History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent Discovery | Page 9

the original level of the ground. From their proximity to the
surface they are often found disturbed, more often by the agency of
jackals than that of man.
Contemporaneously with M. de Morgan's explorations, Prof. Flinders
Petrie and Mr. J. Quibell had, in the winter of 1894-5, excavated in the
districts of Tukh and Nakada, on the west bank of the Nile opposite
Koptos, a series of extensive cemeteries of the primitive type, from
which they obtained a large number of antiquities, published in their
volume Nagada and Dallas. The plates giving representations of the
antiquities found were of the highest interest, but the scientific value of
the letter-press is vitiated by the fact that the true historical position of
the antiquities was not perceived by their discoverers, who came to the
conclusion that these remains were those of a "New Pace" of Libyan
invaders. This race, they supposed, had entered Egypt after the close of
the flourishing period of the "Old Kingdom" at the end of the VIth
Dynasty, and had occupied part of the Nile valley from that time till the
period of the Xth Dynasty.
This conclusion was proved erroneous by M. de Morgan almost as soon
as made, and the French archæologist's identification of the primitive
remains as pre-dynastic was at once generally accepted. It was obvious
that a hypothesis of the settlement of a stone-using barbaric race in the
midst of Egypt at so late a date as the period immediately preceding the
XIIth Dynasty, a race which mixed in no way with the native Egyptians
themselves, and left no trace of their influence upon the later Egyptians,
was one which demanded greater faith than the simple explanation of
M. de Morgan.
The error of the British explorers was at once admitted by Mr. Quibell,
in his volume on the excavations of 1897 at el-Kab, published in

1898.* Mr. Quibell at once found full and adequate confirmation of M.
de Morgan's discovery in his diggings at el-Kab. Prof. Petrie admitted
the correctness of M. de Morgan's views in the preface to his volume
Diospolis Parva, published three years later in 1901.** The preface to
the first volume of M. de Morgan's book contained a generous
recognition of the method and general accuracy of Prof. Petrie's
excavations, which contrasted favourably, according to M. de Morgan,
with the excavations of others, generally carried on without scientific
control, and with the sole aim of obtaining antiquities or literary
texts.*** That M. de Morgan's own work was carried out as
scientifically and as carefully is evident from the fact that his
conclusions as to the chronological position of the prehistoric
antiquities have been shown to be correct. To describe M. de Morgan's
discovery as a "happy guess," as has been done, is therefore beside the
mark.
* El-Kab. Egyptian Research Account, 1897, p. 11.
** Diospolis Parva. Egypt Exploration Fund, 1901, p. 2.
*** Recherches: Age de la Pierre, p. xiii.
Another most important British excavation was that carried on by
Messrs. Randall-Maclver and Wilkin at el-'Amra. The imposing
lion-headed promontory of el-'Amra stands out into the plain on the
west bank of the Nile about five miles south of Abydos. At the foot of
this hill M. de Morgan found a very extensive prehistoric necropolis,
which he examined, but did not excavate to any great extent, and the
work of thoroughly excavating it was performed by Messrs.
Randall-MacIver and Wilkin for the Egypt Exploration Fund. The
results have thrown very great light upon the prehistoric culture of
Egypt, and burials of all prehistoric types, some of them previously
unobserved, were found. Among the most interesting are burials in pots,
which have also been found by Mr. Garstang in a predynastic
necropolis at Ragagna, north of Abydos. One of the more remarkable
observations made at el-'Amra was the progressive development of the
tombs from the simplest pot-burial to a small brick chamber, the
embryo of the brick tombs of the Ist Dynasty. Among the objects

recovered from this site may be mentioned a pottery model of oxen, a
box in the shape of a model hut, and a slate "palette" with what is
perhaps the oldest Egyptian hieroglyph known, a representation of the
fetish-sign of the god Min, in relief. All these are preserved in the
British Museum. The skulls of the bodies found were carefully
preserved for craniometric examination.
In 1901 an extensive prehistoric cemetery was being excavated by
Messrs. Reisner and Lythgoe at Nag'ed-Dêr, opposite Girga, and at
el-Ahaiwa, further north, another prehistoric necropolis has been
excavated by these gentlemen, working for the University of California.
[Illustration: 027.jpg CAMP OF THE EXPEDITION OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT NAG' ED-DÊR, 1901.]
The cemetery of Nag'ed-Dêr is of the usual prehistoric type, with its
multitudes of small oval graves, excavated