820 BEPORT — 1903. 



Of the fn'st dynasty all the eight kings have been identified ; their tombs, 

 vases, sealings, and officials are all now familiar to us, and we can trace the 

 gradual changes between one reign and another as clearly as we can during the 

 last century or two. The growth of the use of writing can be well seen on the 

 seals, the impressions of over two hundred of which have been collected. At first 

 only a single sign for a proper name of a king ; then a more complex name ; then 

 the vizier named with the king ; next the titles of various officials ; and in the 

 end of the second dynasty full names and titles in a style as complete as in any 

 later age. The art of the dynastic people was entirely different from any of the 

 prehistoric age, though it united with it and took over some features of it. 

 Broadly, the pre-dynastic people were mechanical, and the dynastic race was 

 artistic ; and even in the earliest works of the kings there is an ability of the best 

 style, though still archaic. By the end of the reign of Menes and under his suc- 

 cessor the artistic types had become fairly fixed, and they remained the patterns 

 to which the Egyptian recurred at each successive renewal of art during four 

 thousand years. The most completed stage was in the middle of the first dynasty, 

 and at its close there is certain degradation. The state of art between the first 

 and the fourth dynasties is not yet clear ; it seems to have become conventional 

 and probably devitalised until it made a fresh start with the great expansion of 

 activity under the pyramid builders. The royal tombs of the early kings were 

 enlarged forms of the prehistoric graves. A pit iu the ground had during the 

 prehistoric age been improved on by making it a large chamber lined with mats, 

 roofed with timber and brushwood, and furnished with an abundance of vases and 

 objects. The earliest royal tombs are much the same, only lined and floored with 

 timber, the offerings being dropped in between the timber lining and the side of 

 the pit. Then regular cells were built for the offerings ; next, a row of small 

 chambers apart from the tomb ; and lastly, an elaborate series of store chambers 

 of various sizes. The tomb originally had no entrance ; then a sloping hole leads 

 to it, next a stairway, and lastly a long sloping passage as in the pyramids. The 

 outer form was at lirat a slightly raised heap over the roof of the tomb. This was 

 next walled round to retain the earth ; after that the walling was raised and 

 formed a block of brickwork with sloping sides on the early brick mastaba. This 

 later became expanded by additions around it and extension upward, so as to be a 

 mass of concentric coats ; and when translated into stone at the end of the third 

 dynasty it suggested pyramidal outline, and so originated the pyramid type. 



For the first time we can now see what was going on in each generation over 

 a period of nine or ten thousand years ; a few dark times still need the filling in 

 of details, but the general course of man's development and abilities can now be 

 understood with a completeness which gives a solid basis for some general views. 

 Archaaology and history, the scientific knowledge of the past of man, gives us the 

 surest comparisons for estimating his future. 



WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBEB IG. 

 The following Papers were read :— 



1. On the Occurrence of Slone Implements in the Thames Valley between 

 Reading and Maidenhead} By Ll. Treacher. 



2. The Rapid Evolution of the Jamaica Black. 

 By Miss PULLEN-BURRV. 



This paper deals with the fusion of racial elements in the black and coloured 

 peoples of Jamaica, and their present civilisation in so far as the safety of life and 

 the security of property are concerned. A unique feature in this island appears 



' See Proceedings of Section C, p. 670. Published in full in Man, 1904, 10. 



