e able to do, in the case of Egypt in the scenes of the mastabas of
Saqqara, or of the rock-chambers of Beni-Hasan. The manufacture of stone
implements gave considerable employment, and the equipment of the dead
in the tombs of Uru would have been a matter of small moment, if we were
to exclude its flint implements, its knives, cleavers, scrapers, adzes,
axes, and hammers. The cutting of these objects is bold, and the final
touches show skill, but we rarely meet with that purity of contour and
intensity of polish which distinguish similar objects among Western
peoples. A few examples, it is true, are of fairly artistic shape, and
bear engraved inscriptions: one of these, a flint hammer of beautiful
form, belonged to a god, probably Eamman, and seems to have come from a
temple in which one of its owners had deposited it.

[Illustration: 311a.jpg CHALDAEAN STONE IMPLEMENTS.]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the sketches published by
Taylor and by 'G. Rawlinson. On the left a scraper and two
knives one above the other, an axe in the middle, on the
right an axe and a hammer. All these objects were found in
Taylor's excavations, and are now in the British Museum.

It is an exception, and a remarkable exception. Stone was the material
of the implements of the poor--implements which were coarse in shape,
and cost little: if much care were given to their execution, they would
come to be so costly that no one would buy them, or, if sold for a
moderate sum, the seller would obtain no profit from the transaction.
Beyond a certain price, it was more advantageous to purchase metal
implements, of copper in the early ages, afterwards of bronze, and
lastly of iron. Among the metal-founders and smiths all kinds of
examples of these were to be found--axes of an elegant and graceful
design, hammers and knives, as well as culinary and domestic utensils,
cups, cauldrons, dishes, mountings of doors and coffers, statuettes of
men, bulls, monsters, and gods--which could be turned to weapons of
all descriptions--arrow and lance heads, swords, daggers, and rounded
helmets with neck-piece or visor.

[Illustration: 311b.jpg CHALDAEAN STONE HAMMER BEARING AN INSCRIPTION.]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the illustration published by
Fr. Lenormant.

[Illustration: CHALDAEN IMPLEMENTS OF BRONZE]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Rawlinson's _Five Great
Monarchies_. On the right two axes, in the middle a hamm