published
in 1895-6. In this book the true chronological position of the
prehistoric antiquities was pointed out, and the existence of an
Egyptian Stone Age finally decided. M. de Morgan's work was based on
careful study of the results of excavations carried on for several years
by the Egyptian government in various parts of Egypt, in the course
of which a large number of cemeteries of the primitive type had been
discovered. It was soon evident to M. de Morgan that these primitive
graves, with their unusual pottery and flint implements, could be
nothing less than the tombs of the prehistoric Egyptians, the Egyptians
of the Stone Age.

Objects of the prehistoric period had been known to the museums for many
years previously, but owing to the uncertainty of their provenance and
the absence of knowledge of the existence of the primitive cemeteries,
no scientific conclusions had been arrived at with regard to them; and
it was not till the publication of M. de Morgan's book that they were
recognized and classified as prehistoric. The necropoles investigated
by M. de Morgan and his assistants extended from Kawamil in the north,
about twenty miles north of Abydos, to Edfu in the south. The chief
cemeteries between these two points were those of Bat Allam, Saghel
el-Baglieh, el-'Amra, Nakada, Tukh, and Gebelen. All the burials were
of simple type, analogous to those of the Neolithic races in the rest
of the world. In a shallow, oval grave, excavated often but a few inches
below the surface of the soil, lay the body, cramped up with the knees
to the chin, sometimes in a rough box of pottery, more often with only
a mat to cover it. Ready to the hand of the dead man were his flint
weapons and tools, and the usual red and black, or buff and red, pots
lay beside him; originally, no doubt, they had been filled with the
funeral meats, to sustain the ghost in the next world. Occasionally a
simple copper weapon was found. With the body were also buried slate
palettes for grinding the green eye-paint which the Egyptians loved even
at this early period. These are often carved to suggest the forms of
animals, such as birds, bats, tortoises, goats, etc.; on others are
fantastic creatures with two heads. Combs of bone, too, are found,
ornamented in a similar way with birds' or goats' heads, often double.
And most interesting of all are the small bone and ivory figures of men
and women which are also found. These usually have little blue bea