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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XX. No. 510 



Moreover, the close observation of the well-executed hieroglyphs 

 found upon the walls of the tombs of this ancient nekropolis has 

 given many useful hints as to early Egyptian customs. For in- 

 stance, the fact that the numerals turn out to be formed of lengths 

 of rope, has suggested to Mr. Petrie the possibility of an original 

 reckoning by means of ropes — a custom found in other parts of 

 the world. 



At this remote period stone and copper tools were used ; only 

 one bronze implement having been found in the course of the ex- 

 cavations. This exceptional piece Mr. Petrie regards as a trade 

 importation ; if, indeed, as is more likely, its presence is not to be 

 accounted for by displacement from a higher level — it would be 

 difficult to imagine whence true bronze could be imported in the 

 fourth millennium B. C. 



Under the reign of Seneferu, the Libyan already appears as the 

 civilized ally of Egypt; as is testified by the familiar hieroglyph 

 of the Libyan soldier armed with his bow and arrow. 



Traces of two distinct races — represented by distinct funeral 

 customs — were also found among the graves near this pyramid. 

 From these were obtained fifteen skeletons, five of which present 

 cases of mutilation or deformity. The series is now at the College 

 of Surgeons, where it will be studied and reported upon. 



The other chapters of Mr. Petrie's book, in which he treats of 

 his excavations in the Delta and in the Fayum, are no less inter- 

 estiug. They furnish the reader with the principal data upon 

 which the learned explorer bases his conclusions as to the relation 

 of Egypt to the rest of the ancient world ; and they naturally lead 

 up to the eleventh chapter, in which these conclusions are ex- 

 pressed and vigorously set forth. 



Jt was already fully established, by inscriptions found upon the 

 Egyptian monuments, that the Mediterranean races were in con- 

 tact with Egypt under the New Empire. Mr. Petrie has not only 

 added to the evidence: he has recovered traces of foreign colonists 

 rer-iding in the Nile VaUey, and has brought forward proof that 

 close intercourse existed at least as early as the fifteenth century 

 B.C., with a strong presumption in favor of the view that such 

 intercourse must be carried back to a much earlier period. 



From the facts which have come to light in Egypt and else- 

 where, he argues that the civilization of the Bronze Age arose in 

 Europe; that the use of bronze was introduced into Egypt by 

 northern, not eastern, contact ; and that it is from the mines of 

 Hungary, Saxony, and Bohemia that the tool-makers of Pharaoh- 

 nic times derived the tin which they used as alloy in their in- 

 dustry. 



According to Mr. Petrie, Europe evolved its own culture as in- 

 dependently as Egypt itself, and in its relations with other civili- 

 zations it gave the East as much as it received. It is indeed to 

 Europe that we must look for the origin of the bronze age ; and 

 there is little doubt that, if the place occupied by the primitive 

 culture of Europe has so long been overlooked and ignored, it is 

 principally because it did not evolve a graphic system, and there- 

 fore remains silent when the monuments left by the Oriental 

 civilizations are bursting into words. Yet, "if silent, it is not 

 dumb." The Mykense culture has left traces that lead us back at 

 least to the sixteenth century B.C. (its decadence had already 

 begun by 1100 B.C.). It was not confined to Greece; it was far- 

 reaching, and represents the highest outcome of the bronze age. 

 Its influence was felt from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, and 

 it came into contact with Asia as well as with Africa. 



"This bronze age," says Mr. Petrie, "is the source of the ob- 

 jects we now use. Thence these types were carried into Egypt a 

 couple of centuries later by the Greeks. When we descend fur- 

 ther, we see this independent culture of Europe prominent. The 

 Saxons and the Northmen did not borrow their weapons, their 

 laws, or their thoughts from Greece or Italy. The Celts swamped 

 the south of Europe at their pleasure ; and against the fullest de- 

 velopment of Greek military science they were yet able to pene- 

 trate far south and plunder Delphi. They were powerful enough 

 to raid Italy right across the Etrurian territory. When we look 

 further east, we see the Dacians with weapons and ornaments 

 and dresses which belong to their own civilization, and were not 

 borrowed from Greece. In short, Greece and Italy did not civilize 

 Europe, they only headed the civilization for a brief period." 



Such are the conclusions reached by Mr. Petrie after ten years 

 of patient investigation and of a most serious study of the Egyp- 

 tian written and unwritten record. In matters of detail Mr. 

 Petrie's interpretation of certain facts may be open to discussion ; 

 some time will probably elapse before the exact dates suggested 

 by him for some of his " finds" are definitely adjusted to the en- 

 tire satisfaction of experts in special branches of culture ; but, in 

 their bearing upon the history of civilization, his views may 

 broadly be said to fit in with the general results of archseologists 

 elsewhere. 



Before the time of Dr. Schliemann's explorations, the Mykenae 

 culture had yielded so little, and its extent and influence were so 

 ill understood, that the strong individuality displayed in its art 

 was, if not unnoticed, at least unappreciated. With a better un- 

 derstanding of its remains, this art, wherever met with, reveals 

 an originality of methods and of technic which cannot be denied, 

 and its archaism has become evident. 



It not only produced tombs, the grandeur of which outshone 

 the dwellings of the living; and massive stone palaces, the walls 

 of which were decorated with painted frescoes, — the work of a 

 school whose artists borrowed neither their subjects nor their 

 mode of treatment from others, — but metallurgy had reached a 

 high degree of development ; bronze, silver, and gold were wrought 

 with the greatest skill; the engraver displayed a true artistic 

 sense in the cutting of gems; and the manufacture of fine painted 

 vases did credit to the originality of the Mediterranean potters. 

 Altogether we are here in the presence of men who, in the course 

 of their evolution, may have received suggestions from the out- 

 side world, but who never were servile imitators; and who, in 

 their relations with other civilizations, "gave as much as they 

 received." 



Cyprus. — Dr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter. 



In Cyprus, the well-known explorer. Dr. Ohnefalsch-Richter, 

 has detected — below other ancient human deposits found upon 

 the island — the presence of a Phrygo-Thrakian civilization which 

 belongs to the copper-bronze age. 



Thi^ he regards as having certainly preceded all contact with 

 Mesopotamia, Egypt, or Phoenicia; and as presenting many 

 affinities with the kindred culture of which the late Dr. Schlie- 

 mann found the traces in the lower strata reached in his exca- 

 vations at Hissarlik — the site of ancient Troy. Dr. Richter's 

 view is accepted by other authorities, notably by Dr. Diimmler, 

 who goes even further, and regards both cultures as identical. 



It is only later, under Sargon I. of Akkad, and Naram-Sin, his 

 successor, that Mesopotamian influence can be detected upon the 

 archaeological record of Cyprus; and it is later still that direct 

 contact with Egypt and with the Hittite Empire makes itself 

 felt. 



According to the facts brought to light by Dr. Richter, Greek 

 influence antedates the oldest traces of Phoenician intercourse 

 with the island; and the Greco-Cyprian syllabic character occurs 

 in process of formation in the copper-bronze stratum, i.e., an 

 earlier date than the first evidences of the use of the Phoenician 

 character, which are contemporaneous with the introduction of 

 iron. This seems to coincide with the downfall of the Hittite 

 Empire, about 1300 B.C. 



Dr. Richter concludes from these and other facts that the primi- 

 tive civilization of Cyprus was evolved independently of the East, 

 and that it must be regarded as running in parallel lines with 

 those of Egypt and of Mesopotamia. This culture may be traced 

 through Asia Minor, the Greek Archipelago, Greece, and Europe 

 at least as far as Konigsberg. Its oldest vestiges in Cyprus 

 he dates as far back as the third or fourth millenium B.C. Be- 

 yond, there are evidences of a preceding stone age. Of these earliest 

 remains Dr. Richter makes two divisions. The oldest stratum 

 produces no statuary, no inscriptions; but it contains hand-made 

 pottery, and copper or weak bronze tools of small dimensions, in 

 the smelting of which a weak alloy of zinc was used. In the 

 second, or later, stratum of this archaic period, lance-heads ap- 

 pear, and with these are found vases of the Mykense type. 



According to the facts which he has collected, the Greek in- 

 fluence felt here is that of the Peloponnesian tribss, the Arcadians, 



