all of iron) ; the huntsman his bow and 

 arrows — even his hound- were sometimes sacrificed with 

 him. The women had equally their bends and their 

 jewels. In a few cases the frame of a decayed wooden 

 bed might be traced; and in every tomb the rases and 

 dishes seemed to have contained drinks and food. It is 

 probable that originally one of the doors was left so that 

 ii might be opened l<" tin regular renewal of the offerings. 



While this experiment was in progress, (he position of 

 tin greal templi ol \mon was determined, and the task 

 1 1 1 begun. The entrance proved to be a 

 pylon in the Egyptian style, and the central aisle leads 

 through a series ol columned halls to the sanctuaries, at. 

 a distance of 130 yards, beyond which the temple abuts on 

 tli.- greal wall of the city. Towards this end. in the main 

 axis, there -till stood tli.- high altar, carved in a single 



