IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) .^^'^ ^ j^ W /, 1.0 I.I 1.25 145 Hi 1^ IM IIIII25 lil^ ■ 40 2.0 i.8 1.4 1.6 V] signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Mapa. plataa, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction ratioa. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure sre filmed beginning in the upper left hand comer, left to right and top to bottom, aa many framee aa required. The following diagrama illuatrate the method: Lea cartaa. planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent dtre filmte A dee taux de rMuction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour itre reproduit en un seul ciichA. il eat filmA i partir da Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche i droite, et da haut an baa. en prenant le nombre d'imagas nicessaire. Las diagrammea suivants illustrent la m^thodo. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 NOTES ON USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL STONES OF ANCIENT EGYPT. BY Sir J. WILLIAM DAWSON, C.M.G., LL.D., F.RS. BBlNa A PAPER READ BSPORB THB VICTORIA INSTITUTX. AUTHOR'S COPY ^iii.'Vitr-'^'ii'.t-.tB'.'-'f ■-• i. iKll^'X NOTES ON USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL STONES OK ANCIENT EGYPT. BY Sir J. WILLIAM DAWSON, C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S. r.EIN'i A I'AI'ER HEAD JiBFOHB THB yiOIVUlA INSTiTUTE. AUTIIOK'S COPY NOTES ON USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL STONES WHEN, in the winter of 1883-4, I had the pleasure of visiting some parts of Egypt and Syria, I had pre- pared myself, by previous study of books and collections to devote as much of my time as possible to the investigation ol certain critical and uncertain questions in the geology of those regions, and especially of the geological facts bearing on the advent and early history of man. Prehminary notes on these points were published in a short series of papers in the Geological Magazine (1884), and a paper on the " Bone Caves of the Lebanon," in the Transactions of this Society (vol xvin), and the results were more fully given in my work Modern Science in Bible Lands, published in 1888, although the pressing occupations of the intervening three years did not leave sufficient time to work up all my notes and speci- mens. * Reference may also be made to Professor Hull's Paper, "A sketch ^\}}^^ ^^o\ogK^\ m^tovy of Egypt and the Nile Valley," in vol. xxiv of the Institute's Journal. 10 2 SIK WILLIAM DAWSON, C.M.ii., LL.D., K.L'.S., Amonp; those are some relating- to a subject wliieh im- presses itself very stron^-ly on a geological traveller in tho Nile Valley, namely, tlu- varicms ro(;ks and minerals used by the Egyptians from very early times, th(^ pnr])oses to which they were applied, and the manner in wliich they were quarried and worked. T made large collections to illustrate these points; not, how(;ver, T maybe excused for saying, by defacing monuments, but by collecting broken fragments lying on old sites, and by visiting ((uarries and natiu-al exposures. Egypt affords unlimited material of this kind to a lithological collector, without detriment to existing works of art, and much may also be obtained from the people, who quickly understand the value both of rock specimens and fossils Avhen pointed out to them, and who cannot fabricate these in the manner of clay scarabs and other imitations of antiques. The present notes may be considered supplementary to what is stated in the work above referred to. 1. Granitic, Dioritic, and Gneissic Kocks. To these groups belong a large part of the monumental stones of Egypt ; and from the P'irst Cataract and the hilly ranges east of the Nile they were transported to every part of the country, even to the shores of the Mediterranean and the neighbourhood of the Isthmus, and this not in small blocks but often in great masses nuich more weighty than any used in modern architecture or sculpture. For this, no doubt, the navigable water of the Nile and its canals, and the variations of its level in the inundations, afforded great facilities. The most important of all these rocks is the celebrated red granite of Syene, so generally employed in the greater Egyptian monuments. I have given detailed descriptions of this r• ON USKFDIi AND OKNAMENTAI, STONKS OF ANGIKNT KOYIT. i) aiiortliosite from a Caiiudiaii locality with tlic I\i;yi)tiaii spcci- luon to sliow tliu roHCniblaiiuo. I (lid not seo thiw rock in place, hnt Ncwbold sucnin to ha\X' found it in the mountain range eastward of the Nile, and it will no doubt bo found to b(* related to the fiauren- tian axis of that range. The banded varieti(;s or anorth(»site gneiasoH, tt) which the material of the ntatue belongn, used to be regarded an altered wedimentary roekH. They are now more UHually clasKed Avith igneous products, as either intru- sive masses laminated by pressure or bedded igneous rocks consolidated and altered. In all probability, the latter is the more correct view. It has been usual to call tlu» material of these anorthosite statues diorite. For this there is a justification in the fact that the materials are in great part similar to those of that rock ; but the lamination, the crystalline structure, and the proi)orti()us of the constituents are difleront. A singular conjecture has also been started, to the effect that this material was derived, as well as the diorite found on the old Chaldean site of Tel-loh, from quarries in the Sinaitic Pen- insula, and it has even been imagined that a primitive school of sculpture existed at Sinai. Such hypotheses are, however, altogether baseless. The Chaldeans cuuhl obtain such ma- terials from the moiTutains on the Persian frontier, and the Egyptians from those of their own eastern territory, and neither could easily have transported large masses of stone from the Sinaitic district. The stone in question has many good points as a material for sculpture. It is of uniform texture and of moderate hardness, between that of marble and (|uartz. It is free from thequartii grains that render granite intractable. It is tough and takes a high polish. Its colour is agreeable, like that of a banded white and grey marble, and its lustre is superit)r to that of marble. It is extremely durable and resisting, and not liable to discoloration by Aveathering. Such properties, no doubt, commended it to the sculptors of the remote period of King Kephren. and it is perhaps re- markable that a stone with sd many good (Qualities has been neglected by more modern artists. The statue of Kephren now in the Gizeli ]\Iuseum bears testimony by its excellent preservation to these propcn'ties, and probably the other statues Avhich accompanied it w< ON USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL STONES OP ANCIENT EGYPT. 7 M " From Old Temple, Gizeh. " This is ;i niedium-grained basalt (plag-ioolase basalt), in all probability belonging to the subdivision of olivine Basalts. " It is composed of plagioclase, aiigite, olivine (?), iron ore, and apatite, Avith a small amount of glass. " Undei- the microscope, the rock is seen to be porphyritic. a few ]arger individuals of plagioclase and augite occurring scattered through tlio rock. These porphyritic plagioclase crystals are occasionally somewhat decomposed. The rest of the plagioclase occurs in well-twinned, lath-shaped crystals, and is quite fresh. The augite is often well crystalhsed, and sJioAvs its characteristic cleavage and inclined extinction. There are also a number of more or less rounded grains which seem to have been olivine, but which are now almost entirely altered to a brown decomposition product, showing aggre- gate polarisation, and which is apparently for the most part hydrated fin-ric oxide. Tin's material stains the other minerals of the rock, and seems in some cases to result also from the decomposition of the augite or the glass. The iron ore, which is black and opaque, resembles magnetite, and occurs in irregular-shaped grains. The apatite is somewhat abun- dant, occurring in long, slender needles." A rock of this kind" is described by Zittel and by Beyrich and Sclnveinfurth as forming eruptive masses in Lower Egypt, and probably of Tertiary age. One locality is at Abu Zabel less than 20 miles to the north-east of Cairo, and other localities occur in the Lybian Desert to the westward. Schweinfurth has found a rock of similar aspect in hills near the Red Sea, where it appears to have been quarried. The description given by Arzruni of the variety found at Abu Zabch-losely correspond,^ with that of Mr. Adams quoted al)ove. This kind of rock, probably Ijecause of its accessibility and abundance, or perhaps because of the good poHsh of which it is capable, and the slight play of colours of the felspar and olivine when seen in a bright light, was much used for small objects, especially in Lower Egypt. As examples of this, 1 have in my coUcction a palette for grinding colours, a polisher, a perforated disk, two scarabs, some beads, and one of the sacred eyes used as charms. Statues and ornamental work in temples seem also to have been made of it ; but it is not well suited to long exposure to the weather, as the olivine and augite are acted on by the atmosphere, and become rusty. 8 SIR WILLIAM DAWSON, C.M.O., LL.D., F.K.S., In Modern Science in Bihle /Mnds, I have roferred to tliiw rock as an olivine-dolevitc', and some of the varietioH of it seem to contain more olivine tlian that examined by Mr. Adams. The use of tliis material sng'gests tlie question whether the artists ^vho first employed it may have taken a lesson from the ancient nations wlio used a similar material so extensively in Northern Syria, or whether, on the other hand, Egyptian masons may have been employed in Hashan. In every country, however, the builder seeking ft)r mateiial comes to similar conclusions, according as he attaches more or less importance to accessibility, durability, or beauty. 3, The Nubian Sandstoxe. This takes precedence in point of architectural use of all stones in pjgypt, except, perhaps, the Eocene Hmestones. It is not only a soft and easily cut stone, and one which in the climate of Egypt is sufficiently durable ; but wdiere the Nile cuts through its outcrop in the gorge of Silsilis, or Silsileh. it presents exposares and facilities for shipment unsurpassed in the world. It Avas, however, quarried at other places, as in the vicinity of Assouan and in Nubia, where the great temple of Abu Simbel is excavated in this rock. Here, and in the great colossal figures of Amenophis, mthe Plain of Thebes, its use in sculpture of the colossal sort is seen, and at Karnak, K(jm-ombos, P^dfou, and Denderah, its architectural employment on the most gigantic scale. That it is the material of the stupendous hypostyle hall of iSeti I at Karnak, should perhaps give it precedence over all other stones of construction. The way in which in interiors it was coated with a gypseous cement and painted, I have else- where explained. In one (^uarry behind Assouan the patient excavator, instead of cutting rectangular blocks, had cut out at one operation large drums for columns, leaving semi- circular niches in the face of the rock. Kegardcd as a rock, it is a siliceous sandstone, (-omposed of angular grains very loosely cemented, so that it is easily crumbled, and its colour varies from a light cream colour, or nearly white, to a yellowish-brown. Its age })r()bably ranges from Permian to Lower (Jretaceons.* and it dittVrsfrom the newer sandstone of tJebel Ahmar in its less amount of siliceous cement and of red oxide of iron, and in the absence of any rounded grains. Its * Fossils anil strutigraphical arraiigement seein to indicate that there may be two Nubian saiuLstoiies, one later I'aheoznic, the othei' Cretaceous but tliey cauuot at ])resent be separati'd with certainty. 1 hav discussed this question elsewhere. ON USEPOL AND ORNAMENTAL STONES OF ANCIKNT EGYPT. 9 date is evidently altogether anterior to tlie operation of that wind-drift whieh has produced the modern rounded desert sand. 4. Limestone, &c. In a country where chfts of tliis rock present themselves on every side, it is necessarily of great importance, both as a stone of construction and as cement. It is mostly of Eoceno age, though some Cretaceous beds have been locally quarried, and it is of very various qualities. It may be coarse and unequal in grain, or filled with fossil shells, as Nummulites, &c., or may be line and uniform in texture. It is sometimes hard as marble, in other cases soft and chalky. It may be grey or brown, or of a pure white. All these varieties were more or less used, the coarser and more unsightly for cores of pyramids, foundations, and other structures not intended to be seen. The stepped ])yramid of Sakkara, one of the oldest known, is wholly composed of a brownish Hmestone, found in the vicinity. The pure white and fine grained varieties Avere employed for lining and casing buildings, and for ornamental work and sculpture. The finer varieties present under the microscope various characters. The most common and softest is of the nature of an indurated chalk ; a congeries of microscopic foramini- feral shells, and must be an oceanic deposit similar to chalk and globigerina ooze. This is the variety employed for casing the Great Pyramid, for lining many temples and tombs, for .-statues and monumental tablets, and it is the whitest kind quarried at Turra at present. A variety observed at Abydos is of a light grey tint and earthy aspect, but this has been coated with a Avhite cement and coloured. Other varieties used in sculpture have a fine concretionary or oolitic structure, or are so cemented with infiltrated matter as to assume a minutely crystalline character. The fine-grained foraminiferal limestone lends itself to the cutting of hieroglyphic inscriptions of all kinds, and to the art of the colourist, so that it is admiral)ly adapted to the uses to which it was apphed in tombs and temples. A more modern limestone of later Tertiary age exists on the coast near Alexandria, and is (piarried for building pur- poses. It is an organic rock, made up of fragments of shells. and is apparently similar in age and origin to the Pleistocene Innestones found near .Jatta and Ik'yrout. on t\e Syrian coast. and to the modern shelly sandstones of the coast of the Ued Sea, which are used for purposes of construction at Suez. 10 SIR WILLIAM DAWSON, C.M.G., LL.D., IMJ.?., Alabaster, as distiiijO^uished from limestoiio, is a crvstalH'io, translucent material, deposited in the manner of stalapniite, in veins, (^r filling- caverns in the limestone. It is tlnis a local and irre^'idar deposit ; but the Egyptinns manai;'ed to obtain it in several places, in (piantities not only sufHcient for A'ascs and minor ornamental purposes, but in blocks and slabs sufficiently large to form shrhi js and to line portions of tombs, and even of temples. One locality where it has l,»eeii extensively quarried is in the cliflCs on tlie west side of the Nile, near Beni Suef The Egyptian alabaster is sometimes colourless, but more frequently banded with agate-like Hues of gi'ey and light brown, whence the name onyx-niurble sometimes given to it. Gypseous or soft alabaster does not seem to have been much used in Egypt, but small vases and other objects made of it are sometimes found. Cleavable transparent calc-spar, probably obtained from veins in the limestone, was sometimes usi'd l)y the Egy})tiaiis for minor ornaments and beads, probably as a substitute for rock crystal. 5. ^IlOCENE (^)rAliTZITE OF JeBEL AhMAR, SiG. My first ac(]uaintance with this stone dates from a time- long anterior to my visit to the locality. j\Iy late friend, Dr. Douglas, of Quebec, had formed in successive visits to pjgypt a large and interesting collection of antiquities, in examining which I noticed a small slab, or funereal stela, inscribed Avith hieroglyphics, and which specially attracted ]ny attention from the fact that it Avas executed in quartzitc; of so great hardness as to defy ordinary sculpture Avith steel tools. At the time, I kneAv such rocks only as occurring in the old Cambrian series in Canada, and had not learned that they occurred in Egypt. The choice of a stone so hard seemed strange on the part of a people whom 1 had scarcely supposed capable of dealing with material so refractory, the use of the diamond drill by the ancient Egyptians being then unknoAvn. I remarked at the time that the scul))tor, or his employer, had eA'idently determined to possess an indestruct- ible monument, ''regardless of expense.*' but it seemed im- possible to understand Iioav he could by any expenditure ha\'e succeeded in his purpose. Jebel Ahmar. the Red Mountain, lies a little to the east of the Mokattam Hill, in the vicinity of Cairo, and from its ON USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL STONES OP ANCIP]NT EGYPT. 11 peculiar rugged and dark-coloured appearance attracts, more or less, tlie attention of all travellers, who have usually regarded it as of volcanic origin. Geologists, as Russegger, XcAvbold, Scliiniper, Fraas, Delesse, Schweiiifurth, and Owen, have naturally given attention to it, and have discussed iis relation to the fossil wood of the so-called petrified forests in its vicinity. Stratigraphically it consists of beds of more or less indu- rated siliceous sandstone resting on the Upper Eocene lime- stones of the Mokattam hill, but differing entirely iVom them in appearance and mineral character. The stratigraphy thus proves that these sandstones are newer than the P]ocene, and they have usually been regarded as of Miocene age, so that we have here an example of an intensely indurated rock of comparatively modern date. Quite recently j\Iayer-Eimar lias, on the ground of certain fresh-water shells found in con- nection with these beds, assigned them to the Tongrian, or -'"='st Miocene age,* and with this view the evidence of the fossil trees is sufficiently in harmony. Of the older autho- rities, Russegger and Newbold seem to have very clearly understood the character and relations of these singidar deposits. In point of fact, Jebel Ahmar, and some neigh- bouring eminences of similar character, constitute the unde- nuded remnants of thick beds of sandstone once spread uniformly over this region on both sides of the Nile, and deposited in shallow Avater succeeding the deeper water in which the Eocene limestones were laid down. Into this shallow water drifted many trunks of trees, principally of the genus Nicolia, and other exogenous trees believed to be allied to certain modern species of interior Africa.f AVitli these are trunks of palms, and of Coniferous trees allied to the yew. The wood Avas silicified, and the sandstone in places hardened into quartzite by the percolation of siliceous waters. The action of the sea and of atmospheric agencies in later Tertiary times have removed the less consolidated portions, leaving the siHcified trees scattered about, while there remained as rugged eminences those portions of the beds which had been hardened into quart/ite by siliceous infiltration. That this is the origin of these hills is evident from the * Bulletin Zurich Acadniuj, 1889. t 1{. Brown, (^uart. Junrn. deal. Soc, iv. Cai-nUliors, O'eol. Mag., vii. Scheiik, in Zittel's Li/hisr/int Wu^ite. One of tlie Conifers in my oolloction is a Tcwites of modern aspect. 12 silt WILLIAM DAWSON, C.M.O., LL.D., F.R.S., nearly horiznntul position of tlunr layers, from their eon- taininj:^ Hilicified wood ho distributod, and with its cracks tilled by sandstone, &c.. as to show that it was embedded in the natural state, and afterwards silicitied, and by the irregular pipes or craters passing through the hardest parts of the beds, and apparently tlie channels of geysers, or fountains of heated water. The d.ite (^f these aqueous outflows must have been little later thnn that of the beds of sand, and while they were still unconsolidated, and their drift wood in a recent state. Direct volcanic action is not known in connection with Jebel Ahmar, but volcanic masses of Tertiary age exist near Abu Zabel, between Cairo and Lsmailia, and also in the Nubian Desert, which may be of the same age. These have been described by Beyrich. Schweinfurth, and Arzruni, and by Zittel.* They afford the basalt mentioned in previous pages. The Miocene or '"Tougrien" sandstone of Jebel Ahmar may be estimated at 400 feet in thickness. It consists of siliceous sand partially rounded like the desert sand, but with many angular grains, and with the interstices more or less filled in with hyaline silica, sometimes entirely consolidating the mass. In some of the beds are layers of pebbles of quartz, agate, and jasper, many of which are evidently derived from the siliceous concretions in the underlying Eocene limestones. The colours vary from })ure white to liglit red and dull purple, and the rock is often beautifully striped and mottled. From the enormous mass of chips around the hill, and the deep excavations in its sides, these beds of sandstone would seem to have been (piarried from the earliest times, and they still furnisli materials for mill- stones and for ma(.'adamising the streets of Cairo. The harder varieties must have afforded the earhest colonists a desirable material for hoes, diggers, hatchets, and war-clubs, and their successors continued to use it largely for hannners and polishers and pestles, as well as for mortars and millstones. But from the earliest })eriods of Egyptian sculpture and architecture, the beauty and durability of this rock were recognised, and the perfecting of the art of drilling hard stones in the palmy days of ancient Egypt enabled this refractory material to be employed even for the formation of monrjlithic shrines and cohjssal statues. Of the former, a shrine taken from the tem])le of Pithom, * Proceedi'iigs of Royal Academj, Berlin, 1882, ON USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL STONES OP ANCIENT EGYPT. 13 and now in tlie squfiro of Isniailia, forms a good illnstratiou. 1 have already described tliis relic,* and may here merely remark that it is a rectangular, monolithic cliamber, G feet long and 4 feet high, with a sphinx, left in hollowing the rock, in the centi'e. It is ^ rmed of the red variety of the stone, with the bedding in a vertical position, and appears to be of the age of Rameses TI. A similar shrine is noticed by Petrie, as found in the ruins of Tanis, but I liave not seen specimens of the stone of which it is made. One of the six monolithic statues, each about 20 feet high, sitting in front of the southern propylon of Karnac, is of a hard, light-brown variety of this rock with rows of agate pebbles, and though the upper part of the figure is gone, what remains impresses one very strongly with the audacity and perseverance of the Egyptian artist, who could attempt such a work in a material as hard as agate. Petrie informs us that the remains of the two colossal statues described by Herodotus as standing on pyramidal pedestals in Lake Moeris, show that they were of this stone. That such statues should have been broken up seems strange ; but it is accounted for by the demand for millstones and pestles, &c., of this material, so that a statue of quartzite was more likely to be destroyed than one of limestone. Among smaller works of this material the most perfect I have seen are two square slabs or tables of ttfFerings, about 4 feet wide, with bowls elaborately worked on tlieir upper sides, and hierogly|)hic inscriptions round their margins. They are in the Gizeh ^luseum. They are wonderful trophies of skill and patient work, apparently belonging to a very ancient period. Some travellers have stated tliat the tAvo gi*eat Colossi of the plain of Tliebes are of tliis istone, but tiiis is an error. They are of a much softer rock, the Nubian Sandstone. The quarrying of this material may have l)een done by wedging out blocks, taking advantage in this of the joints and bedding of the stone. It could then be nmghly shaped by chipping and hammering, but the finishing, especially in shrines and statuc^s and in cutting inscriptions, nnist have been effected with the hollow drill, armed. perlia})S, with diamond, as in the modern diamond-drill. Finally, the sur- face was probably polished by rubbing with sand of emery or other hard stones. Petrie has shown that the use of the hollow metallic drill, armed with gems, was well known in * Mttih'ni .'Science in Bible Lnnif.% p. 219. 14 SIK WILLIAM DAVV80N, C.M.G., LL.D., F.K.S,, Egypt, and Pliny (xxxvi. I and 14) mentions its use in classical times, Avhile, in HciilptnreR in the Homan calacombH, Ave see the sculptor's jourueynian hard at Avork drilling the sides of Konian sarcophagi of stone. Small objects, as pestles, polisliers, and drill-sockets, Avere made of this stone. I have one of the latter Avitli the depression for receiA'ing the drill finely polished by long use. 0. Various Stones and Gi- -is. The folloAving occur in the collections Avhich I made in Egypt, and in specimens presented to tlie Peter Redpath IMuseum by the Egypt Exploration Fund. Talcose schist and talc rock; images of Osiris, moulds for casting small objects. Serpentine, scarabs, images of Osiris or ushebti, small vase. Chlorite schist, a small figure of Osiris, Argillite or clay slate, small figures or charms of A'-arious kinds, spear or knife. Red carnelian, beads and seals. Agate, peculiar variety of moss agate Avith circular ferru- ginous markings, also various agates and jaspers, some rudely shaped, others finely Avorked as beads, &c. White milky quartz, fragment of circular object. G reen jasper, cubical bead, Avith angles truncated. Amethyst, beads and ornaments. Flint, knives, scrapers, piercers, arrow-heads. All are of the kinds of flint common in the Eocene limestones. iiarnet, beads in carbuncle and rosy varieties. Lapis lazuli, scarab, Otus eye, bead, &c. Steatite, small figures of animals, &c. Hematite, black and fineh'-polished Otus eye. Labradorite, oval button or knob, broken at base. Fluor spar, purple beads. Porpliyry, red and other colours in A'arious small objects. Fuchsite, or chrc^miferous green variety of mica schist, a rude fragment, possibly used for inlaying. This rock is found in the Tyrol, and in Maine, in the U.S. of America. No Egyptian locality is knoAvn. The specimen came from Naukratis. ^fica schist, perhaps a Avhetstone, also fragments unAA-'orked. Turquoise, a ring stone. Emerald or beryl, in beads. The precise dates of these objects are of course unknown, but they were obtained mostly by Arabs from old Egyptian ON USEFFf; ANP ORNAMENTAL STONES OF ANCIENT EGYl'T. 15 graves, and some of them inay be of o-reat autiqiiity. while otlievs are probably eoinpavativcly niodorn. 7. Flint Flakes, Knives, Saws, &c. It may liu well to add here a few wordw as to the use of flint ani( >!)<;• the ancient Ef;;yptians. There has been mnch unproHtable discussion as to wliether the numerous flakes wliicli may be picked up on the surface, espscially near ancient sites, are natin-al or artiflcial, and if the latter, whether they are ''prehietoric," or belong- to the historical era. A few jijeneral statements of fact may serve to dispose of these questions. (1.) The Eocene limestones of Egypt are rich in flint con- cretions. Some beds are especially stored with these ; and even in the fine-grained white limestones used for the more important architectural purposes, the artist was often troubled l)y kernels of siliceous matter. Where the limestones have been denuded, great numbers of these concretions remain on the surface, just as in the chalk districts of England, and the gravel beds belonging to the older deposits of the Nile Valley, as near Thebes, at Helouan, &c., are largely composed of flints. Hence at all periods flint has presented itself to the Egyptian as an available material for tools and other pur- l^oses, and at many localities, as at Helouan, at Jebel Assart, Thebes, and in the desert, east of the Nile, ateliers with cores as well as flakes, and arrow-heads, saws, &c., may be found. (2.) Besides the flints worked by man, innumerable chips exist that have been produced by nature. Some flints split or scale off under changes of temperature, and small rounded flakes produced in this way, and flints with conchoidal de- pressions are not uncommon. Torrential action, in all countries of flint gravel, has struck off numerous irregular flakes, and split the more friable flints into pieces, so that in some of the gravels a large proportion of the flints have been broken. On the one hand, there is little doubt that such natm-ally broken flints have been used as implements. On the other hand, any one who supposes all flint chips to be of human workmanship, even when they show a " bulb of per- cussion," is unduly credulous. (3.) As to date, there is abundant proof that in historic times flints were used for surgical purposes, for incisions in corpses, for circumcision, for sacrificial purposes, and prob- ably for common arrow-points. Careful study of the finer hieroglyphics of the calcareous tombs has also convniced me 16 SIK Wll.l-IAM DAWSON, C.M.fi., LL.D., F.K.S., tliat tliosc wt'io Kci'jipt'd ill tlie soft linifstoiic Avitli ixtintcfl flints, sucli iis are ol'teii louiul aliiindiintly in the vicinity of HiU'li tonil)s. (4.) It is, however, probable that in verv ancient times wlieu metals were scarce and dear, flint implements were in mnch more common nse than in later times. Perhaps the most interestinji; caRc of this is the com})arison made by Petrie {AafKir, Dec. .Oth, l.S)SO) of two toAvns, Kalnm and (Jnrob, 50 miles south of Cairo, and on the two sides of the entrance to the Fayum. The former toAvn belongs to the early time of tin; 12th Dynasty, the latter to the lUth. In the former flint flakes are abundant, of various forms, and evi- dently applied to many uses. Amonji;' other tools a wooden sickle was found, armed with saw-edf2;ed flint Hakes on the cutting side, tlius connecting flint flakes with the reaping of grain. Petrie figures an examjile of this. In the other and later site flint flakes scarcely occur, and are rude and evidently applied to fewer uses. This seems to be an excellent illus- tration of the progress iji one locality from a stone to a metal age. The interval of time amounts, hoAvever, to at least a thousand years, and the earlier period, that of Hsurtasen II, was a time of high civilisation and great progress in the arts of life, though farmers in the central district of Egypt were I still reaping their fields with flint flakes. A parallel to this * is found in the prevalent use of stone for hoes, etc., among the more civilised American nations, to Avhich I directed attention in a paper on "Fossil Agricultural Implements," in tlie Trail fwfionx of this Society several years ago. This continuous use of flint flakes among a civilised people, and the fact remarked by Petrie. and which has been ob- served also in Scotland and America, that the flint imple- ments become ruder and more coarse as they are supplanted by metal, should furnish a cauti(»n against sweeping gene- ralisations as to ages of stone and metal, and of j)rogn.'ss in v the manufacture of flint tools and weapons. AVliile at some ( times and in some localities tlnre has been an advance from * rude to finer implements, in other instances the jn'ocess has been reversed. In connection Avith the materials rcf\'rrt'd to in tliis paper, certain geological and historical facts impress themselves very strongly on our minds. All the rocks of the Nile Vallev, from the ancient crvstalline and probably Laurentian granites and gneisses to the modern ]■ ON rSEFD.. AND ORNAMKNTAL STONES OF ANCFKNT EGYl'T. 17 liinestonoH on the con^t, have iiiniiHlifd luiiterifilH lor coii- Htriictioii imd 8(iili)tiin' in E^ypt, and this tVoni a vitv vni\y jx'Hdd. 'J'liis is iin indication of tlic nuiital activity, obseiA'a- ti(^n, and intclligint industry of the pe(tj)k' and their iiilcrs, and, Avitli their other achievements in irn^ation and in iitih'sinji,- animals and phmts. sIioavs the enterprise of an larly and JK-tive-minded state of society, as distinguislied fr(»m tlie fixity and conservatism Avliicli appear in later times. In connectK-n with this, it is, however, to be observed that no conntry in the world })resentB greater facilities for tlie di.'-covery and exploration of its mineral treaKiires. The proximity of tlie diflerent kinds of stone to the liver in clifls easily accessible, and the nnrivalled facilities for transport are im.portant factors in this matter. Still, in the liands of an unintellip,ent and iinprop,ri snive people, these I'acilities mij^ht have long remained undeveloped. It is also to be observed that frcm the earliest colonisation of Egypt there seeuis to have been a settled and orderly state of society, an exen)ption from foreign aggression, and an abundance of food, all tending to a large population, and giving facilities for the execution of public works : while the necessity of combination of eflbrt in the irrigation and em- bankment of the land gave the habit of united action under ; leaders. ■♦ The great works of Egyptian construction thus indicate to us a country rich in materials and having admirable means I of conveyance and an abundant population, and a surplus of food products. On the other hand, they shoAv that there was an educated class capable of forming and executing great plans with precision and taste, and this again, aided by a multitude of skilled artisans, and by ample command of unskilled labour, especially at certain seasons of the year. Historically, it is worthy of note that the great works of the Egyptians in stone, if we except the Pyramids, cidminated j in that period in which tliere is reason to believe the Hebrews f had their residence in Egypt — the time of the great 18tli i and 19th Dynasties. Within this time fall the Temple of Karnac and the greater buildings of Thebes, as ■well as the greatest works in statuary. We caimot, however, regard these works asotlier than purely Egyptian, for this was their plan and style ; but the fact that the Pharaohs of this period had at their disposal the peoples and the wealth of Western Asia must have been no unimportant determining cause of their enormous expenditures of material and labour. It was a time when the a-tistic skill and ambition of the Egyptians 10—3 18 ON IJSKFLi. ANT) OKNAMKNTAFi STONEH OP ANCIKNT EGYPT. had at command an abiiTidaiicd of inon and moans, and tlu'Ho tlioy om[)loyod in (jnarryin^ and working ntono tor tomnlom and HtatueH on a Hcalo wliicli liaH not sinoo l)oon oqiiallod in any part ot'tho world. In morn mod(3rn times tlioro may bo e(]nally ^vont trinnipliH of desi^^n an