74 
ME.  HOENEE  ON  THE  ALLUVIAL  LAND  OE  EGYPT. 
and  then  2 feet  10  inches  of  quartzose  sand.  In  E,  100  yards  north-east,  12  feet  6 inches 
of  mud,  and  then  1 foot  7|  inches  of  quartzose  sand,  which  was  probably  blown  sand, 
as  below  it  there  was  a repetition  of  3 feet  7 inches  of  mud.  In  F,  383  yards  north-east, 
there  were  8 feet  inch  of  mud,  and  then  2 feet  2^  inches  of  sand.  In  G,  1215  yards 
north-east,  there  were  6 feet  8 inches  of  mud,  and  8 feet  4 inches  of  sand.  In  H, 
615  yards  due  east,  there  were  only  2 feet  10  inches  of  mud,  and  then  11  feet  8 inches 
of  sand. 
The  Colossal  Statue. 
In  the  excavation  at  this  statue  in  the  area  of  Memphis  in  1852,  the  level  of  the 
upper  surface  of  the  platform  on  which  the  statue  had  stood  was  ascertained  to  be  5 feet 
8 inches  below  the  surface  of  the  ground ; but  as  there  were  8 inches  of  a sandy  earth, 
there  remained  5 feet  of  true  Nile  sediment.  The  upper  blocks  of  the  platform  are 
31^  inches  thick,  and  the  lower  35-^  inches,  together  5 feet  6f  inches.  If  we  allow 
the  lower  part  of  the  platform  to  have  been  14f  inches  below  the  surface  of  the  ground 
at  the  time  it  was  laid,  we  have  a depth  of  sediment  from  the  present  surface  of  the 
ground  to  that  level  of  9 feet  4 inches.  Eamesses,  according  to  Lepsius,  reigned  from 
1394  to  1328  B.C.,  and  if  we  suppose  the  statue  to  have  been  erected  in  the  middle  of 
his  reign,  i.  e.  in  1361,  we  have  between  A.p.  1854  and  that  time  3215  years,  during 
which  the  above  depth  of  9 feet  4 inches  of  sediment  was  accumulated ; and  supposing 
that  no  disturbing  cause  had  interfered  with  what  may  be  termed  the  normal  rate  of 
deposition  in  this  locality.,  and  of  which  there  is  no  evidence,  we  have  thus  a mean  rate 
of  increase  within  a small  fraction  of  3^  inches  in  a century. 
The  depth  of  ground  excavated  in  the  second  pit,  close  to  the  statue  of  Eamesses  II., 
in  1854,  was  24  feet,  and  the  additional  depth  examined  by  boring  was  17  feet  4r|  inches, 
together  41  feet  4^  inches.  Of  this  total,  9 feet  4 inches  have  been  assumed  to  have 
been  deposited  between  1361  b.c.  and  the  year  1854,  and  thus  we  have  a remainder  of 
32  feet  of  the  total  depth  penetrated.  But  the  two  lowest  feet  consisted  of  sand,  below 
which  it  is  possible  there  may  be  no  true  Nile  sediment  in  this  locality,  and  we  have  thus 
30  feet  of  the  latter.  If  that  amount  has  been  deposited  at  the  same  mean  rate  of 
3^  inches  in  a century,  it  gives  for  the  lowest  part  deposited  an  age  of  10,285  years 
before  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Eamesses  II.,  11,646  years  b.c.,  and  13,500  years 
before  a.d.  1854. 
The  deeper  parts  of  this  accumulation  of  30  feet  of  sediment  are  probably  more  com- 
pact in  structure  from  the  long-applied  superincumbent  pressui’e,  and  therefore  their 
age  is  probably  greater,  on  that  account,  than  that  arrived  at  by  the  application  of  the 
chronometric  scale  of  3^  inches  in  a century,  obtained  by  measuring  the  superior  and 
specifically  lighter  part  of  the  accumulated  mass. 
The  other  excavations  and  pits,  both  those  in  the  parallel  of  Memphis  and  those  in 
the  parallel  of  Heliopolis,  from  the  absence  of  a fixed  starting-point  of  Imowii  age,  with 
accumulations  of  Nile  sediment  above  and  below  it,  as  in  the  case  of  the  platform  of  the 
colossal  statue,  do  not  supply  us  with  the  requisite  data  for  estimating  the  age  of  the 
