EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES. 53 



blocks side by side with plaster impressions for purposes of 

 custody and to facilitate their use by students. The tablets 

 of the entire Kuyunjik collection have been checked with the 

 registers and found to be correct, and fifty fragments have 

 been " rejoined." Fifteen thousand five hundred Babylonian 

 tablets have been re-numbered according to the new system ; 

 three thousand one hundred and thirty-five have been boxed ; 

 and four hundred and ninety-eight have been cleaned and 

 repaired. 



A classified list of the contents of the various collections 

 of tablets has been made ; the case-books and indexes of the 

 registers have been continued to date. 



Three thousand seven hundred and ninety-four tablets have 

 been registered ; three hundred and eighty-five tablets have 

 been copied for publication ; one hundred and sixty cylinder- 

 seals have been labelled. 



Publications. — Parts XII. and XIII. of "Cuneiform Texts 

 from Babylonian Tablets, &c. in the British Museum," have 

 been compiled and issued, and reproductions of thirty sheets 

 of Egyptian hieratic texts have been prepared and printed. 



Students : — Two thousand four hundred and seventy 

 visits have been made to the Department by students and 

 others ; and ten thousand one hundred and fourteen objects 

 have been issued for their use. About eighty persons have 

 been personally conducted through the Department by the 

 staff. 



II. — Acquisitions, 



i. Egyptian: 



1. A large and interesting collection of vases made 



of red breccia, aragonite, basalt, and other hard 

 stones chiefly of the early Archaic Period, about 

 B.C. 4000. These were found in primitive graves 

 at Gebelen, Abydos, and other sites in Upper 

 Egypt. 



2. A collection of five hundred and seventy-five 



flint, chert, and obsidian knives, spear-heads, 

 ' i' ■ arrow-heads, scrapers, &;c., belonging to the latter 



part of the Neolithic Period, and to the first half 

 of the early Archaic Period. The latest date 

 to which these weapons can be assigned is 

 B.C. 4000. 



3. A valuable collection of red and black and painted 



pottery, found in primitive graves in Upper 

 Egypt, which probably date from the first half 

 of the Archaic Period, and are not later than 

 B.C. 4000. 



E 2 



