14 ACCOUNTS, ESTIMATES, OCC. OF THE iSRITISH MUSEUM. 



flint weapons, and the bones of reindeer and olher animals, has been placed in a case for 

 exhibition in the Britisli Room. 



A large C(;l!ection of bone implenienls and other objects, fr-m the cives at Bruniquel, 

 comprising more than 1,300 objects, have been cleaned, washed in gelatine; and, where 

 necessary, r<join(d, and a considerable selection of the banw exhibited in tiie British Room. 



128 moulds of impressions of Great Seals of England, and 2,767 moulds and type im- 

 pressions of seals of England and Wales have been counted and arranged. 



14,248 impressions and moulds of mediaeval seals have been counied, 24 mediaeval seals 

 hn\e b( en copied, and 82 additional type impressions of seals of Worcestershire ma'Je. 



189 entries of *eals in the Sloane catalogue have been iransciibed. 



The walls and ceiling of ihe Ethnographical Room have been tiioroughly scoured iind 

 clcned, ihe objects above the cases taken down, dusted, and partially re-arranged ; the 

 lower part of one of the table-case> has been enclosed, the upper part lepuinted, and rods, 

 for suspending Ethnographical objects, have been fixed along the sides of the room. 



The contt-nls of 12 cas-s on the south side of the Ethnographical Room have been 

 remo\e I for the purpose of repainting, and the contents of 12 cases on the north side 

 replaced and arranged in a more systematic manner. The collection of Peiuvian vases has 

 been re-arranged. 



Two Chinese tablet- have been exhibited in the Ethnographical Room; two Indian sculp- 

 tures, and five terra-cotia seals with inscriptions in the Pali character, repan-ed. 



In the department generally 2,886 objects have been registered, comprising most of ihe 

 acquisitions of this and arrears of previous years ; 794 dc'^cnptive labels, 43 printed and 

 about 3,200 registration numbers, have been added to various objects ; six books have 

 been catalogued, and nine stamped. 



Assistance has been rendered towards the preparation of a catalogue of English 

 medals intended for pubhcation, and also towards forwarding the publication of Assyrian 

 inscriptions. 



1 1. — Acquisitions. 



The most important acquisition of ihe year is an extensive collection of the remains of 

 human industry of a very early period, discovered by the Vicomte de Lastic in a cave on 

 the banks of the Aveyron, near Bruniquel (Tarn et Gaionne.) These remains were found 

 with the bones of men and of various animals, of which some are now extinct in Fiance, 

 while others are considered to be entirely extinct. They consist of flint implements of 

 varieius kinds, evidently made on tlie spot by the inhabitants of the cave; heads uf fishing 

 speais, javelins, and arrows, elaborately worked and with numerous barbs; chisels, needles, 

 and varr us othe' implements, maiJe out of the horns of the reindeer, or the bones of the 

 horse and ox. There are likewise a number of specimens wiih engraved designs, of which 

 die most remarkable are two engravings in outline, one of them the head of a reindeer, 

 slightly, but iirti-tiially, scratched on a biid's bone; the olher, the heads of a reinoeer and 

 a horse, more deeply cut en a flat bone implement. 



The other acquisitions of the year are 812 in number, and may be classed as follows : — 



Egyptian. — A small collection of antiquities^ including an hieroglyphical papyrus of the 

 class called " Solar Litanies," or the passage of the sun through the hours of the night, 

 formerly belonoing to Viscount Stranolord. 



Poriions o( Rituals and other documents on papyrus from the Sams Collectii n. 



Han' lie of a lerra-cotta vase, with the name of an heretical king of the 18tli Dynasty 

 (a dis-k-worshipper'), (onnd among the ruins of a house at Tel-el-Amarna, and piesented 

 by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson. 



A small collection of antiquities piesented by Henry Christv, Esq., f.s.a. 



A bronze sphinx, an object of rarity, presented by A. W. Franks, Esq. 



/\ head of a priest in basalt, of the Romano -Egyptian period. 



Fifty Egyptian antiquities, comprising several smaller objects of interest, such as an 

 inscribed sand?l, a fragment of an alabaster vase, with the royal name of Aahmes I., 

 and an inscribed saucer, collected in Egypt by the Rev. Grevdie Chester. 



Five Christian lamps from Nubia presented by the Rev. Greville Chester. 



Bol)ylou}an and Assyriar. — Two bricks frcmi Nimroud, with ornaments in vitreous 

 colours, and a portion of the "Standard Inscription" of Asshur-izir-pa,l, with important 

 variants, presented by A. H. Layard, Esq., m.p. 



A weight of onyx in the form ol a duck, with an Assyrian character on the side; three 

 Babylonian cylinders of stone and one of silver (the only one in the Museum of that mate- 

 rial), two other engraved seals, and seven Sassanian gems. 



An ornament in the form ( t a Chimaera's head, finely carved in ivory, of Assyrian or early 

 Persian work, presented by William Burges, Esq. 



Vhaniciau avd Early Oriental. — A Phoenician s;ircophagus in whiie marble, the cover 

 of which terminatts with a representation of the head of the deceased, carved in the 

 Egyptian st\le; it was excavated on the site of the Necropolis of Sidoii, by Niven Moore, 

 Esq., laie Her Majesty's Consul at Beyrout. 



A stone door, sculptured in imitation of bronze, from the Hauran ; a colossal bust in high 

 relief, representing a man, or deity, holding a cornucopia, from a temple erected in honour of 



Herod 



