RECONSTRUCTING EGYPT'S HISTORY 



1041 



neath her head stands the dead king, 

 whom she protects. The Hving king, 

 whom she nourishes, kneels beneath her 

 form. She is the nourishing mofner of 

 the young ruler, as she is of the divine 

 Horus. 



About 30 miles north of Deir-el-Bahari 

 is Abydos, remarkable for its location. 

 The high cliffs form a deep recess some 

 four miles across and two miles deep. 

 Here are the temples and necropoles of 

 Abydos. Heretofore Menes has stood a 

 shadowy figure at the dawn of history, 

 who merged the two kingdoms into one 

 nation. Behind Menes othc.' names have 

 come to light. We see men, as trees, 

 walking, yet we now know that Menes 

 stands at the close of centuries and even 

 millenniums of development. 



EARIvY BURIAI, CUSTOMS 



The earliest royal graves are simple, 

 with no tumulus, and having two simple 

 upright slabs, or stelae. Osiris, who as 

 king taught his subjects the arts of civili- 

 zation, was set upon by the god Set and 

 his companions and brutally murdered. 

 The mutilated body of Osiris (according 

 to a later account, his head only) was 

 buried at Abydos, the Greek form of 

 Abdu (Abidu), ''Mound of the Osiris- 

 head Emblem." Hence the early kings 

 of the province of Thinis desired their 

 burial to be at holy Abydos. 



At Abydos are still earlier burials — 

 oval tombs with crouched bodies sur- 

 rounded by pots, some of which are very 

 coarse (see page 1038) ; others are of 

 better material, even with painted orna- 

 ments; most of them of red color with a 

 black rim, and perhaps a few slate pal- 

 ettes or flint instruments. These earliest 

 dwellers — with rude implements of stone, 

 simple ornaments of stone, ivory, bone, 

 flint, quartz, agate, and other like mate- 

 rials, living in dwellings of wattle — con- 

 stitute one of the rarest finds in all the 

 records of archeology. 



These stupendous excavations call for 

 equipment on a considerable scale. Work 

 must be rapid. December i to April i 

 marks the working year. Every moment 

 is precious. Every carload must count. 

 Every shovelful of earth must be care- 

 fully sifted wherever there is a possi- 



bility of a find. Even a basket brigade 

 is sometimes pressed into use. As soon 

 as some apparently valuable piece is lo- 

 cated, workmen are called off, experts 

 are sent in; every man is on guard. 

 Carefully every inch of soil is watched 

 as the last few baskets of earth are re- 

 moved. Every fragment must be saved 

 and laid away until everything has been 

 recovered. 



Think of the disappointment when, for 

 example, a magnificent statue comes out 

 headless. Think of the conjectures as to 

 the whereabouts of the massing piece and 

 the furor when, perhaps weeks after- 

 ward, the lost is found. There is an air 

 of hushed expectancy, a suppressed ex- 

 citement hovering over, that keeps men 

 up under the most tense strain under 

 which the work is of necessity conducted. 



WHAT the: ISGYPT EXPI.ORATION ]?UND IS 



ACCOMPUSHING 



/\merica has joined hands with the 

 Old World in prosecuting this work. An 

 American secretary, Mrs. Marie N. 

 Buckman, has been assigned to the di- 

 rection of the American oflice of the 

 Egypt Exploration Fund, located in Tre- 

 mont Temple, Boston. Wonderful are 

 the results attained. Every student of 

 history and literature, every student of 

 the Bible, is vitally concerned in the con- 

 firmations yearly coming to light from 

 the sands of Egypt. 



There is need of haste. To extend the 

 arable district of Egypt is an economic 

 necessity. Accordingly the British gov- 

 ernment has erected at Assouan the great 

 dam, whose 95-foot head has sent the 

 waters of the Nile back over great areas 

 of hitherto dry ground. Already a dozen 

 great temples have been flooded, and ere 

 long will be forever lost to sight. Al- 

 ready beautiful Philse, at the head of the 

 first cataract, is gone. The soil is becom- 

 ing infiltrated, and the stores of treas- 

 ures, especially the papyrus manuscripts, 

 are being ruined, even before the waters 

 cover the ground above. 



Among the agencies engaged in the 

 work of recovering Egypt, the Egypt 

 Exploration Fund stands conspicuous. 

 Headed by no less a world figure than 

 the Earl of Cromer, with such names on 



