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Show TOMB OF PHABAOH. GREAT ROYAL SEPULCHEFI IS FOUND AT NAKADA. rill. J with ObJ.rla Hlio.. Makers Vfara f.r.on. of Cnlltir. lini.troctlon ot tha Ha. .ol. ,1111 W. lu LlialSraa 1.1,1.. Trom the lamdon Chronicle! In the fnsclnntlng study ot anthropology there has arisen no more Interesting problem than that uf the beginnings ot civilisation Year by year patient delving In the dust heaps ot Chaldea and of the Nile valley has carried our knowledge backward till to-day the records of the first of the Phnraohs and the prodjnasllc age of Kgypt bsvo been rescued from the oblivion of centuries. cen-turies. The drat triumph In this great field was won by Prof Petrle, who, guided by tho traditional antiquity ot Koptos, as one of tho early settlements In the Nllo valley, commenced explorations on the site of that city Kopto was not, however, thn only prehistoric settlement set-tlement In middle Kgypt. where tho early empire grow tip. The dlscovcrlM at Ilalaa and Nakada, on the edge of tho Lyblan desert, opposite Koptoa, snd at Abjdos. together with those made last year at. Hlerakonopolls by Mr. Qulbell, show that wa ran assign ft fairly definite area to the prrdynastlc settlements of the Nllo valley They extend from tho Fayum In the north to Kumel-Abmnror Hlerakonopolls In the south, and, with the exception of Kop-tos, Kop-tos, are chiefly found on tho fringe ot tho Lyblan desert. The most important impor-tant discoveries In this field hava been those of Mr De Morgan, tha director of tho (llteh museum nt Nakada, where he has uncovered the great ro)al tomb, with Its burled treasures, which has been Identified by Mr Maspero and most i:g)ptoluglsts ns the burial place or Mena, or Menes, ' the first ot tho Pharaohs." It would seem that when once this prc-Pharonlc age had begun to lei J up Its secrets It did so in a most ungrudging manner, for the work of Mr. Amellnrnu nt Abjilos has resulted re-sulted in thn discovery of several royal tombs of members of the first and second sec-ond dynasties, nnd these of an nge, at tho latest, of some 5,000 years before tho Christian ern Tho discovery of the great roat tomb at Nakada marks now tho threshold thres-hold of Kgyptlan history, msny centuries cen-turies prior to the age of Senefru, and )ct hero we hava numerous urn! forcible. forci-ble. Indications of n vast antiquity, behind be-hind even this remote nge, which cannot can-not In reason bo placed Inter than ..10 fifth or sixth millennia beforo tha Christian era. Already tho Nile valley was populated by mixed races, and tha northern ami southern provinces gave tn the Pharaohs tho doiible crown. The tomb ot Menes and Us trensures aro not tho work of n primitive race or a community Just emerging from dark ages of savagery, h Is tho work ot n people long used lo building construction con-struction nnd to tho emplojment of the flno arts, and not by any means Isolated Iso-lated from tho outer world. From an anthropological point of view tha discovery dis-covery cannot bo too highly estimated. The building for It Is not a rock cut orexenvated, but a royal dwelling place of tho dead Is n parallelogram measuring meas-uring M by 27 meters, or exactly 100 inblts by SO of Kgyptlan measurement a proportion we shall see ot considerable consid-erable Importance Tho orientation Is also remarkable, tho angles, not the sides, being turned to the cardinal points. To tho students ot Kgyptlan nrcbaelogy the structuro presents at onco n non-Kgptlan character The outer walls aro embattled at regular Intervals by buttresses, tha whole being be-ing constructed of crude brick, The resemblnnra to tha massive brick buildings of South Chaldea, as shown In the temples ot Telln and Nippur, Is most apparent. This Chaldean connection con-nection Is considerably confirmed when wo consider tho proportions ot tho building which urn thorn almost Invariable In-variable In Dub) Ionia, while tho orientation orien-tation Is that of the Chaldean builders, and not that of tha Kgyptlans, as shown by 0,11 buildings except the stepped puamld at Sakkara, which bo-longs bo-longs probably to tha predynastla age, Tho Interior arrangements are most turlous The building mny bo divided Into two portions the tomb snd the itore chambers Immediately adjoining adjoin-ing the outer wall are n series of sixteen six-teen chambers forming n gallery round the Inner chambers These rooms on being explored, wern found to be fllles lth all kinds of provisions furniture, ttc , for tho deceased The Inner portion por-tion or tomb proper tonslsted of five thambers. nrrsnged again In corridor form, with doors communicating from the northwest enlrnnre The center thamber of this group was the Isrgest. ind evidently the ro) nl burial chamber, but no portion of this strange edifice iliowcd any trace of painting or deeo-rsllon deeo-rsllon of any kind In this we have a resemblance to the cold, crude brick ork of Chaldea |
