DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11610#0157
MEDUM
'45
of Egypt, using bows and arrows much as we see
them subsequently. The tools employed were of the
established types; the adze and the chisel of bronze ;
the sickle of flint teeth set in wood ; the axe of stone ;
the head of the bow drill—all these are shown us.
And the exactitude of the standards of measure was
a matter of careful concern ; the cubit here does not
differ from the standard of later times more than the
thickness of a bit of stout card. The draught-board
was exactly the same as that which is found down to
Greek times.
Some matters, however, point to a stage which
passed away soon after. The sign for a seal is not a
scarab, or a ring, but a cylinder of jasper, set in gold
ends, and turning on a pin attached to a necklace of
stone beads. Cylinders are often met with in early
times, but died out of use almost entirely by the
eighteenth dynasty. This points to a connection
with Babylonia in early times. The numerals are all
derived from various lengths of rope; pointing to an
original reckoning on knotted ropes, as in many other
countries. And some suggestion of the original home
of Egyptian culture near the sea is made by the signs
for water being all black or dark blue-green. This is
a colour that no one living on the muddy Nile would
ever associate with water; rather should we suppose
it to have originated from the clear waters of the Red
Sea.
Another glimpse of the prehistoric age in Egypt is
afforded by the burials at Medum. The later people
always buried at full length, and with some provision
for the body, such as food, head-rests, &c. Such
L
'45
of Egypt, using bows and arrows much as we see
them subsequently. The tools employed were of the
established types; the adze and the chisel of bronze ;
the sickle of flint teeth set in wood ; the axe of stone ;
the head of the bow drill—all these are shown us.
And the exactitude of the standards of measure was
a matter of careful concern ; the cubit here does not
differ from the standard of later times more than the
thickness of a bit of stout card. The draught-board
was exactly the same as that which is found down to
Greek times.
Some matters, however, point to a stage which
passed away soon after. The sign for a seal is not a
scarab, or a ring, but a cylinder of jasper, set in gold
ends, and turning on a pin attached to a necklace of
stone beads. Cylinders are often met with in early
times, but died out of use almost entirely by the
eighteenth dynasty. This points to a connection
with Babylonia in early times. The numerals are all
derived from various lengths of rope; pointing to an
original reckoning on knotted ropes, as in many other
countries. And some suggestion of the original home
of Egyptian culture near the sea is made by the signs
for water being all black or dark blue-green. This is
a colour that no one living on the muddy Nile would
ever associate with water; rather should we suppose
it to have originated from the clear waters of the Red
Sea.
Another glimpse of the prehistoric age in Egypt is
afforded by the burials at Medum. The later people
always buried at full length, and with some provision
for the body, such as food, head-rests, &c. Such
L