4 8 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



age of Seneferu, the last king of the third dynasty, 

 and builder of the Pyramid of Medum, there was 

 no trace of a beginning. Now all this is changed. 

 In the lowest strata of the temple at Koptos, our 

 explorer discovered remains, which for the first 

 time reveal to us prehistoric Egypt, namely, three 

 rude statues, fourteen feet in height, of ex- 

 tremely rough workmanship, representing the 

 human form. The arms, legs, whiskers and ears 

 are merely indicated by hammered outlines, no 

 chisel marks are visible. These figures are 

 evidently the first statues of Khem, the God of 

 Reproduction, erected shortly after the foundation 

 of the first settlement. On each is sculptured the 

 leather thong girdle, still in use among the 

 Egyptians of the present day. Each figure also 

 shows some curious designs. One represents the 

 jagged protuberance with which the Red Sea 

 sawfish is armed. A second is a picture of the 

 shells found along the Red Sea coast ; while other 

 designs of elephants and hyenas, running down 

 hills in pursuit of young calves, are easily dis- 

 tinguishable. 



Professor Petrie's discoveries of more recent 

 years are quite as important as those mentioned 

 above, for he has brought to light traces of an 

 entirely new people. Through the district, thirty 

 miles above Thebes, beyond the cultivated land, 

 runs the old bed of gravel laid down by the Nile, 

 when it filled the valley. This extends about three 

 miles to the foot of the cliffs. Above it rise the 

 limestone mountains which formed the old shores 

 of the Nile, bordering the great plateau through 

 which the Nile Valley is cut. On the top of this 

 plateau, 1,400 feet above the river, the home of 

 palaeolithic (early stone age) man was discovered. 

 Here were found large beautifully-worked flints, 

 perfectly unworn, of similar types to those dis- 

 covered in the river gravels of France and England. 

 Besides these, other flints of a later palaeolithic 

 type were found embedded in the ancient gravels 

 of the former high Nile. So that the Nile still 

 rolled down as a vast torrent, fifty times its 

 present volume, at the latter age of palaeolithic 

 man. 



In close proximity to these cliffs the site of a 

 town was discovered, so extraordinary were its 

 contents that if it had been found in Syria or in 

 Persia no one would have supposed it to be 

 connected with Egypt. Not only was a town 

 discovered, but also a series of cemeteries consisting 

 of nearly 2,000 graves belonging to this same new 

 race. During the work of excavation every object 

 discovered was noted in position and marked, to 

 facilitate future research. In this great number of 

 graves not a single Egyptian object was found — 

 not even a scarab, hieroglyph, amulet, or piece of 

 Egyptian pottery, Not one body was mummified 

 or buried at full length ; all were contracted, with 



the knees bent up to the arms, the head invariably 

 being to the south and the face to the west. A few 

 years ago Professor Petrie, while excavating at 

 Medum, found some similar burials ; in fact they 

 are not unknown even in such widely separated 

 countries as Great Britain and the Pacific Islands. 



It can now be definitely said that these people 

 existed between the seventh and ninth dynasties, 

 or about 3,560 B.C., and probably were the race 

 who overthrew Egyptian civilization at the close 

 of the old empire (dynasties first to sixth) and so 

 produced the dark age of the seventh to the tenth 

 dynasties. The physiognomy of this new people 

 was fine and powerful, without any trace of negro 

 prognathism. Some were over six feet high. The 

 great development of their legs points to their 

 having been a hill race. Hair found on the skulls 

 shows that it was brown and wavy, but not at all 

 crisp like that of negro races. A very prominent 

 nose and a long pointed beard gave a strong 

 resemblance to the Lybian and Amorite type 

 depicted on the monuments. A remarkable and 

 extremely repulsive custom was the eating of 

 portions of the bodies of deceased persons. In 

 the graves the head is always severed from the 

 shoulders and the hands often removed. In some 

 tombs pottery was found placed over the decapi- 

 tated head, in others the severance had gone 

 further and the bones were all grouped, in one 

 place a handful of ribs, in another a number of 

 arm bones and elsewhere a pile of vertebrae ; and a 

 still more decided case in which the skulls were 

 placed between stone vases, lines of bones strewn 

 round the pit, like the spokes of a wheel, each 

 with the ends broken off and the marrow scooped 

 out — all these point to ceremonial cannibalism. 



In many ways, however, in pottery, flint-working 

 and bead-making, this race was equal or superior 

 to the Egyptians. No writing was known beyond 

 personal marks ; drawing and sculpture were in 

 a very rude condition. Metal was well-known ; 

 copper adzes show that woodwork was familiar, 

 traces of a finely-carved bed frame, with bulls' 

 feet, was found. Copper needles show that sewn 

 garments were worn. The making of stone vases 

 was a favourite craft, many beautifully-formed 

 specimens having been discovered, from soft 

 alabaster to the hardest syenite, from six to eighty 

 unearthed from each tomb. 



This new and unexpected discovery seems to 

 show us that the veil which enshrouds many 

 obscure points in the pages of Egyptian history 

 will shortly be drawn aside, more especially from 

 before the blank spaces of unrecorded facts which 

 exist between the sixth and tenth, and thirteenth 

 to seventeenth dynasties, and the land of the 

 Nile will offer up more marvels to the world 

 at large. 



6, Porchester Terrace, Hyde Park, IK.; May, 1897. 



