DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5538#0044
24 PHARAOHS, FELLAHS, AXD EXPLORERS.
But, above all, the explorer must be a good " all-round " ar-
chaeologist.
Xow, does the world—meaning thereby the great body of
cultivated readers—at all realize what it is to be a good " all-
round " archaeologist ? It must be remembered, lirst of all,
what that science is, or rather that aggregate of sciences,
which goes by the name of Archaeology. Were I asked
to define it, I should reply that archaeology is that science
which enables us to register and classify our knowledge of
the sum of man's achievement in those arts and handicrafts
whereby he has, in time past, signalized his passage from
barbarism to civilization. The first chapter of this science
takes up the history of the human race at a date coeval with
the mammoth and other extinct mammalia; and its last
chapter, which must always be in a state of transition, may
be said to end for the present with about a hundred or a
hundred and fifty years ago.
Now archaeology in Egypt begins later, and ends earlier,
than archaeology in this broad and general sense. We have
never yet got far enough behind the first chapters of Egyp-
tian history to discover any traces of a stone age.(') The
stone age of the Nile Valley, if it ever existed, underlies
such a prodigious stratum of semi-barbaric civilization that
the spade of the excavator has not yet reached it. Also,
Egyptian archaeology, properly so called, ends with the
last chapter of Egyptian history; that is to say, with the
abolition of the ancient religion in the latter half of the
fourth century of our era. Hence, our explorer in Egypt is
only called upon to be an "all-round" archaeologist within
the field of the national history: namely, from the time
of Mena, the prototype of Egyptian royalty, who probably
reigned about five thousand years before Christ, down to
the time of the Emperor Theodosius, Anno Domini 379.
Yet even within that limit, he has to know a great deal
about a vast number of things. He must be familiar with
all the styles and periods of Egyptian architecture, sculpture,
and decoration; with the forms, patterns, and glazes of Egyp-
But, above all, the explorer must be a good " all-round " ar-
chaeologist.
Xow, does the world—meaning thereby the great body of
cultivated readers—at all realize what it is to be a good " all-
round " archaeologist ? It must be remembered, lirst of all,
what that science is, or rather that aggregate of sciences,
which goes by the name of Archaeology. Were I asked
to define it, I should reply that archaeology is that science
which enables us to register and classify our knowledge of
the sum of man's achievement in those arts and handicrafts
whereby he has, in time past, signalized his passage from
barbarism to civilization. The first chapter of this science
takes up the history of the human race at a date coeval with
the mammoth and other extinct mammalia; and its last
chapter, which must always be in a state of transition, may
be said to end for the present with about a hundred or a
hundred and fifty years ago.
Now archaeology in Egypt begins later, and ends earlier,
than archaeology in this broad and general sense. We have
never yet got far enough behind the first chapters of Egyp-
tian history to discover any traces of a stone age.(') The
stone age of the Nile Valley, if it ever existed, underlies
such a prodigious stratum of semi-barbaric civilization that
the spade of the excavator has not yet reached it. Also,
Egyptian archaeology, properly so called, ends with the
last chapter of Egyptian history; that is to say, with the
abolition of the ancient religion in the latter half of the
fourth century of our era. Hence, our explorer in Egypt is
only called upon to be an "all-round" archaeologist within
the field of the national history: namely, from the time
of Mena, the prototype of Egyptian royalty, who probably
reigned about five thousand years before Christ, down to
the time of the Emperor Theodosius, Anno Domini 379.
Yet even within that limit, he has to know a great deal
about a vast number of things. He must be familiar with
all the styles and periods of Egyptian architecture, sculpture,
and decoration; with the forms, patterns, and glazes of Egyp-