, about 250 were
found untouched in modern times. The graves yielded a good collection of
archaic pottery, pearl and ivory bracelets, hairpins, carnelian, garnet,
gold, blue glaze and other beads, etc.

About this cemetery was a cemetery of the late New Empire, containing a
number of vaulted tombs built of unburned brick. These yielded a large
number of necklaces, and several fine pieces of faience and ivory, and
other objects. A second cemetery, farther north, contained a few late
archaic graves and about fifteen large tombs, usually with one main
chamber and two small chambers at each end. These tombs were of two
types (1) roofed over with wood, without a stairway, (2) roofed over
with a corbelled vault and entered from the west by a stairway. The
burials in these tombs are in the archaic position, head to south.
Dissected, or secondary, burials occur in these cemeteries, but
only rarely. Only one indisputable case was found, as shown in the
illustration.

[Illustration: 408.jpg UNIQUE INSTANCE OF A DISSECTED BURIAL]

It would require several volumes adequately to deal with the results
of the excavations of the present century. Further discoveries, all
throwing new light upon the life of ancient Egypt, are being made each
season, and the number of enthusiastic workers gathered from every
nation constantly increases. Notwithstanding the heroic and splendid
work of past investigators, for many years to come the valley of the
Nile promises to yield important results, not only in actual field work,
but also in the close study and better classification of the thousands
of objects that are continually being brought to light.

Six thousand years of history have been unrolled; tomb and tablet, shard
and papyrus have told their story, and the vista stretches back to
the dawn of human history in that inexhaustible valley watered by the
perennial overflow of the grandest river in the world. But there is
much still to be accomplished by the enthusiastic spirit, the keen and
selective mind, in the study of this ancient land, the cradle and the
grave of nations.

THE END.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt From 330 B.C. To The
Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12), by S. Rappoport

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EGYPT ***

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