mastaba-tombs have, it is
understood, been found, with interesting remains. Nothing of great
historical importance seems to have been discovered, however. It is
otherwise when we come to the discoveries of Messrs. Borchardt and
Schafer at Abusir, south of Giza and north of Sakkara. At this place
results of first-rate historical importance have been attained.

The main group of pyramids at Abusir consists of the tombs of the kings
Sahura, Neferarikara, and Ne-user-Ra, of the Vth Dynasty. The pyramids
themselves are smaller than those of Giza, but larger than those of
Sakkara. In general appearance and effect they resemble those of Giza,
but they are not so imposing, as the desert here is low. Those of Giza,
Sakkara, and Dashur owe much of their impressiveness to the fact that
they are placed at some height above the cultivated land. The excavation
and planning of these pyramids were carried out by Messrs. Borchardt and
Schafer at the expense of Baron von Bissing, the well-known Egyptologist
of Munich, and of the _Deutsch-Orient Gesell-schaft_ of Berlin. The
antiquities found have been divided between the museums of Berlin and
Cairo.

One of the most noteworthy discoveries was that of the funerary temple
of Ne-user-Ra, which stood at the base of his pyramid. The plan is
interesting, and the granite lotus-bud columns found are the most
ancient yet discovered in Egypt. Much of the paving and the wainscoting
of the walls was of fine black marble, beautifully polished. An
interesting find was a basin and drain with lion's-head mouth, to
carry away the blood of the sacrifices. Some sculptures in relief were
discovered, including a gigantic representation of the king and the
goddess Isis, which shows that in the early days of the Vth Dynasty the
king and the gods were already depicted in exactly the same costume as
they wore in the days of the Ramses and the Ptolemies. The hieratic art
of Egypt had, in fact, now taken on itself the final outward appearance
which it retained to the very end. There is no more of the archaism
and absence of conventionality, which marks the art of the earliest
dynasties.

We can trace by successive steps the swift development of Egyptian art
from the rude archaism of the Ist Dynasty to its final consummation
under the Vth, when the conventions became fixed. In the time of
Khaesekhemui, at the beginning of the IId Dynasty, the archaic character
of the art has already begun to wear off. Under the