EXCAVATIONS AT ABYDOS 



THE following letter from Prof. 

 Flinders Petrie to the London 

 Times outlines his work at 

 Abydos during the present year : 

 To the Editor of the Times : 



Sir : The continuation of the work of 

 the Egypt Exploration Fund at Abydos 

 this year has given a wider view of the 

 early civilization, of which the general 

 lines had been fixed by the previous 

 work on the Royal Tombs and the town. 

 The clearance of the old temple site 

 over several acres has brought to light, 

 in a depth of about 20 feet, no less than 

 ten successive temples ranging in age 

 from about 5,000 to 500 B. C. For the 

 first time we can see on one spot the 

 changes from age to age through the 

 whole of Egyptian histon r . To separate 

 these buildings was an affair of anatomy 

 rather than spade work ; the walls of 

 mud brick were so commingled with 

 the soil that incessant section-cutting 

 with a sharp knife was the only way to 

 discriminate the brickwork. Often only 

 a single course of bricks or a thin bed 

 of foundation sand was all that told of 

 the great buildings which had existed 

 here for centuries. Over 5,000 meas- 

 urements were taken for the plans and 

 levels. The main result as regards the 

 religion is that Osiris was not the original 

 god of Abydos ; the jackal god, Upuaut, 

 and then the god of the West, Khenta- 

 menti, were honored here down to the 

 Xllth dynasty. The most striking 

 change is seen about the IVth dynasty, 

 when the temple was abolished, and 

 only a great hearth of burnt offering is 

 found, full of votive clay substitutes for 

 sacrifices. This exactly agrees with 

 the account of Herodotus that Cheops 

 had closed the temples and forbidden 

 sacrifices. This materializing of history 

 is made the more real by finding an 

 ivory statuette of Cheops of the finest 

 work, which shows for the first time 

 the face and character of the great 



builder and organizer who made Egyp- 

 tian government and civilization what 

 it was for thousands of years after. 

 This carving is now in the Cairo 

 Museum. 



The discoveries of the civilization of 

 the 1st dynasty, the beginning of the 

 kingdom, expand what we already had 

 from my work in the Royal Tombs. Of 

 Menes, the founder, we have part of a 

 large globular vase of green glaze with 

 his name inlaid in purple ; thus poly- 

 chrome glazing is taken back thousands 

 of years before it was previously known 

 to exist. The free use of great tiles of 

 glaze forwall coverings shows how usual 

 the art was then. In the highest art of 

 delicate ivory carving there are several 

 pieces of this age ; especially the figure 

 of an aged king, for its subtlety and 

 character, stands in the first rank of 

 such work, comparable to the finest 

 carvings of Greece or Italy. We must 

 now reckon the earliest monarchy as 

 the equal of any later age in such 

 technical and fine art. 



Potter)' of forms and material quite* 

 unknown in Egypt also belongs to this 

 remote age ; and it proves to be identi- 

 cal with that in Crete of the late neo- 

 lithic age. This fresh connection illus- 

 trates the trade and the chronology of 

 that period. A head of a camel mod- 

 eled in pottery takes back its relation to 

 Egypt some 4,000 years ; hitherto no 

 trace of it had appeared before Greek 

 times. An ivory carving of a bear ex- 

 tends also the fauna of early Egypt. 



The great fort long known as the 

 Shunet ez Zebib is now connected with 

 the remains of another fort, which was 

 discovered between that and the Coptic 

 Deir, which is in a third fort. These 

 buildings prove, now to have been the 

 fortified residences of the kings of the 

 lid dynasty, whose sealings we have 

 found in the dwelling-rooms. 



Of a later age may be noted some 



