eing
baked; some few were marked after the baking.

[Illustration: 403.jpg TYPES OF PREHISTORIC AND FIRST DYNASTY POTTERY]

Some of the marks are unquestionably hieroglyphs; others are probably
connected with the signs used by the earlier prehistoric people; and
many can scarcely be determined.

[Illustration: 404a.jpg POTTERY MARKS]

A typical instance of these pottery marks is shown in the illustration.
These signs appear to be distinctly of the time of Mer-sekha, and the
fortified enclosure around the name may refer to the tomb as the eternal
fortress of the king. These marks can be roughly classified into types
according to the skill with which they were drawn. The first example
illustrates the more careful workmanship, and the others show more
degraded forms, in which the outline of the hawk and the signs in the
cartouche become gradually more debased. It is tolerably certain that
what are known as the Mediterranean alphabets were derived from a
selection of the signs used in these pottery marks.

[Illustration: 404b.jpg POTTERY FORMS FROM ABYDOS]

An undisturbed tomb was found by accident in the Osiris temenos. The
soil was so wet that the bones were mostly dissolved; and only fragments
of the skull, crushed under an inverted slate bowl, were preserved. The
head had been laid upon a sandstone corn-grinder. Around the sides of
the tomb were over two dozen jars of pottery, most of them large. And
near the body were sixteen stone vases and bowls. Some of the forms,
such as are shown in the illustration, Nos. 3, 7, 8, are new to us. A
strange three-sided pottery bowl was also found here, but since there
is no museum in England where such a complete tomb can be placed, it was
sent to Philadelphia, in order that the whole series should be arranged
as originally found.

The sealings, the general description of which has been already given,
have come to light in such considerable quantities during the past few
years that their study became a special branch of Egyptology. As to
the earliest sealings, it was not until the time of Den that a broad
uniformity of style was established. The seals of the second dynasty are
generally of a smaller style and more elaborately worked than those of
the first dynasty. It is reasonable, therefore, to conclude that the
later seals were made in stone or metal rather than in wood.

[Illustration: 405.jpg THREE TYPES OF SEALINGS]

The illustration given of sealing No. 128, of the