DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12249#0094
THE PILLAGE TO WHICH TOMBS WERE SUBJECTED. G3
more it is known only from what necropolis they were
obtained. And of a very few can it be stated from
what tomb, and under what circumstances they were
discovered; while as to these it has almost invariably
happened that they were but the leavings of former
spoilers, and could bear only a very imperfect re-
lation to the original character of the respective
deposits.
To a great extent this result has inevitably arisen
from the constant pillage from very early times, and
from ordinary motives of cupidity, to which Egyptian
burial-places have been subjected in course of the
vicissitudes through which tbe country has passed.
But unfortunately, also, there is much room for regret,
that even after Egyptian antiquities began to be com-
prehensively studied and sought after by systematic
research, attention was almost exclusively directed to
obtaining possession of the relics, without sufficiently
careful reference to the circumstances under which they
were discovered. It is true that those excavators who
then came upon the field might not have had many
opportunities of observing the funeral arrangements
of the ancient race as preserved in intact tombs; for,
as I have already said, their predecessors, during many
centuries, were numerous and active. Already in the
flourishing days of the native monarchies, robbery of
the dead appears to have been known as a form of
sacrilege; and a contemporary papyrus recently acquired
by the British Museum, is found by Mr. Birch to con-
tain a species of report by a commission appointed to
more it is known only from what necropolis they were
obtained. And of a very few can it be stated from
what tomb, and under what circumstances they were
discovered; while as to these it has almost invariably
happened that they were but the leavings of former
spoilers, and could bear only a very imperfect re-
lation to the original character of the respective
deposits.
To a great extent this result has inevitably arisen
from the constant pillage from very early times, and
from ordinary motives of cupidity, to which Egyptian
burial-places have been subjected in course of the
vicissitudes through which tbe country has passed.
But unfortunately, also, there is much room for regret,
that even after Egyptian antiquities began to be com-
prehensively studied and sought after by systematic
research, attention was almost exclusively directed to
obtaining possession of the relics, without sufficiently
careful reference to the circumstances under which they
were discovered. It is true that those excavators who
then came upon the field might not have had many
opportunities of observing the funeral arrangements
of the ancient race as preserved in intact tombs; for,
as I have already said, their predecessors, during many
centuries, were numerous and active. Already in the
flourishing days of the native monarchies, robbery of
the dead appears to have been known as a form of
sacrilege; and a contemporary papyrus recently acquired
by the British Museum, is found by Mr. Birch to con-
tain a species of report by a commission appointed to