DOI article:
Griffith, Francis Ll.: Progress of Egyptology: archaeology, hieroglyphic studies, etc.
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11174#0053
40
Progress op Egyptology.
changes, wrought not by artificial means, but by the action of the natural
salts in the earth. The original colour, preserved in parts, was brown
the hair having been what may be called black ; the nearest parallels
to its colour and texture are found in the later Egyptian graves. It,
therefore, affords no argument for a Libyan origin of these people.
Schweinfurth [Bulletin de la Soc. Khed. de Geogr., iv. 2, and Verh. d.
Berl. Anthrop. Gesell., June 19th, 1897) has written two papers on the
elements forming the early population of Egypt. Naturally, the
theories here embodied must be considered largely as tentative. Arabia,
Babylonia, and Egypt are the corners of a triangular space in which
culture developed. The first was particularly the source of " men,
mind, and of natural products": it produced the ancestors of the
Hamitic race, and afterwards developed at home the Semitic race. It
gave also to Egypt two sacred trees, the Sycomore and the Persea.
From Babylonia came bronze and the culture of cereals. While Egypt
was inhabited by autochthones, pastoral immigrants from Arabia
entered the Etbai and tamed the wild ass of the highlands (Eqmis-
taeniopiis), acquired the art of working in hard stone, and then, entering
the Nile valley, learnt to practise agriculture. The Delta was almost
inaccessible and the desert route from the N.E. difficult, but at length
Babylonian influence came in with bronze and corn; the Arabian stock
was driven back into the desert, and is now represented by the 'Ababdeh.
Earliest Historical Period.
The necropolis excavated by Prof. Petrie was at Tukh, near Nakadeh.
At Nahadeh itself, M. de Morgan, accompanied by Prof. Wiedemann and
M. Jequier, had the good fortune to find a royal tomb of the earliest
time, built of brick, with remarkable panelling of the walls, and contain-
ing a vast supply of funerary provisions, which had been completely burnt
in a fierce conflagration. But here and there fragments even of wood
and sculptured ivory remained, and the vases and other objects in all
kinds of hard and soft stone survived in some numbers, though often
distorted by the heat. Specimens of all are figured by De Morgan
(Ethnographie PreJiistorique et Tombeau royal de Negadah). It was
thought that this conflagration was a solemn burning at the king's
funeral; but this is now denied by Dorpfeld and Boechardt, who have
visited the site and carefully examined the antiquities; see Bissikg's.
article in L'Anthropologie, ix. The tomb has since been identified as that
of Menes, by Borchardt and Maspero ; see under " History."
Amelineau (Les nonvelles Fouilles d'Abydos, 2me Campagne, 1896-7)
Progress op Egyptology.
changes, wrought not by artificial means, but by the action of the natural
salts in the earth. The original colour, preserved in parts, was brown
the hair having been what may be called black ; the nearest parallels
to its colour and texture are found in the later Egyptian graves. It,
therefore, affords no argument for a Libyan origin of these people.
Schweinfurth [Bulletin de la Soc. Khed. de Geogr., iv. 2, and Verh. d.
Berl. Anthrop. Gesell., June 19th, 1897) has written two papers on the
elements forming the early population of Egypt. Naturally, the
theories here embodied must be considered largely as tentative. Arabia,
Babylonia, and Egypt are the corners of a triangular space in which
culture developed. The first was particularly the source of " men,
mind, and of natural products": it produced the ancestors of the
Hamitic race, and afterwards developed at home the Semitic race. It
gave also to Egypt two sacred trees, the Sycomore and the Persea.
From Babylonia came bronze and the culture of cereals. While Egypt
was inhabited by autochthones, pastoral immigrants from Arabia
entered the Etbai and tamed the wild ass of the highlands (Eqmis-
taeniopiis), acquired the art of working in hard stone, and then, entering
the Nile valley, learnt to practise agriculture. The Delta was almost
inaccessible and the desert route from the N.E. difficult, but at length
Babylonian influence came in with bronze and corn; the Arabian stock
was driven back into the desert, and is now represented by the 'Ababdeh.
Earliest Historical Period.
The necropolis excavated by Prof. Petrie was at Tukh, near Nakadeh.
At Nahadeh itself, M. de Morgan, accompanied by Prof. Wiedemann and
M. Jequier, had the good fortune to find a royal tomb of the earliest
time, built of brick, with remarkable panelling of the walls, and contain-
ing a vast supply of funerary provisions, which had been completely burnt
in a fierce conflagration. But here and there fragments even of wood
and sculptured ivory remained, and the vases and other objects in all
kinds of hard and soft stone survived in some numbers, though often
distorted by the heat. Specimens of all are figured by De Morgan
(Ethnographie PreJiistorique et Tombeau royal de Negadah). It was
thought that this conflagration was a solemn burning at the king's
funeral; but this is now denied by Dorpfeld and Boechardt, who have
visited the site and carefully examined the antiquities; see Bissikg's.
article in L'Anthropologie, ix. The tomb has since been identified as that
of Menes, by Borchardt and Maspero ; see under " History."
Amelineau (Les nonvelles Fouilles d'Abydos, 2me Campagne, 1896-7)