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Title: Methods & Aims in Archaeology
Author: Petrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders)
Language: English
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METHODS AND AIMS
IN
ARCHAEOLOGY
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Fig. 1. CHAIN OF BOYS CLEARING THE OSIREION AT ABYDOS.
41 feet deep.]
METHODS & AIMS
IN
ARCHAEOLOGY
BY
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE
HON. D.C.L., LL.D., LIT.D., PH.D. : F.R.S. ; HON. F.S.A. (SCOT.) :
Member of the Imperial German Archaeological Institute;
Member of the Society of Northern Antiquaries;
Member of the Roman Society of Anthropology;
Edwards Professor of Egyptology, University College, London.
WITH 66 ILLUSTRATIONS
London
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1904
_All rights reserved_
TO MY FRIENDS
F. LL. GRIFFITH,
E. A. GARDNER,
F. J. BLISS,
H. CARTER,
B. P. GRENFELL,
J. E. QUIBELL,
J. DUNCAN,
H. F. PETRIE,
N. DE O. DAVIES,
A. C. MACE,
D. RANDALL-MACIVER,
B. ORME,
A. E. WEIGALL,
M. A. MURRAY,
L. ECKENSTEIN,
H. STANNUS,
C. T. CURRELLY,
E. R. AYRTON,
WHO HAVE JOINED IN VARIOUS PORTIONS OF THE WORK HERE DESCRIBED,
1884–1903.
PREFACE
Archaeology is the latest born of the sciences. It has but scarcely
struggled into freedom, out of the swaddling clothes of dilettante
speculations. It is still attracted by pretty things, rather than by
real knowledge. It has to find shelter with the Fine Arts or with
History, and not a single home has yet been provided for its real
growth.
All other sciences deal with the things around us; with subjects which
may, or may not, affect us. Even medical sciences are concerned with
the mechanical structure of the body, rather than with the nature and
abilities of the mind. But the science which enquires into all the
products and works of our own species, which shows what man has been
doing in all ages and under all conditions, which reveals his mind, his
thoughts, his tastes, his feelings,--such a science touches us more
closely than any other.
By this science, of which History forms a part, we trace the nature of
man, age after age,--his capacities, his abilities; we learn where he
succeeds, where he fails, and what his possibilities may be.
From another point of view the subject should be considered; it
gives a more truly “liberal education” than any other subject, as
at present taught. A complete archaeological training would require
a full knowledge of history and art, a fair use of languages, and a
working familiarity with many sciences. The one-sided growth of modern
training, which produces a B.A. who knows nothing of natural science,
or else a B.Sc. who knows nothing of human nature, is assuredly not
the ideal for a reasonable man. Archaeology,--the knowledge of how man
has acquired his present position and powers--is one of the widest
studies, best fitted to open the mind, and to produce that type of wide
interests and toleration which is the highest result of education.
Though this volume is a book of reference for those engaged in actual
work, yet it will also serve to give the public a view of the way in
which this work is done, the mode in which results are obtained, the
ends which are pursued, and the important questions which must be
considered. We have nothing here to do with the details of the facts
discovered; but deal only with the methods and aims, which have been
slowly learned in a quarter of a century. Yet every year there are
fresh methods to add, and more clear views of the aims; and far more
might easily have been said about each of the subjects here discussed.
If in this outline there is much more reference to Egypt than to other
countries, it is for the reason that most of my own work has lain
there; and there is the more need to deal with that land, as more
exploration is going on there than elsewhere.
I have to thank my friends for six of the photographs here used.
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE.
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE EXCAVATOR PAGE
Purpose, 1; Character, 2; Experience, 3; Organization, 5;
Acquirements, 5; Demands of the work, 6 1–8
CHAPTER II
DISCRIMINATION
Temples, 9; Towns, 10; Cemeteries, 11; Indications, 12;
Productions, 14; Pottery, 16; Style, 17; Visual
memory, 19 9–19
CHAPTER III
THE LABOURERS
Quality, 20; Education, 21; Control, 22; Substitution,
23; Overseers, 24; Direct system, 26; Day pay, 27;
Piecework, 29; Day and piece work, 30; Rewards, 33;
Accounts, 35; Native ways, 37 20–40
CHAPTER IV
ARRANGEMENT OF WORK
Clearances, 41; Turning over, 43; Raising earth, 44;
Tracing walls, 46 41–47
CHAPTER V
RECORDING IN THE FIELD
Need of record, 48; Value of record, 50; Resulting view,
50; Marking, 51; Nature of notes, 52; Planning, 53;
Plotting, 55 48–59
CHAPTER VI
COPYING
Paper squeezes, 60; Dry squeezes, 61; Casting,
64; Drawing, 68; Restored forms, 71; Copying
inscriptions, 72 60–72
CHAPTER VII
PHOTOGRAPHING
The Camera, 73; Preparing objects, 76; Lighting, 77;
Arrangement of objects, 79; Stereographs, 81;
Developing, 82 73–84
CHAPTER VIII
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS
Stone, 86; Pottery, 88; Textiles, 89; Wood, 89; Ivory,
91; Papyri, 93; Bead-work, 95; Stucco, 96; Gold, 98;
Silver, 98; Copper, 99; Bronze, 100; Lead, 102; Iron,
102; Sorting, 102 85–104
CHAPTER IX
PACKING
Blocks, 105; Long objects, 106; Heavy stones, 107;
Pottery, 108; Softening, 109; Cases, 110; Unpacking, 111 105–113
CHAPTER X
PUBLICATION
Arrangement, 114; Plates, 115; Processes, 117; Editions,
119; Text, 120; Publishing, 120 114–121
CHAPTER XI
SYSTEMATIC ARCHAEOLOGY
Systems of work, 122; Need of a _corpus_, 123; Example of
_corpus_, 124; Utility, 125; Successive ages, 126;
Sequences, 127; Sequence dates, 129; Conservation,
130; Buildings, 130; Lighting, 131; Grouping, 132;
National Repository, 133 122–135
CHAPTER XII
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
Nature of proof, 136; Legal evidence, 136; Witnesses,
138; Material facts, 138; Exhaustion, 139;
Probabilities, 139; Legal proof, 140; _Egypt and
Europe_, 141; In XXVIth Dynasty, 142; XVIIIth Dynasty
paintings, 144; Burnt groups, 145; Rubbish mounds,
147; Houses, 148; Scarabs, 149; Tombs in Egypt,
150; Tombs in Greece, 152; Variation with date, 153;
Style, 154; Recapitulation, 155; XIIth Dynasty,
Kahun, 156; XIIth Dynasty in Crete, 158; Pan-graves,
159; VIth to IIIrd Dynasties, 162; 1st Dynasty
Aegean, 164; 1st Dynasty Cretan, 166; Prehistoric, 167 136–168
CHAPTER XIII
ETHICS OF ARCHAEOLOGY
Individual rights, 169; Destruction, 170; Restoration,
172; Sacrifices, 173; Responsibility, 174; Rights of
the future, 175; Rights of the past, 176; Duties,
178; Future of museums, 180; Publications, 182; State
claims, 183; State rights, 184; Excavating laws, 187 169–188
CHAPTER XIV
THE FASCINATION OF HISTORY 189–193
INDEX 195–208
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE PAGE
1. Chain of boys clearing the Osireion _Front._
2. } Going up the desert 1
3. }
4. Tent-life 6
5. Hut-life 6
6. Temple at El Hibeh 9
7. Temple at Tanis 9
8. Mound at Defeneh 10
9. Cemetery of Zuweleyn 10
10. Copper and bronze adzes 14
11. Cutting-out knives 15
12. Typical forms of pottery 16
13. Lad and girl at Tanis 20
14. Three little Muhameds 20
15. Girls and boys at Tanis 24
16. Girls sorting durra 24
17. Line of carrier boys, Abydos 30
18. Heaps thrown out, Abydos 30
19. Lifting and carrying, Abydos 32
20. Carrying at Royal Tombs 32
21. Account card for wages 38
22. Carrier boys throwing, Abydos 41
23. Town site, turned over, Kahun 41
24. Cutting down top of work 42
25. Cemetery, Tell el Yehudiyeh 43
26. Clearing a tomb, Abydos 43
27. Chain at tomb of Usertesen II 44
28. Chains of men at tomb of Den 44
29. Plan measured from two lines 54
30. Method of plotting survey 56
31. Copy drawn on paper squeeze 62
32. System of numbering sheets 63
33. Paper squeeze 64
34. Plaster cast from paper 64
35. Inventory sheet 70
36. Frame for drawing vases 71
37. Weathered stone, sanded 71
38. Throwing sand; drop-shutter view 75
39. Girls resting; diagonal mirror view 75
40. Tablet, with black and white filling 76
41. Hypocephalus, with white filling 76
42. Wooden floor of Azab 77
43. Prehistoric grave, Naqada 77
44. Ebony negress 78
45. In tomb of Sem-nefer 78
46. Foundation deposit, Aahmes II 80
47. Bracelet of King Zer 80
48. Pavement, Tell el Amarna 88
49. Fresco of princesses, Tell el Amarna 88
50. Box with diagonal bars 106
51. Tray for heavy stones 107
52. Box with three-way grain 110
53. Box end, nailed diagonally 111
54. Nile boat 112
55. Camels, starting and returning 112
56. Naukratite warrior 144
57. Graeco-Egyptian figures 144
58. Aegean vase, Tahutmes III 152
59. False-necked vases 154
60. Celtic and pan-grave pottery 160
61. Black incised pottery 161
62. Buttons, VIIth Dynasty 162
63. Aegean pottery, Royal Tombs 165
64. Black pottery, Cretan 166
65. Khufu, builder of the great pyramid 178
66. Mer-en-ptah, Pharaoh of the Exodus 178
[Illustration: Fig. 2. GOING UP THE DESERT, ABYDOS.]
[Illustration: Fig. 3. GOING UP THE DESERT, ABYDOS.]
CHAPTER I
THE EXCAVATOR
[Sidenote: Purpose.]
In few kinds of work are the results so directly dependent on the
personality of the worker as they are in excavating. The old saying
that a man finds what he looks for in a subject, is too true; or if he
has not enough insight to ensure finding what he looks for, it is at
least sadly true that he does not find anything that he does not look
for. Whether it be inscriptions, carvings, papyri, or mummies that
excavators have been seeking, they have seldom preserved or cared for
anything but their own limited object.
Of late years the notion of digging merely for profitable spoil, or
to yield a new excitement to the jaded, has spread unpleasantly--at
least in Egypt. A concession to dig is sought much like a grant of a
monastery at the Dissolution: the man who has influence or push, a
title or a trade connection, claims to try his luck at the spoils of
the land. Gold digging has at least no moral responsibility, beyond the
ruin of the speculator; but spoiling the past has an acute moral wrong
in it, which those who do it may be charitably supposed to be too
ignorant or unintelligent to see or realise.
And some systematic outline of archaeological methods and aims is
needed, not only for those whose moral sense is so untrained that
they may ruin a site, and say “I have done no wrong”; but it may
even profit those who take up the name of archaeology when they mean
solely art, or inscriptions, or some single branch of the subject. The
most familiar teaching entitled archaeological is that of Classical
Archaeology, which in the ways of most teachers means Greek sculpture
and vase paintings. In spite of all the professorships and schools of
that subject, we are still so profoundly ignorant of the archaeology
of Greece and Italy that there is scarcely a single class of common
objects of which any one knows the history and transformations.
Certainly we know far less of the archaeology of classical lands than
we do of that of Egypt.
[Sidenote: Character.]
If, then, the character of the excavator thus determines his results,
our first step is to consider that character, and to give some outline
of the aptitudes and acquirements--the wit and the cunning, as our
forefathers well distinguished them--which are wanted in order to avoid
doing more harm than good.
Firstly in every subject there is the essential division between those
who work to live, and those who live to work--the commercial, and the
scientific or artistic aim;--those who merely do what will best provide
them a living, and those whose work is their honour and the end of
their being. These two halves of mankind are by no means to be found
ready labelled by their professions. The R.A. who drops his aspirations
because portraits pay best, the scientific scholar who patents every
invention he can, are of the true commercial spirit, and verily they
have their reward. Rather let us honour the professed dealer who will
sooner sell a group to a museum than make a larger profit by playing
to the wealthy _dilettante_ and scattering things. Let us be quit, in
archaeology at least, of the brandy-and-soda young man who manipulates
his “expenses,” of the adventurous speculator, of those who think that
a title or a long purse glorifies any vanity or selfishness.
Without the ideal of solid continuous work, certain, accurate, and
permanent,--archaeology is as futile as any other pursuit. Money alone
will not do the work; brains are the first requisite. A hundred pounds
intelligently spent will do more good and far less harm than ten
thousand squandered in doing damage. Mere money gives no moral right to
upset things according to the whim of one person. Even scholarship is
by no means all that is wanted; the engineering training of mind and
senses which Prof. Perry advocates will really fit an archaeologist
better for excavating than book-work can alone. Best of all is the
combination of the scholar and the engineer, the man of languages and
the man of physics and mathematics, when such can be found. So much for
the wit, and now of the cunning that is wanted.
[Sidenote: Experience.]
The most needful of all acquisitions is archaeological experience.
Without knowing well all the objects that are usually met with in an
ancient civilisation, there is no possible insight or understanding,
the meaning of what is met with cannot be grasped, and the most
curious mistakes are made. A cloud is “very like a whale,” the
pre-Christian cross is found everywhere, an arrow-straightener is
called a ceremonial staff, an oil-press becomes a sacred trilithon,
half a jackal is called a locust, and lathe chucks become “coal money.”
Of course the needed experience has to be gradually built up, and those
who first explore a civilisation must work through many mistakes. When
I first came to Egypt Dr. Birch begged me to pack and send to him a box
of pottery fragments from each great town, on the chance that from the
known history of the sites some guess could be made as to the age of
the objects; so complete was the ignorance of the archaeology a quarter
of a century ago. But when such knowledge has been once accumulated, it
is the first duty of any excavator to make himself well acquainted with
it before he attempts to discover more. At present the archaeological
experience that should be acquired before doing any responsible work
in any country ought to cover the history of the pottery century by
century, the history of beads, of tools and weapons, of the styles of
art, of the styles of inscriptions, of the burial furniture, and of the
many small objects which are now well known and dated, better in Egypt
than perhaps in any other country.
Next to this is needed a good knowledge of the history. Not only every
dynasty, but every king of whom anything is known, should be familiar.
The general course of the civilisation, the foreign influences which
affected the country, and the conditions at different periods, should
be clearly in mind. Without such ideas the value and meaning of
discoveries cannot be grasped, and important clues and fresh knowledge
may be passed by.
[Sidenote: Organization.]
Organization, both of the plan of work, and of the labourers, is very
necessary. Scheming how to extract all that is possible from a given
site, how to make use of all the conditions, how to avoid difficulties;
and training labourers, keeping them all firmly in hand, making them
all friends without allowing familiarity, getting their full confidence
and their goodwill;--these requirements certainly rank high in an
excavator’s outfit.
[Sidenote: Acquirements.]
The power of conserving material and information; of observing all
that can be gleaned; of noticing trifling details which may imply a
great deal else; of acquiring and building up a mental picture; of
fitting everything into place, and not losing or missing any possible
clues;--all this is the soul of the work, and without it excavating is
mere dumb plodding.
Of more external subjects, such as may be deputed to other helpers,
drawing is mainly wanted; more in mechanical exactitude of
facsimile-copying than in freehand or purely artistic work. Surveying
and practical mathematics, with plan drawing, are almost always
involved in dealing with any site. Photography is incessantly in use,
both during the course of the working and for preparing publications.
The outlines of chemistry and physics and a good knowledge of materials
are necessary to avoid blunders in handling objects and in describing
them. The ancient language of a country, all important as it is in the
study of remains, is yet in its critical aspects not so essential
during field-work. But the excavator should at least be able to take
the sense of all written material which he finds; and in Egypt that
should include hieroglyphic, hieratic, demotic, Greek, and Coptic
writing. The spoken language of the country should be fluently acquired
for simple purposes, so as to be able to direct workmen, make bargains,
and follow what is going on. To be dependent on a cook, a dragoman,
or a donkey boy, is very unsafe, and prevents that close study of
the workmen which is needed for making the best use of them. And a
general eye to the safety and condition of everything, both of work,
antiquities, and stores, is incessantly wanted if a camp is to be
successful and prosperous.
Many of these requirements can well be undertaken by different
people; in fact, not a single living person combines all of the
requisite qualities for complete archaeological work. But all of these
requirements must be fulfilled by different members in a party, if
they are to command success as well as deserve it. In all points,
imagination and insight, the sense of all the possibilities of a case,
is to be the medium of thought both in theoretical and in practical
affairs.
[Illustration: CAMP LIFE, ABYDOS.
Fig. 4. Tent in desert.]
[Illustration: CAMP LIFE, ABYDOS.
Fig. 5. Huts at temple.]
[Sidenote: Demands of the work.]
In the externals of the work an excavator should be always his own best
workman. If he be the strongest on the place, so much the better; but
at all events he should be the most able in all matters of skill and
ability. Where anything is found it should be the hands of the master
that clear it from the soil; the pick and the knife should be in his
hands every day, and his readiness should be shown by the shortness
of his finger-nails and the toughness of his skin. After a week of
work in the soil, feeling for delicate things in a way that no tools
can do, the skin almost wears through, and the nails break down. But a
week or two more at it, and the excavator grows his gloves, and is in
a fit state for business, with the skin well thickened, and ready to
finger through tons of grit and sand. Nothing can be a substitute for
finger-work in extracting objects, and clearing ground delicately; and
one might as well try to play the violin in a pair of gloves as profess
to excavate with clean fingers and a pretty skin. It need hardly be
said that clothing must correspond to the work; and there must never
be a thought about clothes when one kneels in wet mud, scrapes through
narrow passages, or sits waist deep in dust. To attempt serious work
in pretty suits, shiny leggings, or starched collars, would be like
mountaineering in evening dress, or remind one of the old prints of
cricketers batting in chimney-pot hats. The man who cannot enjoy his
work without regard to appearances, who will not strip and go into the
water, or slither on slimy mud through unknown passages, had better not
profess to excavate. Alongside of his men he must live, in work hours
and out; every workman should come to him at all times for help and
advice. His courtyard must be the pay office and the court of appeal
for every one; and continual attention should be freely given to the
many little troubles of those who are to be kept properly in hand. To
suppose that work can be controlled from a distant hotel, where the
master lives in state and luxury completely out of touch with his men,
is a fallacy, like playing at farming or at stockbroking: it may be
amusing, but it is not business. And whatever is not businesslike in
archaeology is a waste of the scanty material which should be left for
those who know how to use it. An excavator must make up his mind to do
his work thoroughly and truly, or else to leave it alone for others who
will take the trouble which it deserves and requires.
[Illustration: TEMPLE RUINS.
Fig. 6. El Hibeh.]
[Illustration: TEMPLE RUINS.
Fig. 7. Tanis, with obelisks.]
CHAPTER II
DISCRIMINATION
The observing of resemblances and differences, and the memory of
physical appearances required for this, are absolute requisites for
carrying on the duties of excavating. Here we deal with the appearances
in a land of sun-dried brickwork, where the accumulations are great,
as in Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia. In a rocky land, such as Greece,
there is not the same sheltering mud, and the appearances are therefore
very different.
[Sidenote: Temples.]
The nature of a site can be guessed pretty closely from its aspect.
A wide open space with mounds around it is almost certainly a temple
site; and if there are stone chips strewn over it, no doubt remains
as to its nature (Figs. 6, 7). The temples being of stone from the
XIIth Dynasty onwards, they were ruined by the removal of the material
in each age of disruption; but the houses of the towns, being always
of mud brick, continually crumbled and decayed, and so filled up the
ground with rubbish. In Egypt mud-brick towns accumulate at about 20
inches in a century; or in the rainy Syrian climate at about 50 inches.
Herodotus describes walking on the roofs of the houses and seeing
down into the temple precincts; and in every great site in Egypt, such
as Tanis, Buto, Bubastis, Memphis, or Koptos, the plain of temple
ruins had the house mounds far above it on all sides. The temples
were ruined both for building-stone and for lime-burning. It is rare
to get any portions of a limestone building left; sandstone is often
found, and all the great temples which remain are of sandstone; granite
generally has lasted, except where it has been split up in Roman times
for millstones. The search for limestone has led to whole buildings
being upset in order to extract the limestone foundations. The basalt
pavement of Khufu, the granite pylon of Crocodilopolis, and probably
the granite temple of Iseum, have been overthrown thus. Especially in
the Delta, where no limestone hills are accessible, this destructive
search for lime has been unrelenting in all ages; and it is seldom that
ancient limestone is now met with. Hence all that can generally be
seen of a temple site is a plain of dust with a few tumbled blocks of
granite, the exposed tops of which are entirely weathered as rounded
masses. Five or ten feet down there may be a rich harvest of carvings
and inscriptions.
[Illustration: Fig. 8. Mounds of fort, Defeneh.]
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Sarcophagi at Zuweleyn.]
[Sidenote: Towns.]
A town site is always recognised (Fig. 8) by its mounds of crumbling
mud brick, strewn with potsherds if in Upper Egypt, or with burnt red
bricks on the later mounds of the Delta. Whenever a native begins to
describe a site in Lower Egypt, one inquires if there is red brick, and
if so there is no need to listen further. Generally it is possible to
date the latest age of a town by the potsherds lying on the surface;
and to allow a rate of growth of 20 inches a century down to the
visible level; if that gives a long period we may further carry down
the certainly artificial level by 4 inches in a century for the Nile
deposits when in the cultivated ground. For instance, there are mounds
in the Delta about 40 feet high, ending about 500 A.D.; this gives
about 40 feet of rise, equal to about 2400 years, or say 2000 B.C., for
the age at the present ground level. But the visible base was about
5 feet lower at 500 A.D.; and the human deposit rising at 20 inches
a century has been overlaid at the rate of 4 inches a century by the
Nile deposit. Hence the age may be reckoned by a depth of 45 feet
accumulated at 16 inches a century before 500 A.D. or about 2900 B.C.
No exact conclusion could be based on this; but it is a valuable clue
to the age to which the yet unseen foundation of a town may most likely
belong. Town mounds and ruins of buildings have generally symmetrical
forms, weathered away uniformly on all sides. But around towns are
often heaps of rubbish thrown out, the best-known example of this being
the immense heaps behind Cairo; and such accumulations usually show
their nature by the two slopes, the gradual walk-up slope, and the
steep thrown-down slope.
[Sidenote: Cemeteries.]
The cemetery sites on the desert have always been more or less
plundered anciently. A prehistoric site may have no external trace, as
the blown sand may cover it so evenly that there is no suspicion of
anything lying beneath. But on a gravel surface there are generally
some indications left of the hollows of the graves, and scraps of
broken pottery left about by the plunderers (Fig. 9). The historic
cemeteries are generally easier to see, as they are in rising ground,
and the holes of the tomb pits show on the surface. The difficulty is
not to find the site of a cemetery, but to find a grave in it which
still contains anything. As a rule, any tomb pit which appears still
undisturbed has been left either because it belongs to an unfinished
tomb with nothing in it, or because the tomb has already been reached
from elsewhere. At Medum an untouched walling up of a chamber had been
left, because the plunderers had tunnelled under the mass of the tomb
and broken through the floor of the chamber. At Dendereh the floor of
the chamber was entire, with the lid of the sarcophagus sunk in it, yet
untouched; it had been left so because the plunderers had mined through
from the outside under the floor to the sarcophagus, and broken through
the side of it without touching the chamber. Some untouched tombs were
left because the burials in them were known to be so poor that they
were not worth opening. All this points to the plundering being mostly
done during the lifetime of those who saw the burial. Usually only
one tomb in ten contains anything noticeable; and it is only one in a
hundred that repays the digging of the other ninety-nine.
[Sidenote: Indications.]
In general, on looking over a site every indication must be observed.
Sometimes there may be a slight difference in vegetation, showing the
positions of walls or of pits. In colder climates differences are shown
by the melting of hoar frost or snow; as in the square of S. Domenico
at Bologna, where some large patches--probably of ashes--show through
the cobble paving during a thaw. A shower of rain will show much in
drying; and, after a rare storm in Egypt, there are two or three
precious hours when the buried walls show clearly on the ground, and
should be hurriedly scored down before the hot sun removes the traces.
A driving wind will bare the ground so that the harder walls show
through the sand; or even a crowd of people passing will tramp into
the softer filling and show the constructions. At sunrise or sunset
ground should be carefully looked over to pick out the variations of
level and slope, which will often show then, though quite invisible in
full light. Prehistoric camp sites are noticed by the difference of
tone of the ground in walking over them; the ashes holding so much air
that the reverberation to the foot-step is quite different from that
on ordinary desert. The appearance of the surface of disturbed desert
differs much from the undisturbed: there may be slight hollows filled
with sand, which are the traces of deep pits; there may be pebbles from
deep beds thrown up, or fragments of limestone; or--best of all--chips
of worked stone or of hard rocks may tell the tale of a building whose
ruins lie beneath. The mastabas of the XIIth Dynasty at Dahshur left
scarcely any surface trace, as the stone walls had been removed, and
the gravel filling had spread out and denuded down to a level surface.
The great wall of the camp at Daphnae 40 feet thick, had been ploughed
by denudation until it was even lower than the desert on either side of
it, and the lines of it were only visible by the absence of potsherds
upon the site of the wall.
[Illustration:
Mid, Late, Ist, IIIrd, VIth, XIIth, XVIIIth Dyn.
Prehistoric.
FIG. 10.--Development of copper and bronze adzes. 1:6.]
[Sidenote: Productions.]
Besides the discrimination of sites there is a vast subject in
the discrimination of objects and of styles. The first requisite
acquirement of a digger--his archaeological experience--consists in
discriminating and distinguishing the differences between products of
various dates. An Egyptian copper adze (Fig. 10) of the ages of middle
prehistoric, late prehistoric, early dynastic, IIIrd, VIth, XIIth, or
XVIIIth Dynasties can be told at a glance, and we only need more dated
examples to be able to separate them still more finely. A cutting-out
knife (Fig. 11), a pair of tweezers, a comb, can be dated almost as
certainly. But it is when we can look not only to differences of form,
but also to variations of colour and texture, that we have the widest
scope for discrimination. The great variety of beads in each country,
the hundreds of details of form, materials, and colour in Egypt alone,
give them an importance archaeologically above most other things. In
the prehistoric age there are a dozen materials, and many different
forms, not one of which can be confounded with later products. In the
Old Kingdom new and distinctive styles are met with, and a profusion of
small amulets on necklaces. In the XIth and XIIth Dynasties magnificent
beads of amethyst, green felspar, and carnelian outshine those of
every other age. In the XVIIIth Dynasty the immense variety of glass
and glazed beads defy enumeration, and yet are sharply characteristic
of different reigns of that age. The later times of degradation also
produce new and distinctive forms and colours; and when we reach the
Roman period a flood of glass work imitates the fashionable beryl,
amethyst, rock crystal, and other stones, with the mimicry of a forger.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Development of cutting-out knives. XIIth–XIXth
Dynasties. A-A and B-B cutting edges.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--One typical form of pottery of each period.]
[Sidenote: Pottery.]
Pottery is, however, the greatest resource of the archaeologist. For
variety of form and texture, for decoration, for rapid change, for its
quick fall into oblivion, and for its incomparable abundance, it is
in every respect the most important material for study (Fig. 12), and
it constitutes the essential alphabet of archaeology in every land.
Think for a moment how few people know the appearance of a common jug
a century old, how the crocks of Georgian times have all vanished, and
new forms are made. Even of decorated china not one piece in a thousand
in England is before the last century, and not one in a million is
three centuries old; so rapidly does breakable ware perish, and become
unknown. This not only prevents its being handed on from earlier times,
as ornaments or weapons may descend, but it prevents the copying of
older forms, and gives a free scope to rapid variation. No doubt some
standard forms may continue to be made, because they are so simple, and
so adapted to common wants, that the same causes continue to produce
them. But it is only the simplest and least characteristic types which
thus continue; the more detailed and specialised the form, the more
rapidly it changes, and gives way to new styles. In the prehistoric age
of Egypt alone there are about a thousand different forms of pottery;
and when the historic times shall be as fully recorded, probably two
or three times as many will demand notice. In Italy and Greece there
is apparently as great a variety, though--apart from painted vases--it
is very far from being fully placed on paper. And when we come to know
the archaeology of other lands, their pottery will doubtless prove
as varied and distinctive in its styles. It is then in a thorough
knowledge of pottery that any sound archaeology must be based; and
there is no wider or more important field for discrimination. With the
brief view of Palestinian pottery gained in a few weeks, on one site at
Tell Hesy (Lachish), I found it possible to ride over mounds of ruins
and see the age of them without even dismounting.
[Sidenote: Style.]
Beside the discrimination of broad physical differences there is the
more subtle observation of style. This cannot be discussed, or even
shown to exist, without a very wide collection of examples; yet in
a trained observer a long series of experience should result in an
unexpressed--almost intangible and incommunicable--sense of the style
of each country and each age, such that a piece of work can at once be
referred to its proper place, though not a single exact comparison can
be quoted for it. Special motives, outlines, curves, tastes, belong
to various sources so certainly and characteristically that they
show their origin at a glance. A good example of this is seen in the
bronzes of Minusinsk in Central Asia; this site is almost equidistant
from the North Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the China Sea, and the style
seems to recall by its details almost equally the taste of Northmen,
Persians, and Chinese. A good practice for such discrimination is the
analysis of common ornament around us: a rug or a wall pattern may be
analysed into its sources--here a bit from Assyria, there from Egypt,
here from Japan, there from Norway, all hashed together by the modern
designer. And until the common and obviously distinctive patterns of
each country can be named at sight, and separated into their various
sources, the observer cannot hope to gain that far more essential sense
of the national taste of each people, and the sympathetic feeling of
the relationship of any form or curve that may chance to be seen,--that
conviction of the family and source of each object, which is the
illumination of an archaeologist, the guide to fresh suggestions and
researches, the mental framework which holds all memories in place.
[Sidenote: Visual Memory.]
But beside this sublimated use of the permanent memory and
discrimination, there is another very crude and transient
discrimination which is also needed in actual work. A visual memory
of the site and excavations should be constantly in mind; the master
should be able to go over the whole site, and every man at work on it,
entirely from memory; he should be able to realise at once, on seeing
the place next day, exactly how every one of fifty different holes
looked the day before; and know at once where the work stood, and what
has been done since, so as to measure it up without depending on any
statements by the workmen. If a boy comes with a message that Ibrahim
or Mutwali needs direction, the master should be able to visualise the
place, inquire what has been done, and how each part now stands, and
then give sufficient temporary direction entirely from memory of the
site, and memory of what he expected to do, or to prove, or to find,
from that particular hole. The extent of this visual memory is never
realised until one meets with some who are so unlucky as not to possess
such an apparatus, and who are therefore unable to know what has been
done, and have to begin each day’s work as if they were strangers to
the place. Of all inherent mental qualifications there is perhaps
none more essential to a digger than this permanent picture of a site
in the mind. And the transient memory from day to day should include
the appearance of every hole on all sides, the meaning of it and the
purpose for which it is being dug.
CHAPTER III
THE LABOURERS
[Sidenote: Quality.]
In starting an excavation one of the first considerations is the supply
of labourers, and the selection of them. In some places it is difficult
to persuade any one to work at first; either from distrust, or from
being unaccustomed to regular employment. At Naukratis only a few men
could be persuaded to try the work in the first week or two; but so
soon as the villagers found that genuine gold coin was to be had, they
swarmed up, and some five hundred demanded to be taken. The Egyptian is
good at steady work, but the Syrian is very different, and it took some
weeks at Tell Hesy to educate men into continuous regular digging. They
would jump out of their holes every few minutes, and squat on the edge
for a talk with the next man; and only a steady weeding out of about a
third of them every week, gradually brought up the best of them into
tolerable efficiency. In Greece such difficulties are even greater, and
rational regular hard work cannot be reckoned upon, as in Egypt.
[Illustration: Fig. 13. WORKERS AT TANIS.]
[Illustration: Fig. 14. WORKERS AT TANIS.]
The best age for diggers is about 15 to 20 years. After that many turn
stupid, and only a small proportion are worth having between 20
and 40. After 40 very few are of any use, though some robust men will
continue to about 50. The Egyptian ages early; and men of 45 would be
supposed to be 65 in England. The boys are of use for carrying from
about 10 years old; and they generally look mere boys till over 20.
The ornamental man with a good beard is quite useless and lazy; and
the best workers are the scraggy under-sized youths, with wizened wiry
faces, though sometimes a well-favoured lad with pleasing face will
turn out very good (Fig. 13). In choosing boys the broad face and
square chin are necessary tokens of stamina; and the narrow feminine
faces are seldom worth much.
Beside the mere physical strength of the fellow, the face has to be
studied for the character. The only safe guide in selecting workers
is the expression; and no influence of recommendations or connections
should weigh in the least against the judgment of the appearance. The
qualities to be considered are, first, the honesty, shown mostly by the
eyes, and by a frank and open bearing; next, the sense and ability;
and lastly, the sturdiness, and freedom from nervous weakness and
hysterical tendency to squabble.
[Sidenote: Education.]
When once selected, the education of the workers begins. Often some
oafs who will not understand any directions, and have no sense to work
unless encouraged by watching, may yet be brought up in a few months
to be good workers if associated with a skilful man. And almost every
boy and man will greatly improve by steady work and control. The
effect of selection and training is astonishingly seen on comparing
some old hands, who have had five or ten years at the business, side
by side with new lads. There is as much difference between their
capacities as there is between the fellah and an educated Englishman.
A gang of well-trained men need hardly any direction, especially in
cemetery work; and their observations and knowledge should always
be listened to, and will often determine matters. The freshman from
England is their inferior in everything except in recording; and at
least a season’s experience is needed before any one can afford to
disregard the judgment of a well-trained digger. The better class of
these workers are one’s personal friends, and are regarded much as old
servants are in a good household. Their feelings and self-respect must
be thought of, as among our own equals, and they will not put up with
any rudeness or contempt. A man with landed property and cattle, and
an ancestry of a couple of centuries, can afford to look down on most
Englishmen who would bully him. Such workers are of course entirely
above going into the usual Government or French work, where the lash
is used; and their good service and skill is only given for friendly
treatment.
[Sidenote: Control.]
Yet there is a danger in letting control slip away. It is always
needful to be firm, and to insist on obedience to orders; and constant
keeping in hand is required, not only for the rank and file but even
for the best men. An Egyptian cannot withstand temptations if often
repeated; and the fault of a collapse of character, which befalls even
the best, is mainly due to not keeping sufficient hold and influence,
and not taking sufficient trouble to ensure control. The first rule
in managing the better class of men is not to let any man get a habit
or prerogative of doing any kind of work for oneself: never let the
same man repeatedly go for purchases, or for money, or carry things, or
walk with the master, or explain phrases, or boss anybody or anything.
All such services should be carefully spread over several men; and if
there be two parties--as from opposite sides of the Nile--always keep
them well balanced in your consideration. Each will then keep a sharp
lookout on the opposition.
Beside men and boys, girls (Fig. 15) will work very well in the Delta
and in Syria, though not in Upper Egypt. They do well at carrying; and
as they never ask for pick work they are, when well grown, worth more
than the boys. Not only will they come from the village day by day, but
they will also camp out with their fathers and brothers in camps at a
distance from home. No difficulty or unpleasantness has arisen in such
mixed camps in my work.
[Sidenote: Substitutions.]
A frequent trouble is from substitution of workers. The fact of being
chosen is worth something; and the worker will try to sell his place to
a substitute, and then get in again soon after on the plea of being an
old hand. So long as a substitute comes only for a day or so, he may
be tolerated. But if there arises a frequent plea of “So-and-So is ill
to-day, and wants me to work for him,” it is needful to stamp on it by
refusing all substitutes, and replying, “If he is ill, I will take him
back when he is better.” One common cause is that they wish to push in
younger and younger boys (Fig. 16), so that the fellow who was 14 or
16 at first, dwindles imperceptibly until he can hardly carry a basket.
An opposite cause is that only boys are taken on in some places because
the men cannot be trusted; and then the supreme object of the villains
of the place is to get in as substitutes for boys, so that they may
learn what is found and where to plunder at night. Most usually when
a substitute is refused the original boy turns up as well as ever. I
have known the village guards come and call a lad out on a trumped-up
charge, with a friend of the guard following close by, quite ready just
to work for the accused.
[Sidenote: Overseers.]
Turning now to the organization, there are two great choices to be
made, with or without Overseers, and by Day pay or Piecework. Each
system may be best under particular conditions, and the suitability of
each we will note first, before entering on detail.
Overseers are almost always employed. They remove much of the friction;
they profess to drive the men on, and be responsible for their regular
working; and they seem indispensable parts of the business. The less
a master knows of the men and of their language the more essential an
overseer seems to be.
[Illustration: Fig. 15. GIRLS AND BOYS IN THE WORK.]
[Illustration: Fig. 16. GIRLS AND BOYS IN THE WORK.]
Yet all this usefulness is the best reason for avoiding them. The more
friction they save, the less the master knows of his men, and the less
influence he has. The more they profess to drive the men, the more
hollow the fraud is, until the overseer merely serves to give notice
when the master is coming. The more indispensable they seem, the
less desirable is it to have so to trust a native. And the less a
master knows of the men and the language, the more dangerous it is to
have some one always acting in everything that goes on. Moreover, there
is nothing so demoralising to a native as wandering about, without hard
work, stick in hand, to bully men who are quite as good as himself.
Even good men soon lose their character in such conditions, and it is
needful to have some definite allotted manual work for even a leading
man.
The results of having overseers, or _reises_, are instructive. In
one case the reis took a third of all the money given as rewards for
things, threatening to get any man dismissed who would not give this
up to him. In another case the overseers levied a sixth of all the
wages from the men, making ten times their own pay by this extortion.
Mariette’s overseers used to go to a village with a Government order
for so many men, and demand the best men they could venture on
claiming. These bought themselves off, each at a few shillings a month,
and lower men were taken, until most of the villagers were paying
heavy tribute. Reises will also bargain with a shopkeeper to put on
a third on the price of all goods supplied, and compel any messenger
sent shopping to go to that shop. In another case a museum reis was
seen bowing down to the ground and kissing the hand of the principal
_antika_-dealer of the place; doubtless for good consideration
received. In short, the dangers, losses, and troubles that come from
reises are so great that it is far better to do without them.
[Sidenote: Direct system.]
The system which works best is to have a careful distribution of
the best men; and, in fact, work with two or three dozen reises,
all of whom do pick-work themselves. Each well-trained man can have
half-a-dozen new hands placed near him, and he can be ordered to see
that they follow instructions. By such a wide distribution of the
authority it does not deteriorate the men, as there are too many
rivals; and being each paid for actual digging, they do not spoil with
idleness. Thus every man is directly under the master, all instructions
are given at first hand, and every one is in close touch, and not
fenced off by intermediate intriguers. Doubtless, two or three men will
come to the front by their ability and character; but though full use
should be made of them, yet they should always be kept nominally on the
same terms and work as every one else. Their reward consists in being
given all the more promising places, where things are likely to be
found, so that they may reap much more profit than others.
In some different conditions of work overseers may be a necessary evil.
In Greece the large distances of sites from each other in the Aegean
and political conditions are a bar to employing a regular gang of
men, although the Egyptian will readily travel three or four hundred
miles to his season’s work, as far as Constantinople from Athens,
and is quite ready to do his work in spite of the scowls of a bad
neighbourhood. Fresh workers are engaged at each place in Greece, and
for their needful training overseers are considered necessary. Also at
present, owing to the continual shifting of European superintendence
by changes of students, and less frequent changes of Directors,
permanent overseers who will carry on the traditions of the modes of
working are requisite. But it is questionable whether these needs would
not be more safely met by carrying about ten or a dozen picked workmen,
who would train local hands, and at the same time work themselves.
The Greek does not seem nearly as capable of continuous hard work as
is the Egyptian, and moves much less earth in the day, and that at
about double the wages, while he is said to entirely refuse piecework.
But this difficulty would be reduced if a small picked body of hard
workers, stimulated by good piece pay, were used as a nucleus to set
the tone of steady work at each place. The Greek needs educating to
regular work, which is foreign to his nature.
In England about as much work may be done per man as in Egypt, but at
about five or six times the cost. Hence the number employed is not so
large, twenty or thirty being a large gang, instead of 150 or 200 as in
Egypt. As they can follow directions tolerably, an overseer or foreman
is not needed, the best of the workers usually taking the lead.
[Sidenote: Day pay.]
The question between Day pay and Piece pay is an open one. In cases
where minute valuables may be scattered anywhere in the soil, day pay
is needful to prevent undue hurry. Or where the work is very irregular,
and time needs to be spent on moving stones, or heavy extras, day pay
must be given. But where the work is uniform, and the objects expected
are large or in known positions, then piecework is far more suitable.
Though measuring up the cubic metres of work done may take perhaps a
quarter of the master’s time, yet that is better than having to give
the whole time to spurring on the dawdling pace of day workers.
When working by the day it is needful to give the signals for beginning
and stopping work, and to insist on regular and continuous digging.
It is impossible to be known to be away, as then no work will go
on effectively. An air of vigilant surprises has to be kept up. A
sunk approach to the work behind higher ground is essential; and, if
possible, an access to a commanding view without being seen going
to and fro. A telescope is very useful to watch if distant work is
regular. At Tanis the girls in a big pit were kept by the men walking
up and tipping baskets at the top; but the telescope showed that the
baskets were all the time empty. The immediate dismissal of fourteen
people was the result. A telescope will also show if a boy is put
up to watch for the master’s coming. Various approaches should be
arranged from different directions, and the course of work so planned
that no men can give notice to others. In this way a pleasing group of
musicians and dancers may be found in the excavations, where picks and
baskets are lying idle; and the arrangement is closed by requesting the
boys to dance on their own resources, and the transfer of your pay to
other pockets. The need of thus acting as mainspring, without which the
work goes on at an official pace, is wearing and time-wasting; and it
leaves no chance of doing writing, drawing, etc., during work hours.
[Sidenote: Piecework.]
Working by the piece saves all this trouble, and if the men are well
trained, and the work is simple, it goes on automatically and takes the
smallest possible amount of attention. In detached small sites men may
even be left unvisited for two or three days, merely reporting each
evening how far they have worked. In one case some lads were left to
work at a great sarcophagus for weeks unwatched, and came some miles to
report progress, and say when further attention was wanted. The pay for
that was given by contract, to cut and lift a stone lid under water,
for so many pounds.
In piecework it is always best to keep a record of how long each piece
has taken, as the time is one element in pricing the work done.[1]
The ground varies in hardness, the depth of throwing up continually
changes, or the presence of large stones hinders the work; therefore
any exact value by a hard and fast rule is impossible. Each piece of
work done has to be judged, taking the most likely scale of payment,
and then tempering the result by the amount of time occupied. The
general rate of pay in Egypt is ½ piastre a cubic metre for loose
surface sand, ⅔ for shallow work in harder earth, ¾ for work as deep as
a man, and 1 piastre for deep pits. At this scale a poor worker will
barely earn day pay and a fine worker will make from 1½ to 2 times day
pay. The day pay in Upper Egypt is 2½ to 3 piastres (6d. to 7d.) a man,
and 1½ to 2 (3½d. to 5d.) for a boy, of fit and proper quality.
[1] A useful notation is to use the letter of the week day,
with an hour-spot by it; thus .F is 7 A.M. Friday, M· is 2
P.M. Monday, Ẇ is noon, Wednesday, and this spotted letter
is noted in the accounts, for the time of beginning any
piece of work.
To take a practical case. A hole is, say, 2½ metres wide, 3½ long and 2
deep, say 18 cubic metres. The rate will be at ¾, making 13½ piastres
or 2s. 9d. Large stones met with, or pillars or buttresses of earth
left to support objects _in situ_, are counted as work done, as the
trouble and inconvenience of leaving them in the hole is quite equal
to the removal of so much earth. If the pit above-named had taken a
four-gang (two men and two boys) less than a day, it might be cut to
12 piastres or 2s. 6d.; or if much over a day, it might be raised to
16 or 3s. 3d.; reckoning that a rate much quicker or slower than the
regular rate, shows that the ground or conditions were better or worse
than usual. It is needful to measure with distinct and visible care,
as the men are very watchful to see that they get fair measurement;
and their confidence should be gained by taking trouble to be fair
and punctilious in every detail, though never taking notice of any
wheedling or attempt to influence the account.
[Sidenote: Day and Piecework.]
Where the earth has to be moved to any distance beyond a few yards,
then more carriers are needed than one to each digger. The happiest
combination then is to go on paying exactly the same rate by the metre,
as if the men were working a plain pit, but to supply them with as many
boys paid by the day as may be needful to shift the earth away (Fig.
17). Sometimes two men and two boys will have six more boys to run off
the earth to fifty yards away. Any common village boys will do for this
gang, and they may be enlisted by the hundred, and distributed over the
work. But it is needful to allot these “locals” (as they are called)
specifically to known men, so that each pick-man can answer for the
time and the doings of each of his own boys. Thus there is no smudge of
irresponsibility; but each boy belongs to a man, who has for his own
interest to get the work out of him.
[Illustration: CLEARING THE TEMPLE, ABYDOS.
Fig. 17. Lines of carriers.]
[Illustration: CLEARING THE TEMPLE, ABYDOS.
Fig. 18. Heaps around area.]
The local boys should all give the names of their villages on
enlistment, and be kept in lists according to villages, so as to group
them for payment in gold. In case of any serious theft or trouble
due to boys from one village, all the rest from that village can be
dismissed as a warning. To keep them up to time in arriving, it is
best to dismiss for the day the two or three who come latest, if they
are not well up to time. This soon enforces regularity. Any attempt to
leave before the sunset signal, is met by dismissing altogether any boy
who leaves too soon. It is best not to allow any substitution on the
plea of illness, as if that is once allowed, it soon becomes a loophole
for all the selected boys to gradually sell their places to less
desirable fellows. A favourite plan of the piecework men is to turn
all their own basket-boys into pick-boys, and then want more locals to
carry the stuff. Of course this has to be met by deducting from the
rate of pay, as the regular rates are for cutting and throwing, and
not for cutting alone. The proportion of pay if the boys are set to do
pick-work, on a gang of two men and two boys, goes as follows:--
+---------------+--------------------+--------------------+
| pick 3 | pick 3 | pick 3 |
| basket 2 | pick 3 | pick 3 |
| pick 3 | pick 3 | pick 3 |
| basket 2 | basket 2 | pick 3 |
| -- | -- | -- |
| A 10 | B 11 | C 12 |
| | | |
| | 2 baskets due 4 | 4 baskets due 8 |
| | -- | -- |
| | 15 | 20 |
+---------------+--------------------+--------------------+
Then if in a normal four-gang, A, one boy takes a pick they become as
in B, and only have 11/15 of the piece pay, as the master has to supply
the other two baskets for the normal gang of equal numbers of picks
and baskets. Similarly if both boys take picks, as in C, the pay is
of course ⅗ of what it would normally be; the other ⅖ being spent in
supplying locals. The one absolute rule, however, is that if there are
enough old trained hands to do the cutting, no local shall be allowed
to do pick-work, as his intelligence, knowledge, and honesty are not to
be trusted without training. The combination of piece pay for cutting
and day pay for carrying is a happy one; as the piecework keeps the men
moving, and they stir up the boys on day pay (Fig. 19).
In European countries this use of boys is scarcely possible owing to
the national education. In Greece as in England the boys are required
to go to school, and their holidays there are not at a time suitable
for excavating, while in England the holidays are occupied by the
harvest. Hence all work has to be done by men, at a higher rate of pay;
and so mechanical aids to moving earth would be more profitable than
they are in Egypt.
[Illustration: Fig. 19. FILLING AND CARRYING, AT ABYDOS.]
[Illustration: Fig. 20. FILLING AND CARRYING, AT ABYDOS.]
It may be mentioned that the workers are always expected to provide
their own picks and baskets in Egypt; while ropes, crowbars, and other
tools only occasionally wanted are found by the master. If the daily
tools were also provided, they would soon be spoiled, and need constant
attention; it is bad enough to have to check and take care of ropes and
special tools. The baskets brought up need to be looked at for size,
especially those of local boys. When choosing boys, a fair size of
basket should be insisted on as a condition of employment; and if small
or broken baskets are brought up afterwards, the boy should be turned
off, in order to bring a proper basket next day.
[Sidenote: Rewards.]
The two objects of excavations are (1) to obtain plans and
topographical information, and (2) to obtain portable antiquities.
For the purpose of securing antiquities it is necessary to guard
against the ignorance, the carelessness, and the dishonesty of the
men employed. The best way to protect the interests of the work is
to give rewards for all the things that are found, commonly called
“the _bakhshish_ system.” If only half-a-dozen men are employed,
and the master will take care to see that they never touch the work
except while he is watching them, it may be practicable to do without
_bakhshish_. But in the ordinary course of having one or two hundred
men and boys at work over a large area, it is essential to pay partly
by results, at least in the East; in Greece, owing to the large claims
of the Government, this is scarcely practicable.
The actual amount given should be as much as a travelling dealer
would pay to the peasant, were he buying the object. For small and
very saleable things a high rate should be given; for larger blocks,
difficult to move, a lesser rate; and for larger things of some
hundredweights a nominal present may be given without any relation to
the market value. On the whole the _bakhshish_ is usually 5 to 10 per
cent of the wages; and as it is only about 1s. in the pound on the
European values it is well worth while to secure better work by giving
it. Moreover, it is not by any means overlooked in the estimate of the
worth of the work, but--like the prizes of gold digging--it is more
than discounted in the prospects which induce desirable men to come.
The tenth of a chance of getting ten pounds is more attractive than the
certainty of getting one pound in wages; so the extra payments secure
willing workers, even better than the same amount spread in regular pay.
It is by no means only as a safeguard to honesty. The observation
of things, and the care required to avoid breakages, are two very
necessary habits for good workmen. Many a small thing would be
overlooked and lost if it were no benefit to the finder. And digging
carefully so as to avoid breakages, makes a great difference to the
returns obtained. When giving _bakhshish_ on a broken thing, it is
well to say how much more would have been given had it been perfect.
And if fragments are missing, a large deduction should be made, and
the balance promised if the pieces can be found. A fine flint knife,
anciently broken, was produced with several chips missing; I gave 4s.
for it, but offered 16s. more for the chips, which induced the men to
sit down and turn over twenty tons of earth by hand, fingering every
grain; nearly every scrap was found, the men got the whole 20s., and I
got the whole of the largest flint knife known. In another case I kept
a lad sifting earth for three weeks, to find a minute head which he
had lost. Nothing can ensure care better than paying for it; while any
bad carelessness or disobedience to orders is met by degrading a man
to unprofitable work or dismissing him. The principle that the holder
gets the _bakhshish_ must even be extended to cases where one man has
taken things from another man’s hole; the man who has lost the things
is merely told that he should have taken better care of his work.
[Sidenote: Accounts.]
The account keeping is a serious matter, especially when the men are
working far from home, as then they wish to be paid irregularly. There
is first the account of earnings, by day or by piecework; second, the
account of _bakhshish_; third, the banking account of how much each man
has due to him, or, if he has just drawn gold, perhaps a small balance
against him; and fourth, the advances for market and for drawing to
send home. The simplest way of paying is Schliemann’s, giving a day’s
pay to every man every night; but it requires great quantities of
change and a long time of delay to the workers and the master. Weekly
payments are better, on the night before market day or on market
morning. The account is read through to a man, his assent obtained to
it; he is asked if he wants to draw gold, and if not, the total is
booked to him, added to his previous balance. Then for marketing, it
is best to join the men in groups of six or eight together, and give
the chief man of each group a sovereign to divide as they want it.
After market he states how much each has had, and it is deducted from
the balance of each man, while any unspent cash is returned.
Thus the amounts which should balance in weekly accounts are, for
instance:--
RECEIVED. £ PT. | SPENT. £ PT.
Total to 17th Feb. 168 77 | Total to 17th Feb. 182 34
on 19th „ 10 | Wages to 24th „ 34 16
on 22nd „ 5 | Locals to 24th „ 9 83
on 24th „ 20 80 | House 39
------- | Materials 64
Total received 204 59½ | Personal drawings 5
Due to men 27 79 | --------
-------- |
Balancing total 232 41 | 232 41
======== | ========
This, of course, being the paymaster account, as apart from the
accounts in chief, and from which the accounts in chief are made up by
the head of a party.
It is necessary to take trouble to gain the confidence of the men;
they must be convinced of the master’s good faith and precision.
Whenever there is reasonable doubt on a point, they must always be
given the benefit of it; and plenty of patience is needed to hear their
complaints, and to understand what is the real state of an objection.
Some men are so puzzle-headed that they cannot remember their account
clearly; and if so, it is best to make them name some friend with whom
all their accounts are settled. If any man wants to go far back in
accounts--and sometimes they will raise a question of four or five
weeks before--then it is well to have a friend as witness, who will
see that it is right, and close the matter, silencing any puzzled
grumbling. Egyptians will often dispute accounts against their own
interest, and remind the payer of amounts which they have received that
may have been overlooked. But it is needful to show care and interest
about the smallest amounts, so as to maintain a sense of exactness and
precision with the men.
Some masters avoid going over accounts by giving each man a card, and
entering his account on it in figures; but as the man cannot check
it without asking a reader, this hardly meets the case. Another form
of accounts is, however, understood and desired by the men, in the
form of a tally which every one can check, and from which they can
automatically balance accounts at once. A piece of sheet zinc is ruled
in columns (Fig. 21), each of 20 squares for the 20 piastres in each
dollar; and every fifth column is lined heavier, as marking a pound.
All amounts earned are marked by spots in the columns, and amounts
paid are scored through. Thus in this example the earnings were 12, 2,
5, 9, 30, and 15 piastres; the drawings were 17, 14, 11, 4, 2, 1½, 6½
piastres; and the balance still due between the last score and the last
spot is 17 piastres, which any man can count for himself. Such a tally
will hold five pounds of accounts, or ten if ruled on both sides.
[Sidenote: Native ways.]
It hardly needs saying that a small amount of doctoring is continually
wanted. Damages to hands and limbs in moving heavy stones, bruises and
strains, sore eyes, malarial fever, rheumatic headaches, indigestion,
swellings and gatherings, old sores, and many other small ailments are
of daily occurrence. A stock of medicines, and some care in applying
them, are necessary in any excavations. But it is necessary to refuse
to give medicine to any one outside of the workmen: first, because
a gratis doctor would never have time to do other work; second, on
account of infection; and third, because patients are an excuse for
spies.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Account-card for native wages. Each square,
one piastre. Each column, one dollar. A spot at each amount due. A line
through the squares paid up.]
Having now noticed the men who are required, something may be said
of those who are not required. The dealer and the spy are a constant
plague. No man must be allowed to loaf about the work, or to lie
watching it from a look-out point. And any troublesome men are best
dealt with by taking shoes or head-shawl from them, and offering to
send the clothes to the man’s sheikh to be returned to him. To get them
he must give his name, and the name of his sheikh; and that no man
will do, as he can then be dropped on by the police in future. Not a
single loafer will ever give his name and sheikh, and so they are well
kept at bay by confiscating clothing or tools. Once I took the donkey
of a troublesome man, who had fled from me; and gave it up to his
sheikh, who came to intercede next day. Doubtless it had to be redeemed
by some blackmail to the sheikh, and the needful lesson was taught.
Dealers are incessantly trying to get at the men, daily at wells or
as tobacco-sellers, and weekly in the market; and so any unexplained
persons who are seen about should be moved on and kept at a distance.
It is supposed by some that there is a solidarity in the family of an
Egyptian, which ensures that a man’s relatives know about his actions,
and are aware if he goes wrong. But various events have shown that a
man’s own relatives may be quite in the dark about his doings, and that
a chance outsider may see, know, and tell things about a man which are
secret from his relatives living with him. Hence the guarantee of a
relative is worth practically nothing, and every man must be taken on
his own merits. It must always be remembered that excavation is for
the sake of archaeology, and is not undertaken in the interest of the
workman. Hence any doubt about a man’s character is sufficient reason
for not employing him. There is neither reason nor use in making
accusations, which after all it might be impossible to prove. But
an unostentatious weeding out of men during the fluctuations of the
work is the best means of avoiding those who seem less likely to be
trustworthy.
A reason for not taking any man’s recommendations is that the
introduction to the work is sure to be paid for; and if Ibrahim begs
you to employ Aly, and succeeds, Aly will have to give him a lump sum
or a share of the wages. Advice _for_ a man should therefore never be
taken; though advice _against_ a man may be disinterested and useful.
[Illustration: Fig. 22. Carrier boys throwing on mounds. Abydos.]
[Illustration: Fig. 23. Town-site turned over, showing outer wall.
Kahun.]
CHAPTER IV
THE ARRANGEMENT OF WORK
[Sidenote: Clearances.]
A large site, such as that of a temple or a town, may be attacked in
several ways. The most cursory method is by trial pits in various
spots; pits which, if they hit anything of importance, are likely
to injure it, and certain to destroy its connection with other
things. French explorers have a love for _faire quelques sondages_,
a proceeding which often ruins a site for systematic work, and which
never shows the meaning of the positions or the nature of the plan. If
it is quite uncertain whether there be remains in the ground, the best
examination is by parallel trenches, as such give a good view of the
soil, while the stuff can be turned back and the trench filled behind
if not wanted. In case of tracing a building, trenches cut along the
lines of the walls are a good beginning; and then if more is wanted,
the plan is clear and the rooms can be emptied with foresight.
[Illustration: Fig. 24. CUTTING DOWN FROM THE TOP EDGE OF THE WORK.]
A favourite method with the older explorers was to clear out a whole
area (Fig. 18) and throw the stuff all round the site. This may be
needful in case of superimposed buildings, which must be studied one
by one, as only two or three periods can be planned at once, and the
upper have to be removed before the lower can be cleared. But such a
method is a clumsy waste in dealing with a simple group of buildings.
The great difficulty of it is to know where to place the stuff removed,
so as not to block future work. Before beginning any large excavation,
the amount to be shifted should be gauged, and the position of the
stuff settled beforehand. The great clearance on the side of the Medum
pyramid, to expose the temple, was planned out with the position and
size of each waste heap in the mind’s eye, and the system of paths by
which the stuff could be shifted with least fatigue. It is needful to
continually adjust the moving, so as to avoid lifting the stuff more
than really needed; and any long run down of material, either towards
the digger or away from the thrower, should be prevented, as it all has
to be lifted again in some shape. Working at the foot of a long run of
stuff is entirely wrong; such ground should be shifted in successive
levels, each level being discharged without needing to raise the earth
up again. Excavations at the Sphinx were carried on by the Government
with two men filling baskets with sand, which ran down 20 feet from the
surface to the bottom of a pit; and the baskets were then carried up by
a long train of children very slowly climbing up out of the pit on a
sand slope at the angle of running sand. Thus nearly the whole labour
was wasted by not filling the baskets at the surface and carrying them
directly away. Whenever a large pit is needed it should be begun of
full size, and lowered equally all over, so that nothing runs down
during the work.
[Illustration: CEMETERY WORK
Fig. 25. Mounds, at Yehudiyeh.]
[Illustration: CEMETERY WORK
Fig. 26. Sarcophagi, Abydos.]
For moving earth to a distance there is no way so simple and adaptable
as a line of carrier boys (Fig. 22). Over flat ground this is the best
way up to distances of 50 or 100 yards; for longer discharges it may be
better to lay down a light railway and use trucks. The line of boys is
the only practicable way if the stuff has to be carried up a slope to
discharge, or taken over irregular paths out of the work, as is often
the case. The railway needs much time for rearranging different points
of collection and discharge; and must be in duplicate, or else the work
will be at a stand-still during rearrangement. A boy will carry 20 to
30 lbs. in a load, about 20 journeys an hour for 100 yards discharge,
thus moving about 2 tons a day. So the cost is about a piastre a cubic
metre for shifting 100 yards.
[Sidenote: Turning over.]
But far the more economical and rapid work is that of turning over
whenever practicable. If a site has not been often rebuilt upon, the
way is to start by a long clearance at one edge; and then a line of men
steadily cut from one side of the trench and throw back on the other
(Fig. 24), so that the trench moves across the whole site, and every
pound of earth is turned over. Each man needs a frontage of between 4
and 6 metres in width; and the trench, if open along, should have a
clear bottom of at least 2 metres, from back to front of the work. More
usually it is worked in compartments, each man clearing about 4 metres
square, and throwing into his previous hole; each hole is then gauged
when empty and the pay assessed. If a town is cleared (Fig. 23), then
it is done chamber by chamber, each being emptied over the wall into
the previous chamber. The corners of the chambers can just be left
visible for making a plan afterwards. A great advantage of this way is
that the ground is finally left covered, so there is no great waste
heap, and the walls are all covered over again to save them from future
destruction.
[Sidenote: Raising earth.]
Where a deep hollow has to be cleared out it is a wasteful plan to let
the boys walk out with the basket of earth, as they have to raise the
body, which is about four times the weight of their load. So soon as
the rise is as steep as one in four, it is best to form a fixed chain
of boys (Fig. 27), each standing in a permanent place, and handing
the baskets up from one to another. About 5 feet apart horizontally
is as far as is useful; or in case of steep work (as out of pits) the
vertical lift may be 3 or 4 feet (Fig. 1). A sufficient number of
collectors at the bottom and throwers at the top are of course needed
to keep the chain in full work (Fig. 28). A well-proportioned gang
should not have any accumulations along it, and must be quietly watched
from time to time to see that all parts work equally. If the baskets
of earth lag at any point and accumulate, the boys before the point
must be thinned, and those beyond it increased. A favourite plan of the
boys is to let a basket lie unshifted and then stand upon it, as a full
basket of earth gives a pleasant footing, and there is one less to keep
moving. In this way most of the baskets can be quietly suppressed
and yet every one remains as busy as they can be with the short stock
of baskets that remain. All such misuse of baskets must be stopped at
once; but old burst baskets may be used thus with advantage.
[Illustration: CHAINS OF WORKERS.
Fig. 27. At tomb of Usertesen II.]
[Illustration: CHAINS OF WORKERS.
Fig. 28. At tomb of King Den.]
This system of lifting is also used in a surprising way for vertical
tomb pits. An Egyptian man will stand all day with his feet on opposite
sides of a pit in foot-holes, and stoop down to take a full basket from
a man below at the level of his feet; then raise himself, and lift the
basket up at arms’ length above his head, thus lifting it 6 or 7 feet.
Three men will thus empty out a pit to 20 feet deep; but such men are
usually old tomb-robbers, and must be employed with circumspection.
More usually ropes are used, one tied to each handle of a basket, and
pulled up by a pair of men. The earth is best left in the carrying
basket, which is laid in the roped basket at the bottom, and taken
out of it at the surface. If the pit is rotten and wide at the top,
the basket has to be swung across the top two or three times, until
on letting the ropes loose it flies out 10 or 20 feet to the side of
the pit, where it is caught by the emptying boy. Clever rope-men will
let a basket fly so as to catch on the top of the dump heap and turn
over, so that it only needs clearing loose to let it go back again.
The ropes need careful watching; the men love to tie knots in them, to
grip by, whereby they wear through at the knots and drop to pieces;
also the ropes are dragged on the edge of the pit, so as to serve as a
friction-clutch when changing hands, thus wearing the rope out in two
days instead of two months; the sides of the pit should be looked at
to see if there is any sawing by the rope, and if so, the men must be
stopped. They also cut off pieces if the ropes are long; and it is best
to have all ropes in standard lengths of 8 metres, these when doubled
thrice over down to 1 metre length are quickly tested for length, and
then hanked in the middle to put by. Lastly, if not regularly delivered
into store every night, the ropes are not returned when a pit is
finished; and then they vanish, and a fresh pair is asked for when the
next pit goes deep.
Another favourite misuse of ropes is to lash them round blocks of stone
which have to be dragged, and thus cut the rope into scraps by wearing
on the ground. Ropes can generally be put round the sides of a stone,
and kept in place by some old scraps passing beneath.
[Sidenote: Tracing walls.]
One of the most careful kinds of work, to which only good men can be
trained, is that of tracing out unbaked brick walls buried in rubbish.
The surrounding earth is derived from the crumbling and washing down
of the earthen wall, and therefore it is indistinguishable from the
average of the bricks themselves. Hence, if the bricks are uniform in
colour, and the mud mortar is like them, the building and its débris
are all alike. The best way to examine brickwork is by scraping a face
of the wall, and then peeling it quite clean with a dinner-knife; such
a clean smooth surface seen in shadow will show whatever can possibly
be made out of the differences of colour and texture. Vertical joints
are worth far more than horizontal, as often fallen bricks may lie
as if built together. If possible the joints should be observed by
differences of colour, and the bricks measured for comparison with
others; as the sizes vary from 7 inches to 2 feet in length, and but
seldom range over half an inch in any one building period, the size
will go a long way in showing a connection of age. If the bricks cannot
be distinguished even after leaving the face to dry for some days,
the earth should be searched by pecking with a trowel or knife to see
if there is dirt in it: only in late times are pottery chips found
usually in bricks, and charcoal scraps are very rare, hence pottery
and charcoal almost prove the earth to be mere wash and rubbish. The
clearing back of dirty earth to a vertical face of clean clay is a
satisfactory evidence of a wall. But sometimes the filling is so clean
that there is no difference between it and the wall. Then the relative
hardness will often serve to distinguish one from the other; and this
is a main means of discrimination by the workmen, who will often tell
a wall entirely by the touch under the pick. Failing all these tests,
and the strata of dirt beds, the film of stucco on the wall face will
sometimes show up, but may leave a doubt as to which side is the wall.
In the last resource the stuff should be searched with a magnifier to
see the hollows left by decomposed straw dust: in kneaded brick these
hollows lie in every direction; in blown dust and wash they lie nearly
all horizontal. It is often needful to spend half-an-hour testing and
tracing out the line of a wall, fixing the face and the top and base of
it; and such work may give the only evidence of a temple or important
building.
CHAPTER V
RECORDING IN THE FIELD
[Sidenote: Need of record.]
After finding things the first consideration is to record and preserve
all the information about them. The most ignorant dealer or plunderer
may be a very successful digger, but he will not care for the value of
a record. Recording is the absolute dividing line between plundering
and scientific work, between a dealer and a scholar. The most
blue-blooded _dilettante_ collector who digs to possess fine things,
but records no facts about them, is below the level of the dealer who
will publish an illustrated priced catalogue, and state what was found
together, and the details of the discovery. The unpardonable crime
in archaeology is destroying evidence which can never be recovered;
and every discovery does destroy evidence unless it is intelligently
recorded. Our museums are ghastly charnel-houses of murdered evidence;
the dry bones of objects are there, bare of all the facts of grouping,
locality, and dating which would give them historical life and value.
And it is only the self-evident facts of age that we already know,
which can be observed in such a useless condition. So ignorant are
curators that they will even divide up a tomb-group of objects, which
are the keys to knowledge, and foolishly scatter them up and down the
galleries merely as second-rate specimens of what is already there,
without any date or history. This is actually the case in the three
largest national museums. It is therefore imperative not only to
record, but also to publish, the facts observed; so that when in future
the elements of scientific management may come to be understood, a fit
curator may succeed in reuniting the long-severed information, as is
being to some extent happily done at Dublin.
In recording, the first difficulty is to know what to record. To state
every fact about everything found would be useless, as no one could
wade through the mass of statements. It would be like a detective who
would photograph and measure every man on London Bridge to search for
a criminal: the complication would entirely defeat the object. It is
absolutely necessary to know how much is already known before setting
about recording more. In some periods, such as the XVIIIth Dynasty, so
much is ascertained that it is seldom that new facts can be brought to
light; and only fine or unusual discoveries are worth full publication.
On the other hand, in such an age as the early dynasties our only
resource lies in complete records of the levels or collocations of
hundreds of pots, whole or broken; and most important historical
conclusions may hang on a single potsherd.
[Sidenote: Value of record.]
It is plain therefore that the accuracy and certainty of the record
is necessary. At the moment that a fact is before the eye,--a fact
which may never be seen again, and perhaps never paralleled,--it is
needful for the observer to make certain of all the details, to verify
every point which is of fresh value, and to record all that is new
with certainty and exactitude. Statements with a query, or a doubt
about them, are worth nothing in themselves, and can only serve to
add to the range of similar facts that may be safely recorded from
elsewhere. Everything seen should be mentally grasped, and its meaning
and bearings comprehended at the moment of discovery, so clearly that
a definitive statement can be made, which shall be as certain and as
absolute as anything can be which depends on human senses. The observer
should at least feel no possible doubts or qualms about his recorded
facts; and what uncertainties there are should only be those which
lie beyond his perceptions. It is well to work slowly over all the
petty details of an important discovery, perhaps for half an hour,
while considering all the facts and their meaning, before finally and
irrevocably removing the main evidences of position. All this needs
practice, and a full knowledge of what is important and what is trivial.
[Sidenote: Resulting view.]
And not only should such a record be made at the time, but the record
should be presented finally in an intelligible form. To empty the
contents of note-books on a reader’s head is not publishing. A mass
of statements which have no point, and do not appear to lead to any
conclusion or generalisation, cannot be regarded as an efficient
publication. The meaning of each fact should be made apparent, and
the relative importance of the details should be kept in view, so
as to present the conclusions as a picture, in which each touch is
in its proper place, and where each point adds to the whole without
being disproportionately treated. Thus the final result is a statement
much like what might have been written by a contemporary of the times
in question; proved and enforced at each point by the various facts
discovered.
In many cases our materials are not enough to give such a picture; and
then, either the blanks must be noted and the limits of uncertainty
stated, or else, at the worst, the facts must be grouped, and their
results stated, leaving the question with two or more solutions open to
future settlement.
Thus the final result to be aimed at is a picture full of detail and
accuracy; and, where material is insufficient, with the limits of doubt
clearly laid down, so that fresh material can at once be incorporated,
and its value seen and grasped, so soon as it may be discovered.
[Sidenote: Marking.]
A very needful part of the recording is the marking of the objects
with their source. Generally each part of a site is distinguished by
a letter, and each group of objects found in that part by a number;
thus a cemetery may be E, another adjoining it on different ground
F, yet another G, a temple site T, and so on, sometimes using up the
whole alphabet on a varied district. Then E 17, F 8, G 65, will be
different tombs in those cemeteries, as denoted in the note-book and
on the objects. Every bone of a skeleton should be marked, and always
on one fixed position for each bone. It is best to trust to writing
the reference with China ink on the base or back of most objects; for
pottery and coarse things Brunswick black thinned with turpentine is
best; for dark stones scratching the number is safest, and also for wet
pottery at the time it is found. Jewellers’ tag-labels with strings are
useful for small objects. It is very unsafe to trust labelling only
to the wrapping papers, which may be all thrown away; separate labels
should be wrapped with the things if they cannot be marked otherwise.
[Sidenote: Nature of notes.]
The nature of the notes must vary with each kind of material and each
period; but we may here give some examples of the nature of such
records.
_Town Plan._--Survey of every wall of each house; thickness of each
wall (easily neglected); reveals of doorways; doorsills if of stone;
sizes of bricks; levels of top and base of each wall if any rebuilt or
superimposed; contents of each chamber, note if on floor or in filling;
objects buried in floors; special note of position of exactly dated
objects; copies of any frescoes or decoration.
_Tomb._--Position relative to other tombs. Size of pit, direction,
depth. Position of chamber. Filling intact, or estimate of time that it
has stood open anciently by the weathering of the sides. Objects found
loose in filling. Chamber plan. Primary or secondary burial. Position
of body, head direction, face direction, attitude of body and limbs.
Position of beads and small objects on body. Note if beads follow any
pattern or order; record order of as long groups of beads as possible
for rethreading; wrappings, amount and nature. Coffin or cartonnage;
inscription and figures, if any, often need copying or photographing
before removal, as they may fall to pieces. Skull and jaw to be
removed for measurement; or, if in rarer periods, whole skeleton to be
preserved. Position and nature of all offerings and objects placed in
the tomb. Copies of any inscriptions or paintings on the walls of the
tomb.
To such outlines of the usual character of records are added any
special details which are but rarely found; but the above will serve to
remind an excavator of what must always be looked for.
[Sidenote: Planning.]
In making a plan of any large area, such as a town, it is best to
start with a rough key-plan divided into a few dozen squares, each row
of squares lettered, each column of squares numbered, so that every
square is designated, as B 5, etc. (Fig. 32). Then the detailed plan
of each square is to be made on one opening of a note-book of squared
paper, the openings running A 1, A 2, A 3; B 1, B 2, B 3, etc. Thus any
connection from one page to another can be found at once by looking for
the next letter or number: the whole plan is in the pocket, and can
be added to, chamber by chamber, as the clearing progresses. It need
hardly be said that every plan or detail should be drawn north upwards
in the note-book. Main lines are of course to be connected together by
long lines of measurement.
As a general principle it is best to measure positions of as many
points as possible along one single line of measurement, rather than
take many piecemeal short distances and add them together. Thus (Fig.
29) a series of walls should be stated as, 66, 76, 201, 220, 257,
269, 330, 353, 434, 446 inches, rather than as lengths of 66, 10, 25,
19, 37, 12, 61, 23, 81, and 12 inches; for the total is more accurate
when measured all in one, the positions are plotted quicker, and the
comparison with any symmetric lengths of the building are easier made
on the spot, so as to detect errors.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--Example of a plan measured entirely from two
bounding lines.]
In the direct measurement of groups of walls, etc., it is the quicker
and more accurate method to adopt two outside sighting lines, say one
along the north, the other along the east, of the ground, marked out by
high walls or large stones always visible, and then measure every point
out to the two sighting lines at right angles. Spaces of over 100 feet
across can be divided into separate groups.
The general use of instruments cannot be entered upon here. But amongst
the means of work the divided rod is indispensable, and it is all that
is wanted for most small buildings that are met with. The tape is the
most practical for distances of 10 to 50 feet; and the steel tape for
accurate measuring of base lines, or long distances. The box-sextant
is for very broken ground, and isolated details, or if working alone;
and the theodolite for accurate work anywhere between the accuracy of,
say, 1 inch on 500 feet and the refinement of a ¼ of an inch on a mile.
The plane table may be convenient for approximate plans, and is simple
and rapid to use. The prismatic compass is of use for the directions of
single blocks or fragments of wall, and is handy for rough topography
(generally with paced distances), or for underground passages.
In considering the accuracy required, if dimensions in figures are to
be given, then minute measurement is wanted, somewhat more accurate
than the original workmanship. But where only a plan is to be produced,
it is seldom practicable to show more accuracy than 1/100th inch on a
book page 10 inches high, or 1/1000th of the whole, and therefore it is
of no use to measure closer than 1 inch on a space of 200 feet or so
across.
[Sidenote: Plotting.]
It need hardly be said that the barbarous irregular fractions, such as
⅜ of an inch to a foot or to a mile, should never be used for plotting.
Simple decimal scales should alone be used, and generally 1/100th is
the most suitable and easy for all plans of ordinary buildings, towns,
etc.; this is further reduced by photolithography to whatever scale
will best fit the size of publication.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--Method of plotting a three-point survey,
_n_, _w_, _s_, the three fixed points. A the point to be found. B, C,
centres of struck circles.]
Though the ordinary methods of survey need not be stated here, the
box-sextant is so seldom seen that some account should be given of
its use. The objection to its use on short distances, that parallax
between the direct and reflected ray causes errors, can be avoided by
overlapping the images about ¾ inch, the usual amount of the parallax.
The main use of the sextant is for three-point survey. Over broken
ground where many isolated points have to be fixed, within a few inches
on a few hundred feet, there is no method so quick and useful as the
nautical three-point method, when improved by rigid plotting. At any
three points which shall be visible from the whole of the ground, and
within its general plane, three signals are placed, best lettered by
the quarter of the horizon nearest to each, say _n_, _s_, _w_. The
three points must be so placed that the one circle passing through them
all shall not pass through points needed in the survey; otherwise
they may be in any position, though best as a triangle of about equal
sides. The three angles and one side are to be measured, thus defining
the whole triangle. Then at any point to be fixed, A, the two angles
between _n_ to _s_ and _w_ to _s_ are measured with the sextant, and
these suffice to fix the position. For plotting (Fig. 30), lay down the
triangle of the three fixed points, say to scale 1/100th (the triangle
with shaded corners _n_, _s_, _w_), and the perpendiculars to each side
of it; this is most accurately done by a large protractor with vernier,
setting out the radii and perpendiculars of the triangle from its
centre. Then tabulate the half of each base × cotan. angles observed on
that base, _e.g._
logs. n.n. logs. n.n. logs. n.n.
½ bases _n_ ·27314 _s_ ·36621 _w_ ·29223 _n_
------ ------ ------
x cotan. { 1 ·43223 2·705 ·26272 1·831
angles at { 2 ·56671 3·687 ·48214 3·035
places 1, 2, 3 { 3 ·41995 2·630 ·67709 4·754
Here the log. half base _n_ to _s_ is ·27314; this added to log. cotan.
of angle subtended by _n_-_s_ from station 1 is log. ·43223, giving
a value 2·705 inches. From station 1 the angle _s_-_w_ was observed;
and from stations 2 and 3 the angle _w_-_n_ was observed. All this
calculation can be rapidly done in this form, placing the sheet upon
the log. book, with the written log. half base next below the printed
log. cotan. angle, and writing down the sum of the two against the
number of the station. Then on the plan, plot these (½ base × cotan.)
on the perpendiculars of their respective bases as at B and C, marking
the station number to each. Then with compasses sweep an arc from one
centre B, with radius Bs equal to the distance from the centre to its
two points of the triangle. The same from the other centre C that has
the same number of station. The intersection of the arcs is the point A
of that station on the plan.
Of course the prolonged perpendiculars (broken lines) are used as
often as the direct perpendiculars; the _aspect_ of the angle from
the station, whether _n_-_s_ or _s_-_n_ showing on which half of the
perpendicular we should lay off the centre. For angles over 90° the
complement of the angle should be used in calculation, the centre
then laid off on the wrong half of the perpendicular, and the arc
swept across the right half. This mode of plotting gives the fullest
accuracy, such as is never possible with the use of station-pointers,
or trial and error devices which are used in nautical survey. A field
of 40 stations can be easily calculated in an hour, and plotted in a
couple of hours more. If it is needful to work any point with pure
calculation instead of plotting, it can be accurately done by the
principle that the line joining the two centres of arcs, B and C, forms
with their common point s an equal and opposite triangle to that which
they form with the survey point A. It will be seen on looking at the
diagram that _w_-_s_, the angle by which B is plotted, is equal to the
angle _w_-_s_ from A; and similarly the angle of the half base _n_-_s_
from C, is equal to _n_-_s_ from A. Hence the points _n_, _s_, _w_
subtend from A, the observed angles, and A is the point from which they
must have been observed.
For levelling, the handiest instrument is a short rigid pendulum, with
mirror attached, to hang truly vertical. The reflection of the eye
back to itself is then a truly horizontal line, and can be sighted
on to any distance. The pendulum is best made about 5 inches long,
with tetrahedral net of suspension thread, to avoid twisting, passing
through two eyes on the mirror and two eyes on the holder, and a
covering tube to shield it from wind. With this, readings can easily be
taken to an inch on 100 feet, and this is sufficient accuracy for most
archaeological work.
CHAPTER VI
COPYING
[Sidenote: Paper squeezes.]
A very needful branch of recording is the taking impressions of
inscriptions and flat reliefs. The usual method is by wet squeezing of
paper, which may be made up of any thickness, from a true mould to a
slight surface impression. If a mould is wanted for future casting, a
tough rag paper without much size should be used; but good newspaper
will do. The tougher the paper is when wet, the better. The stone must
be thoroughly cleaned and soaked. The paper is cut to the size, and,
if less than the stone, in two or more sheets. A sheet is then put in
a basin of water, rolled about to soak, and then gathered into a ball
and rolled between the hands to break the grain, just short of pulping
the surface; next shaken out like a wet handkerchief, and then laid
on the stone with enough slack to go into all the hollows. It is then
gently beaten with a spoke-brush until it is pushed into the hollows
(Fig. 33). If they are deep it is needful to use strips of paper soaked
and pulped, and laid by finger in the hollows, so as to nearly fill
them. Finally, a severe beating is given to the whole, as violent as
can be done without tearing the paper. The paper should be pulped on
the stone, and driven into every crack and porosity; using a second,
and even a third, sheet to bind it together. The pulp in the hollows
should be kneaded in with the sharp edge of the brush-back, using the
whole weight of the body to force it home. About 50 square feet of such
work is as much as can be done in a day. The precautions are: avoid
bubbles of water or air below the paper, beat quite straight without
dragging, and see that there is no creeping of the paper or shifting
on the stone. When quite dry and hard the cast may be carefully peeled
off. After heating and waxing, plaster casts may be taken from it, with
a slight oiling between each using.
A slighter working is enough on shallow inscriptions; but such squeezes
generally need to be taken off while wet, and allowed to dry alone,
or else the paper drags flat out of the hollows when contracting in
drying. This is specially the case on polished granite, where there is
no grip on the surface.
Surface impressions of incised carving may be taken with a single sheet
of paper beaten just enough to catch the edges of the cutting; and such
make excellent bases for inking over to produce a facsimile drawing
(Fig. 31). The impression is so much better on the inner side, that the
inking is done on that, and the figures are thus reversed in the plate.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Copy made by inking a paper squeeze, 1:8. A
part of the Israel stele, with the name Israel in the last line but
one.]
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--System of numbering sheets of connected
drawings.]
[Sidenote: Dry squeezes.]
But on all coloured work, and many kinds of tender stones, wet
squeezing is a crime, as it destroys the original. Fatuous tourists
and brazen students have wrecked innumerable monuments by wet
squeezing, and it is now necessarily prohibited in Egypt unless
special permission is obtained to do some object which cannot be
injured by it. Another system, that of dry squeezing, I therefore
introduced when doing the Medum tombs. A sheet of thin paper is held
over the stone, and it is pressed over each edge of the cutting so as
to leave a bend in the surface. Then, laid on a drawing-board, with an
oblique lighting, the bends are all drawn on with pencil, checking by
comparison with the stone. Sometimes it is best to draw by lamplight,
and check with the stone afterwards. The drawing should always begin
at the bottom right hand, so as not to press out the impression by the
hand; and the sheets must not be rolled before being pencilled. For
small lines, a piece of indiarubber should be used to press the paper
into the hollows. For the outlines of reliefs the thumb nail must be
used. This system is quicker and more accurate than any reduced-scale
hand drawing. Over large wall surfaces the sheets should be placed in
regular rows, lettered A, B, C (Fig. 32), and each sheet numbered in
the row, so that A 3, B 3, C 3, come one below the other. The register
of positions is kept by marking a minute cross with pencil on the wall,
so that the corners of four sheets will fall between the four arms of
the cross. Thus each fresh sheet is placed exactly to fit the sheets
which have preceded it, in the row and in the column. Any large blanks
or injuries should have their corresponding sheets duly lettered (even
if nothing is on them), and put with the drawings, so that there shall
be no hitch in placing them all in one great sheet afterwards. It may
be convenient to join up the sheets, and then redivide the drawings
at suitable spaces between the subjects for convenience of packing.
To join the sheets they must be laid together in position, a slight
cut then made with a knife to mark two sheets across the joint; then
turned back-up, adjusted by the cut, and a strip of adhesive paper put
on the joint, dabbed down and not rubbed along. Thus large sculptured
walls can be copied sheet by sheet, joined up, inked in, and then
photolithographed for plates. It is needful to remember that the Postal
Union will take rolls up to 60 centimetres length and 21 cm. diameter,
as ordinary parcels up to 5 kilograms; or 75 cm. length if not over 10
cm. diameter and 2 kilograms of weight, by book post, open at ends.
[Illustration: CASTING.
Fig. 33. Paper squeeze. XII Dyn. Goddess Nekheb.]
[Illustration: CASTING.
Fig. 34. Plaster cast from paper. Philistine. XX Dyn.]
[Sidenote: Casting.]
Beside the direct material for publishing in plates, it is often
desirable to take casts and impressions, both for future reference
and also as a step toward a photograph (Fig. 34). The making of paper
impressions or squeezes has already been noted. Casting with plaster
of Paris is the principal mode of reproduction, and is such a detailed
business in itself that only a few notes can be given here, such as
might possibly be wanted in field work. The fine work for museum
purposes is outside of our aim here. The main point in handling wet
plaster is rapidity; and for that everything must be ready, and the
exact plan of work and amount of plaster settled beforehand. A basin
should be used with water equal to about two-thirds of the volume of
plaster required. Into this shake or sift dry plaster rapidly, until
the water is just filled up with it, and no free water left on the
top; it is then well proportioned, and should be violently stirred with
a large flat spoon or slip of wood and poured out in an even stream,
beginning with the middle if a flat mould, and flattening it out to
the edges. It is best to have rather too little than too much; as a
fresh lot can be mixed, with the hardened pieces of the first lot, to
serve for a backing; the first lot being, of course, spread over the
whole face to begin with. Strings, or strips of butter-muslin, should
be put through the mass, if it is large, so as to prevent it falling to
pieces if broken later on. Excellent casts are made with a thin skin of
plaster on a backing of muslin put on a frame; but this requires more
skill than plain work. About 10 minutes after casting the back should
be scraped down level, or planed with a wide-mouthed hand plane, which
is a very useful tool in finishing casts. No cast of any large size
should be left without even support for some hours after casting, as it
will settle out of shape if strained. Small quantities of plaster are
best mixed with a pocket knife in the palm of the hand.
Moulds for casting are usually of clay for a large scale, but that
is not likely to be used in the field-work. The division of the clay
is best done by bedding threads along the face of the object at the
lines required, and then pulling them up to cut the clay. The face of
the object requires French chalk (steatite powder) on it to prevent
cohesion; oiling or greasing spoils the face of the original. For
field-work paper moulds are best, and the preparation of these as
wet squeezes has been already described. To fit the squeeze for use
as a mould, it should be heated and brushed with melted beeswax on
the face, without necessarily soaking it through. Any places that
are shiny when cold should be warmed and rubbed with cotton wool, so
that the face is the true paper cast. Then slightly oil between each
plaster casting, or else the warmth of the setting plaster will make
the wax stick to it. Several casts can be taken from one paper, if it
is carefully handled in peeling it from the plaster each time. Paper
impressions of cylinders are best made with blotting-paper, unrolled
wet, and left to dry. To remove the cockling of drying, spread a thin
coat of stiff paste on card, and press the paper squeeze lightly on it.
Guttapercha moulds are best if many copies are required. To get a
sharp impression in this tough material a preliminary mould should
be made, of the right shape, but not sharp on the face. This should
be thoroughly cooled in water for an hour or more, and then a small
quantity of guttapercha from boiling water should be laid in the hard
mould and the object pressed in very rapidly and with maximum pressure.
Thus the hot material is forced firmly against every part and takes
a brilliant impression. Such moulds are used for electrotyping as
well as for plaster work. To produce a smooth face to a lump of hot
guttapercha, it should be pulled outwards from the middle to all sides
by thumbs and fingers, so as to produce a fresh torn face over the
whole upper surface.
Sealing-wax is one of the handiest materials, and is used
professionally for all the coin reproductions that are published.
Only the best wax is of any use for impressions. It should never
be allowed to burn or blaze, nor even to boil, but should be gently
heated until a large mass will fall quite readily. The object should be
wetted moderately just before impressing. So soon as the wax is tough
the object should be lifted slightly to make certain that it has not
stuck, and then pressed down again till cold. If it has stuck it must
be pulled away at once, and the wax picked off while tough. Sealing-wax
casts must be oiled before plaster is put to them; and oil does not
soften or deteriorate sealing-wax if left on for years. Beeswax, or,
better, the mixture called “dentist’s wax,” makes good impressions, and
may be used for moulds.
Tin-foil is most useful for rapid impressions, especially from a
fragile or delicate object. The thinnest should be used, such as is
wrapped round chocolate. To preserve the form of tin-foil it may be
squeezed into place with a back of beeswax, and so form a facing to a
wax mould for casting a plaster positive. Or it may be pressed alone
(forcing it on with soft indiarubber or cotton wool), and then floated,
back up, on water, while blazing sealing-wax is dropped into it to
form a backing. This mode is very handy for coin impressions, which
will travel safely in this form and look well. For round objects,
such as cylinders, a tin-foil impression should be made, beating the
foil in with a soft tooth-brush; then the foil is to be uncoiled by
rolling it upon wax so that the curve is removed without flattening the
impression; it is then ready for a plaster casting, giving a flat cast
of the round cylinder. In all cases thin gold-foil would be far better
than tin-foil; and such an impression might even be preferred to the
original object by some Oriental officials.
[Sidenote: Drawing.]
Drawing is still the main resource for illustration, although
photographic processes occupy so important a place. Hand-work is
essential for plans, it is the more useful method for inscriptions,
and it is the more convenient method for most small objects. There is
generally some interpretation needed, to show details which could not
possibly all be visible in one uniform lighting, as in a photograph;
and this can only be done by drawing all that can be seen in varying
lights and aspects. Another superiority of outline drawings is that
they are far more easily looked over and referred to than a much less
distinct photograph. And lastly, they cost a third or a quarter of the
amount for publication. The proper scope of photographs is stated in
the next section.
As drawing is almost always to be reproduced by photolithography, or by
zinc block, it is essential to have it entirely in full black and white
without any grey or half tones. Hence the contrast should be kept as
strong as possible; and only China ink of full blackness should be used
for fine lines. In wide, coarse work, as full-sized inscriptions from
walls, a common writing-ink evaporated to denser quality may be used.
Ebony stain, which some use, has the disadvantage of spreading badly if
it chances to be wetted. A smooth, glazy-faced paper is good for fine
lines, and does not rag up under the pen. Cardboard is pleasant to use,
but is awkward to send by post; whereas paper drawings roll up safely
in a tube.
A cardinal rule in drawing is that the finest line should come out
to 1/300 inch when the subject is reduced to the plate size. Thus a
drawing to be reduced to ⅓ by photolithography should have its finest
lines 1/100 inch thick. This line of 1/300 inch is the finest which is
safe not to break up in reproducing; and of course it spreads a little
in the printing. For very slight shade lines rather thinner lines may
be used, as it is no disadvantage if they should break.
It is very desirable to have similar objects all reduced to the same
scale. For pottery ⅙ is a convenient reduction; for stone vases ⅓; for
metal tools and small objects ½. The drawings of pottery and stone
vases are easiest to do on scales ¼ and ½, as the measured diameters
have to be laid off as radii from the axis, needing halving throughout.
The further reduction is done when photographing for the lithographs;
and it is always best to have such a reduction to ⅔, if not to ½, of
the size of the drawing, in order to make it come out more delicate
than the hand-work. A very useful system for recording groups of small
objects, especially such as are found together, is to lay them out on
a sheet (say double the plate size), as arranged for the plate, and
then run a pencil round the outlines, and add as much detail as may
be needful to explain the objects; thus a pictorial inventory is made
quickly, and is far more useful and easier for reference than any
written inventory (Fig. 35). The pencil should have the wood split off
one side of the lead, and be sharpened by cutting to a chisel-edge
on the opposite side. Thus the point is vertically under the guiding
side; and when held carefully upright, outlines can well be run from
surfaces half an inch or even an inch above the paper. The size of the
sheet will, of course, depend on the amount of reduction intended. For
numbering the figures printed numbers can be gummed on to the drawing.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Part of an inventory sheet, recording pieces
of ivory carving, 1:3.]
For vases, block tints are more satisfactory than outlines. So the
drawing can be filled up with a wash of ink. Or if section lines are
wanted it is best to draw the section line, and block out the ground
outside of the vase, leaving the vase white on a black ground; then
have this reversed, black for white, in the photolithographing. The
vases may be printed in any colour which is suitable.
[Illustration: Fig. 36. Frame for drawing fragments of vases.]
[Illustration: Fig. 37. Weathered grave-stone; unsanded, and sanded.]
[Sidenote: Restored forms.]
The method for drawing a completed form of a vase from fragments is
to place the brim and the base (the curves of which can be accurately
measured against a series of concentric circles) into their true
positions, to a vertical axis; and then, if there is no complete
connection, to adjust their height on their axis so that their
curvatures (including other pieces which join them) fall into one line.
It is easier to do this with the mouth downwards. A frame is made (Fig.
36), with a vertical rod sliding up and down over the middle; a card
with concentric circles on it is placed on the floor of the frame, and
centred under the rod. Taking a piece of a brim, it is rocked to and
fro until it touches the card all along the edge, and a leg of wax is
stuck on so as to keep it at that angle. It is then slid about till
the curve fits between the concentric circles. A piece of base has
its curvature measured, by fitting a sheet of celluloid ruled with
concentric circles to the curve of it. It is then fixed on the lower
end of the vertical rod with some wax, so that the rod is in its axis.
Then the rod is slid down in its grooves until the curves of the piece
of base and of the piece of brim fall into one line. For drawing the
form the radius of the brim and of the base are already measured; the
height is taken as it stands in the frame, also the greatest radius at
the shoulder, the angle of the side with the base, and sometimes the
height from the brim to the curve at several different radii, read off
by sliding a graduated square on the concentric circles to touch the
curve. After plotting all these dimensions the curve is drawn in by
freehand, looking carefully at the fragments in position.
[Sidenote: Copying inscriptions.]
For hand copying inscriptions of a small size, a good method is to fold
over the paper at each line that is done, and draw the signs one by
one on to the fresh edge of paper held side by side on the stone; thus
there is no strain or loss of time by looking to and fro and finding
the place, no chance of omissions, and the facsimile is as accurate as
possible. This is especially for copying ink writing and graffiti. When
making a reduced copy by hand it is best to have a sheet of card under
the paper ruled in squares (of ¼ or up to 2 inches), with thick lines.
These show through the paper, and a frame of strings or threads is put
over the stone, of a larger size, agreeing to the scale of reduction
intended; _e.g._ for reducing a wall to ⅕, have card ruled in 1 inch
squares, and a frame of strings 5 inches apart over the wall. For lines
or columns of inscription it does to rule the column lines and only
have a long scale on a strip of wood put alongside of the column which
is being copied, so as to tally with the lines seen through the paper.
CHAPTER VII
PHOTOGRAPHING
[Sidenote: Camera.]
Photographs are essential for all objects of artistic interest, and for
expressing rounded forms for which elaborate shading would otherwise
be needed. Views of the excavations and buildings are also wanted. And
it is desirable to publish photographs as well as drawings of very
important carvings, in order to guarantee the accuracy of the drawing,
which is the more useful edition for most purposes.
Though the ordinary knowledge of photography must be taken for granted
here, there are many details and preferences which are special to this
kind of work. The bane of practical photography is the rich amateur,
who insists on useless luxury of apparatus, and has set a fashion
in fittings which is absurdly complex. It is undesirable to have a
specially compact camera, as steadiness and convenience in use are
sacrificed for lightness and slightness, which are no object in a fixed
camp. An old-fashioned bulky camera is better for stationary work. I
have long used a tin-plate camera with plain draw-body in two pieces;
the benefit when enlarged photographs are needed is found by taking
it apart, and inserting a card tube, made up when wanted to any length
required for the enlargement. Some very simple, adaptable camera is
best, with a large plate-magazine attached to it, so that some dozens
can be carried at once. For ordinary views and small-scale objects
a simple hand camera is best. A pattern should be adopted which may
be the least liable to get out of order in a very dusty and gritty
climate; of the simplest mechanism, with a plain thrown-down pattern,
to carry a dozen flat films. As to the size of camera, the ¼ plate is
by far the most useful, being right for lantern slides and large enough
for most objects. Enlargements can be made to double size (or whole
plate) quite as good as collotype or net will reproduce them. The time
and work of using a whole-plate size are scarcely ever repaid by the
results for practical archaeology.
The fashion of wide-angle lenses is useless for everything excepting
architecture at close quarters. And for most objects it is very
detrimental to have so short a focus, as it distorts and spoils the
perspective. It is best to use too long a focus in order to get truer
views of objects, at least 6 inches focus for a ¼ plate. There does
not seem to be any appreciable gain in the newer patterns of lenses
over the older “rapid rectilinear” or “symmetrical”; and the positive
disadvantages of some recent lenses are seen in the smaller aperture
and lack of light for focussing, and the distortion at extreme edges.
The iris diaphragm is a disadvantage, as it brings in another variable,
while the time of exposure can be varied to any extent needed. It is
best to stick to one small stop, say _f_/100, and learn exposures
entirely on that basis; then in case of poor light a larger stop, as
_f_/25 or _f_/8, can be used proportionately to shorten the time.
Small stops can be made out of a strip of tin plate or blackened card;
and the hand camera can be stopped down with a pinhole stop stuck in
front of the lens so as to work at almost any nearness and scale with
exposures of ½ or 1 minute in full sunshine.
[Illustration: Fig. 38. Throwing sand; drop-shutter view.]
[Illustration: Fig. 39. Girls at rest; diagonal mirror view.]
The instantaneous shutter is a useless article for all fixed objects.
It is far better to work with a small stop which gives plenty of depth
of focus, and expose for 2 to 20 seconds, which is long enough for
_f_/100 on slow plates in Egypt. For direct enlargement of objects a
stop of _f_/200 is excellent, and only needs 30 seconds exposure. If
a shutter is wanted a simple drop can easily be extemporised (Fig.
38) fitting on to the front of the lens, and such will give fine
results. A diagonal mirror front can be made out of any decent scrap of
looking-glass, without showing any double image (Fig. 39).
Rapid films are another fashion better avoided, as for fixed objects
there is no great hurry. The slowest films made have never caused any
practical inconvenience in my work, and they are far safer to keep and
to develop. The skew-back is never needed except for architecture; and
in the few cases where it is necessary, the effect can always be as
well obtained by taking the plate square, and then copying it skewed
in a skew-back camera. The sliding and rising front is about the only
complication that is useful in serious work; and if a long focus lens
is used a large amount of slide can be obtained; but a camera with a
free-swinging lens turning to any angle would be the best form.
[Illustration: Fig. 40. Ivory tablet of Zer; light half with black,
dark half with white.]
[Illustration: Fig. 41. Bronze hypocephalus, XXX Dyn.; filled in with
white.]
[Illustration: DRESSING TOMBS FOR PHOTOGRAPHING.
Fig. 42. Wooden floor of Azab.]
[Illustration: DRESSING TOMBS FOR PHOTOGRAPHING.
Fig. 43. Naqada, prehistoric.]
[Sidenote: Preparing objects.]
The preparation of the object is a very important point. Any sunk
carving or inscription of small size should generally be filled in
with whiting (Fig. 41) or charcoal dust, according as the material
is dark or light, so as to give a strong contrast (Fig. 40). In case
of worn inscriptions on impervious stone, such as rock crystal, the
lines may be marked with China ink, dried on, and then gently wiped
with damp fingers until only the faint hollows retain the ink. What is
hardly visible to the eye can thus be brought up clearly. If hollows
are slight and smooth, so that they will not hold a powder, brush over
with stiff paste, wipe the face clean on a damp handkerchief, and
then press in the powder. Only rather coarse powders should be used,
in order to avoid staining the object. In field-work objects should
also be carefully dressed. Reliefs upon weathered stones (Fig. 37)
should be dusted over with sand, and then lightly wiped until just
the wrought relief is cleared, and the ground is left smoothed with
sand. Stones in building should be brushed or scraped clean, so as
to contrast with the earth. Joints in walls should be picked out or
brushed so as to show clearly. Sometimes, as in a flooring of wood
(Fig. 42), the whole should be entirely brushed clean, and then the
joints packed with the lightest-coloured sand so as to contrast well. A
grave needs hand-picking, and then every bone brushing clean, and the
ground between packing with dark earth to give contrast. All pottery
and objects should be entirely cleaned around, and lifted slightly
so as to show a clear outline. The proper dressing of a grave (Fig.
43) will easily occupy two hours of work. Nothing which adds to the
contrast and clearness of an object should be neglected. Sometimes
for dark objects it is well to dust them with very fine white powder,
as with a puff-ball, so as to give some light on the darker sides.
And for objects of mottled colour, such as carved porphyry, a coat of
flake-white water-colour is best, so as to show the relief only and
not the colour. For coins and gems there is no method to compare with
photographing from plaster casts, which are always used in serious work.
[Sidenote: Lighting.]
The lighting is the most important element in photographing. No other
requirement is so essential, for with bad lighting nothing can be
done. The rule of the light coming from the top left hand should
always be followed where no special direction is needed. Generally a
diagonal light is best for inscriptions, as most lines are vertical
or horizontal. An object should first be held with a moderately
oblique light on the face of it, then quickly revolved in the plane
of its face, so as to see the changing effect of light from different
directions, observing what lines disappear in various positions, and
selecting the most effective direction. On setting it up, with the sun
(or other light) in the best direction, the obliquity of the light
should then be tried, tilting the object more or less, until the
details are sufficiently shown without too heavy shadows. In case of a
human face the light should be nearly vertical, and the obliquity of
it sufficient to bring out the cheek curves to the best. Of course,
the position of the object must be regulated entirely by the direction
of the light, and a figure may need to be tilted in any position. A
conical or cylindrical object must be placed with its axis pointing a
little behind or below the light, so as to lighten the whole side. For
fixed objects, such as buildings, a timetable of the best hours for
each part should be drawn up and followed.
Beside direct lighting, subsidiary lighting is very useful. Any dark
shadows should be lighted with reflectors of white paper or card, or
actual mirror. Or during an exposure of several seconds, or more, a
transient mirror reflection can be played about the shadow, so as not
to show an edge to the light. When looking at the image on the ground
glass each part should be searched to see if any detail is lost by
shadow, or if an outline is lost against an equally dark background;
if so, some difference of lighting must be made. Various slips of card
may be fixed around the object, so as to cast shadows which will make
some part of a brightness differing from its background, and other
slips to cast lights on any dead part. For photographing an ebony
statuette (Fig. 44) I searched in the camera for each dead uniform
surface, and then fixed a slip of card so as to break the deadness with
a reflection; half a dozen such slips, at a foot or two distance, left
the figure without a single curve not brought out and intelligible.
[Illustration: LIGHTING BY REFLECTION.
Fig. 44. Ebony negress. XVIII Dyn.]
[Illustration: LIGHTING BY REFLECTION.
Fig. 45. Tomb of Sem-nefer. Gizeh.]
Reflectors are also very useful for lighting dark subjects. Three or
four sheets of tin plate should have the edges turned up to stiffen
them, and be of slightly different sizes so as to nest together for
carrying. One planted in the sunshine outside a tomb will send a beam
in, which may be reflected again by another. With three successive
reflections, round two right angles, I have lighted an entirely dark
chamber (Fig. 45) enough to photograph with five minutes exposure and
full aperture. The successive reflections so neutralise each other’s
variations that a very uniform lighting results.
If a flat surface with different colour is the object, then a light
exactly from behind the camera is best, so as to avoid any shadows. A
faint ink-writing on rough pottery will appear with a back light when
it seems quite hopeless in a side light. For papyri two equal electric
arc lights are placed, one on each side of the camera, so that there
can be no shadows and no reflections.
[Sidenote: Arrangement of objects.]
Backgrounds should be considered. For most objects there is nothing so
good as black velvet, as a long exposure can be taken so as to bring
out the shadows on the object, without any glare from the background.
The ground should extend far beyond the object, as any bright surface
near the object may make internal reflections in the camera. In short,
no bright surface should be visible within 60° of the axis of the
lens. For dark objects of which the outline alone is important a light
ground might be used; though even here probably a black ground and long
exposure would be better. A glass background with light or dark surface
some distance behind it is used sometimes, so as to avoid all shadows
from objects. But in many cases a shadow is positively useful, and adds
to the intelligibility of the view.
The direction of the camera is too often horizontal. For portable
objects a vertical position is generally better, and for groups it is
essential (Fig. 46). The background on which the objects are laid can
be tilted so as to get oblique light from sun or window, and the camera
tilted equally from the vertical by shifting the legs. Scraps of wax
can be stuck on below objects, so as to keep them in any exact position
required for lighting or viewing, or scraps of charcoal used as wedges
which do not show on the black backing. There is no need to trouble
about depth of focus, as the insertion of a small stop, as _f_/100, is
enough to bring up every part sharp. I have taken a bracelet (Fig. 47)
with the sides at 7 and 9 inches from the lens both in perfectly sharp
focus. In fact, a subject may be contracted into the plate by putting
it out of focus, and then focussed by the stop. For all cases of
large-scale photographs or enlargements it is best to focus by shifting
the distance from object to lens, and not from lens to plate.
[Illustration:
Fig. 46. Foundation deposit, laid out horizontally.]
[Illustration:
Fig. 47. Bracelet of King Zer, 7 and 9 ins. from lens.]
In setting up the camera everything should be done as far as possible
before looking into it,--the distance measured for the scale required,
the camera set square with the plane of the object in both directions,
and set so as to have the object upright on the plate. All of this can
be far better dealt with from outside. The actual focussing and slight
adjustments can then be done when viewing the ground glass. For skew
positions it is best to hold the camera in the hand where it ought
to be, keeping the legs turned up from the ground; and then drop the
legs one after another, so as to touch the ground or some object;
thus the camera will be left standing in the required position. The
stand should not have the legs packed by folding sideways; but they
should be capable of being shortened to the single length while fixed
to the camera, as it is often needful to support it only a foot from
the ground. A stand should be so made as to give the greatest range
of height. A common fault of beginners is not covering the plate, but
letting the image be smaller than necessary. Unless working to some
uniform scale, an object should be shown as large as the plate allows;
always remembering that a lantern slide will seldom take more than 3
inches diameter, and hardly a full 3 inches square. It is convenient
to fill a ¼ plate with a group, of which the least important objects
are at the sides, and so can be omitted in a lantern-slide print. A
most troublesome matter is taking a series of wall scenes so that they
will fit exactly together at the edges. Probably it pays best to do
them approximately in the field, and then enlarge in a copying camera
on to a ruled ground, and so remove all irregularities of scale and
of skewness. For working to a uniform scale it is best to fix it by
keeping the focal length unchanged and measuring the distance of the
camera from the object, and not to refer to the size on the glass.
[Sidenote: Stereographs.]
Stereographic views are most useful for confused masses of objects,
such as a field of ruins. And if there are no moving parts there is
no need to take them simultaneously. By shifting the camera to one
side, and taking a second plate, a perfect stereograph is obtained;
and whereever the chance is not to be repeated, and two plates are
taken to ensure success, a shift should be made so that both may be
used together. The amount of shift varies with the distance; for near
objects the distance between the eyes, 2½ or 3 inches, may suffice; for
a general view a foot or 2 feet is better, so as to give more solidity
than is naturally seen. Small objects must not be shifted by rotating
the object if there are sharp shadows, as such are falsified by the
turning; otherwise a slight twist of the object does for the second
view.
[Sidenote: Developing.]
It is undesirable to leave developing till long afterwards. In general
all negatives should be developed the evening after they are exposed;
thus the future exposures can be regulated, any defective plates can
be repeated, and deterioration and risks due to keeping are avoided.
In the variety of developers the old pyrogallic acid remains still
one of the most reliable. The fanciful instructions about proportions
are exploded at once by a glance at the table compiled by Captain
Abney. By adopting the mean proportions of all the makers, which is 1
soda carbonate, 1 soda sulphite, and 20 water, as a stock solution,
and adding about 3 grains per ¼ plate of pyrogallic when using, very
uniformly good results are obtained with short exposures. Of course
long exposures require bromide; but that is very seldom needful. Extra
local developing by tilting the dish, or painting with a brush, is
useful in case of shadows. Tabloid developers are best avoided, as
they cause delay in dissolving; and made-up solutions are cumbrous
and expensive. The quantities needed can always be put out by guess,
taking ¼ of an 8-ounce bottle at a time of soda salts, and weighing
pyrogallic for once to know the look of it. For hyposulphite of soda
fill the bottle ⅓ full of crystals, and fill up with water. If a less
strong and more graded picture is needed then glycin seems preferable
to pyrogallic acid.
No dark room is needed; developing can always be done in the evening.
A red paper envelope split at the bottom and put round the chimney of
an ordinary lamp, will best screen the light. The diffused light of
a room will not hurt slow plates in developing, and a sheet of brown
paper over each tray makes all safe. A first soak in weak pyrogallic
solution, to flatten the films, is best before developing. For washing
where water may be scarce it suffices to have a row of six soup plates
of water, and to pass each film through each plate for five minutes,
so completing the washing of each in half an hour. A zinc box with 6
or 8 divisions, shifting the negatives forward through each division,
will also work well. For drying it is best to have a row of pins along
the edge of a shelf, and then to punch out a small hole in a corner
of the film and hang it up, with the gelatine face under the shelf to
keep dust from it. A dusty evening in Egypt will leave each film like
a piece of sandpaper; and in case of this the films can be afterwards
rapidly washed under a stream of water, wiping with a lump of
cotton-wool. This will be enough without resoaking the film. Owing to
the dryness of the air in Egypt films generally curl up in drying, and
if forcibly flattened they are liable to strip. They are best packed
in lots of about 50, coiled up together as a cylinder, and wrapped in
a turn of paper. When in England they can be flattened out by being
left near an open window in damp weather, or dipped in water and left
to dry. For quick drying, films may with care be stood inside a fender
before a fire, and finished over a lamp chimney. I have thus dried them
in about twenty minutes.
CHAPTER VIII
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS
The preservation of the objects that are found is a necessary duty
of the finder. To disclose things only to destroy them, when a more
skilful or patient worker might have added them to the world’s
treasures, is a hideous fault. And the excavator must be ready for all
emergencies, for all classes of objects in all stages of decay, and
deal with each without delays, and often with scanty and unsuitable
means at hand for their treatment. Some familiarity with chemistry and
physics and properties of materials, is one of the first requisites for
an excavator. All this applies in a lesser degree to the difficulties
of transport, which is also part of the preservation of the antiquities.
As conditions so infinitely vary it is useless to lay down any fixed
rules for treatment. Such rules would hinder the use of common sense,
which is essential to success. But examples of how different materials
are affected, and how difficulties have been met, will lead to the
excavator thinking out a fit treatment for each case as it arises. In
all this we are stating field practice only, and not dealing with
museum methods, which differ by having far more command of resources,
and by not having to deal with any of the troublesome cases which do
not survive to reach a museum.
[Sidenote: Stone.]
The great enemy of stonework is salt. In Egypt this permeates the
soil so that nothing is free from it; and any object near the surface
has much salt accumulated in it by evaporation. The effect of salt is
to disintegrate the stone, and make it flake or fall away in powder.
If there is the faintest taste of salt on a stone slab it should be
laid to dry, face down, on the ground; for I have seen a fine block
of sculpture entirely destroyed by being left for a single day face
upward. When the stone is once dry it is safe in Egypt, but in a
damp country it may begin a course of slow destruction by continual
recrystallization of salt. Sculptures have been entirely wrecked by
being cemented into the wall of a museum; the wet of the cement brought
all the salt to the face and ruined it. The only treatment for salt in
stone or any other material is long soaking in water. If a canal is at
hand, stones may be sunk in it for some weeks, face down. Or barrels
or zinc trays may be used, and the water changed every two or three
days, for five or six times. After such soaking the stone must be left
to dry face down, so that all the remaining salt will come out on the
back. Where there is not much salt it would be best to lay the stone
back upwards to dry, brush off any salt which comes out, and then wet
the ground below, so that more water may be drawn up to evaporate on
the back. If this was continued until no salt appeared the stone would
be cleaned, and the face could not be injured. Sometimes a face is
already flaking, and then the stone must be kept quite flat in soaking
and drying, so that each flake will be left in place, and can be stuck
down afterwards. Granite is often entirely disintegrated into separate
crystals, if it has lain near the surface. It is then even impossible
to turn the block over to copy it, as there is no cohesion left in the
mass. The only salvation possible for such a block would be to make a
thick plaster or cement coat to the exposed parts, under cut, and turn
the whole over with a board beneath it, and then saturate it hot with
paraffin wax.
The face of limestone is often in tender condition, and will not bear
wet brushing to clean it. Dry picking and brushing is then the only
resource. If long exposed to damp, limestone dissolves throughout
the body of it, so that it becomes spongy, and like putty with the
contained water. A large sarcophagus lid in this state at Denderah was
brought up to the house, then covered with 3 or 4 inches of sand, and
left to dry slowly for some weeks; otherwise it would have cracked to
chips by contraction on the face. When quite dry it was very porous,
but in safe state for copying and transport. I have seen a slab of
limestone in perfect condition, reduced to a shapeless paste by a few
minutes of sharp rain.
The original stucco facing often remains on limestone, and also the
colour. If the carving has been fine it is best to remove the stucco,
which is generally much less detailed. But if the stucco is an
improvement on the carving, and especially if there is colour, it must
be preserved. This is best done by fixing it with thin tapioca water,
just so thick that it will soak into the stone without leaving any
glair when dry. This treatment also does for limestone with a rotten
face.
The same tapioca water may be used for fixing colours on stucco, as I
did on the Tell el Amarna pavement (Fig. 48); and the thickness must be
graduated to the porosity, so that it will just soak entirely into the
material. Any film left on the face will peel away.
[Illustration: FRESCOES, TELL EL AMARNA.
Fig. 48. Plants and animals.]
[Illustration: FRESCOES, TELL EL AMARNA.
Fig. 49. The two princesses.]
[Sidenote: Pottery.]
Pottery has not much to fear except salt, and that should be soaked
out as from stone. Glazed pottery with salt in it is more difficult
to clear, as it takes so long to get any change in and out of it. But
a persistent soaking will clear it in the course of some weeks; and,
if necessary, partly drying it in intervals, will bring the salt out
of the cracks, whence it can be dusted off. The commonest failing of
glazes is decomposition. The green turn brown, by the decomposition
of the iron from green silicate to brown oxide; and this may take
place from the porous interior without breaking the external face. The
blue glazes go white; and this can be partly remedied by warming and
soaking with paraffin wax, which fills the fine cracks and displays the
remaining colour again. Sometimes the outer coat of clear glaze over
faience inlay is decomposed, without spoiling the faience below. In
this case it is like a picture of which the varnish is gone brown,--it
only needs cleaning. The decomposed glaze can be scraped off, or rubbed
with fine emery paper, until the faience is clean, and then a coat
of paraffin wax clears the colour and preserves it from decomposition.
When glazed ware, especially of the earliest times, is first found, it
is very tender and soft. It then needs the most careful handling, and
must not be brushed or cleaned until it is quite dry and hardened.
[Sidenote: Textiles.]
Textiles are also often saturated with salt, especially the Coptic
garments which are in graves near the surface. They may be safely
soaked to remove the salt and the organic matter, and then dried by
pressing in a towel and laying between sheets of paper. The most tender
examples might perhaps be best treated by placing with half a dozen
sheets of blotting-paper over and under, and keeping wet below while
evaporating on the top; this would carry the salt out to the top of the
blotting paper. In any long soaking of organic stuffs a little carbolic
acid is desirable, to prevent souring and putrefaction of the material.
In every case the threads of textiles are liable to crumble, and any
great amount of washing will tend to reduce a good deal to powder.
Ironing is always desirable to consolidate the stuff.
[Sidenote: Wood.]
Wood does not suffer so much from salt as from rot and white ants. Any
salt may be soaked out; or, if the wood is tender and will not bear
that, a very stiff jelly should be made, so that it will just melt at
boiling: the wood dropped in when the jelly liquefies, and left in the
jelly cold for a week or two. Then the salt will dialyse out into the
jelly, without any free water softening the wood. On remelting the
jelly the wood can be removed, and the salt will be left in the jelly.
The gelatine will strengthen and improve the wood. This process can be
used excellently for ivories or bones, which would be ruined by soaking
in water. Whole skeletons can be set in stiff size, and taken out weeks
after, freed from salt, as was done to those from Medum, now in the
College of Surgeons.
Rotted wood is very tender to handle; and from its continued
contraction when exposed to the air it will fall to pieces. If nearly
dry, but rotted, the best safeguard is to coat it with beeswax or
paraffin wax; if it can be lifted threads can be slipped round it,
and the whole dipped in hot wax until soaked. Or it may have a rapid
coat of wax chilled upon it, which protects it and binds it together
for travelling, and which can be soaked into it by piecemeal heating
afterwards. If the wood will not bear lifting, it may be coated by
dashing on superheated paraffin wax almost at boiling-point. This
will soak deep into the wood like hot water, and consolidate it so
that it can be moved quite safely. The same processes apply also to
stuccoed wood, which needs such safeguards, as otherwise the stucco all
falls off by the continued shrinkage of the wood. The great stuccoed
sarcophagus at Hawara was preserved by heating the surface with a wire
dish of charcoal burning about six inches above it, and flooding the
surface with melted wax so soon as it was enough heated to absorb it.
Perhaps superheated paraffin wax would have carried enough heat with it
to soak in without the charcoal fire. For all heating of wax it is best
to use a cast-iron saucepan, as soldered tins may give way before the
wax boils. Another treatment, especially suited for large objects, is
painting with several coats of wax dissolved in benzol.
Wood which is very wet is more difficult to manage. It may be kept for
long under water, like the wood from the Glastonbury lake village. And
it may be consolidated with silicate solution, as has been well done
in examples from Silchester. Or it may be removed from water and laid
in glycerine with the top exposed; thus the water will evaporate and
diffuse, and glycerine take its place.
[Sidenote: Ivory.]
Ivory is mainly liable to flaking, especially if in wet soil. When any
ivory is seen not in a firm condition, the earth should be carefully
worked round so as to find the limits of the ivory, be it a single
piece or a collection together. Then the mass should be under-cut down
to a firm stratum, and lifted out in a whole block of earth. This
should be left to dry slowly; and after a week or two the earth should
be gently brushed away with a camel-hair brush, aided by picking with
a stout pin. As each piece of ivory is seen it should be carefully
followed, and if quite dry it may probably be removed entire. If still
liable to flake, it can then be soaked in melted paraffin wax. If the
ivory is too rotted to be detached from the earth, then the whole
mass would have to be baked to rather over blood heat, and saturated
with paraffin wax. After that it could be safely dissected by careful
picking. In case of finding large groups of ivories in the ground,
too extensive to take out in a block to dry, probably it would do to
isolate them, then lay a few inches of sand on the top, and light a
fire over them: after slow burning for a few days the ground would be
baked dry below, and could be saturated with wax before lifting the
mass.
It sometimes happens that ivories in wet soil get concreted crystalline
carbonate of lime upon them, which is much harder than the ivory.
This being crystalline is not saturated with wax when the ivory is so
treated. Hence after waxing the ivory the surface should be cleaned
with benzol or ether on cotton-wool, and then painted with nitric acid
to dissolve the crystalline lime. Even strong nitric acid will only
dull the surface of waxed ivory, and not remove any perceptible amount,
while it dissolves the concretion rapidly. Probably the darkening of
the ivory caused by soaking in wax can be mainly removed by heating
fuller’s earth to over boiling-point, and then rapidly packing the
ivory in the earth and pressing it: the heat would melt the wax on the
surface, it will be absorbed by the earth, and the face of the ivory
will be left dry of wax. The ivories from Nineveh were solidified with
gelatine; but that would probably break up very tender ivories by the
amount of water. In case however of much salt in ivory the best way to
treat it is to drop it in stiff hot gelatine, cool it, and let it lie
in the consolidated mass for a week or two, for the salt to dialyse
out. Another way, if the mass is not much cut into hollows, is to lash
the ivory closely with thread or fine twine, and then soak it in water
to remove the salt; the twine prevents it falling to pieces, and it can
be dipped in wax when dry, and the twine removed.
[Sidenote: Papyri.]
Papyri require most careful treatment at every stage. They are often
found in a very fragile state, and if the roll has to be carried
without special packing in wool it is best to wrap it in a damp
handkerchief at once. For unrolling rolls, or flattening out crushed
papyri, damping is needful. There is no need to steam them, as has
been done in museums. By dipping a towel or handkerchief in water, and
wringing it as dry as possible, there is enough moisture to penetrate
to a papyrus closely wrapped in it. If there were many turns then
carbolised water would be best, so as to avoid any decomposing during
a long penetration of the damp. Usually a single night is enough for
damping through half a dozen folds or turns, enough to render the
papyrus quite pliable. It can then be unrolled, or uncreased with the
fingers; and as each inch of it is laid flat it should be secured by
turning down newspaper or blotting-paper over it and sliding a board or
book over the flattened part. After leaving it between a dozen leaves
of paper to absorb the moisture for some days under pressure it is dry
and firm. Small pieces can well be carried in books, and larger sheets
in piles of paper between boards. When the papyrus is too rotted to be
damped, as the crossed layers of it would part, then it can only be cut
to pieces with a sharp penknife at every fold and turn; and each piece
fastened down on a sheet at once in place. This was the only possible
way to open the great Ptolemaic revenue papyrus over 40 feet long; even
a single turn of the roll needed to be cut into dozens of pieces.
For fastening down papyrus it is fatal to gum or paste it on to a sheet
of card, as the gradual contraction of the gum will break up the layers
of the papyrus. The safest way of all for very rotted papyri is to rub
a sheet of glass with beeswax, lay the papyrus on it, and press with
a warm hand until it sticks to the wax; then cover with another sheet
of glass. For ordinary firm papyri minute spots of paste, as small
as possible, should be put at every inch or two round the edges, and
farther apart in the middle; then a sheet of thin soft paper should
be pressed on it, to serve as a backing. Thus there is no wide space
pasted which can contract in future; and even if the papyrus has to
be remounted the paper can be torn to pieces behind it. The sheet of
mounting paper should be fixed under glass. But it is a mistake to
attach card to glass round the edges, as it bags away by damp and
warping, and leaves a large air space, which is very detrimental.
It is best to place the mounting paper between two sheets of glass;
or, for the sake of lightness and safety, the back may be of thin
picture-back-board, well baked dry, and free from cracks and knots. For
fastening the edges thin leather or linen may be glued around.
Dealing with carbonised papyri is an art in itself. So far as field
work goes the main work is to remove the earth entirely from the top
of the papyrus, so as to leave no weight upon it: then under-cut, and
take out the whole lump, with a block of earth under it. The papyri
must then, in the house, be carefully separated, one document from
another, by splitting apart and lifting with an ivory paper knife or
blunt table knife, the lighter the better, so as to feel the way with
it. Each separate roll should then be wrapped in soft paper (never
cotton-wool) and packed a few together, in small tin boxes. Thus they
will travel safely and without loss. The museum work is outside of our
scope; but broadly the Neapolitan plan of holding the pieces in place
with adhesive paper on the back is not so good as separate treatment of
each piece, laying it down in position on a sheet of glass with small
touches of paste, or perhaps pressing it on to waxed glass like the
rotted papyri. Burnt papyri are read by the difference of reflection of
the surface, and hence must be viewed with light from behind the eye,
or light reflected by a mirror placed almost between the eye and the
papyrus.
[Sidenote: Bead-work.]
Bead-work is often found in a state in which it cannot be moved owing
to rotting of the threads. Elaborate decoration with the winged scarab,
four genii, inscriptions, etc., is found on mummies of about the XXVth
Dynasty. But, if the threads are decayed, the beads are merely lying in
position, and will fall away if the mummy be tilted or shaken. In such
a case I have opened the wooden coffin very gently, cutting out the
pegs by which it was fastened. Having melted a pot of wax on a stove in
the tomb, I then dashed spoonfuls of it over the beads; it needs to be
thrown sharply, so as to splash out, or it runs off all in one line.
The wax must be only just barely liquid, or it will penetrate to below
the beads. When a sheet of wax is thus put over all the beads, the
sheet may be lifted up, and the pattern is seen in a clean condition,
reversed on the under side. The sheet can then be fixed with more wax
into a tray of wood, so as to keep it safely. If any of the beads are
not firm they can be heated and pressed farther into the wax. Strings
of beads are seldom found with the thread strong enough to hold
together. The earth should be loosened with a penknife, and blown away,
so as to disclose as long a line as possible, then the order of the
beads should be noted for restringing them, in the original pattern.
The tracing out and noting of a string of beads in a grave may often
occupy an hour or two hours, keeping the face close to the ground so as
to blew the dust away exactly, without disturbing the beads.
[Sidenote: Stucco.]
Stucco on wood we have already noticed, under the preservation of wood.
However firm the stucco may seem at first, the gradual contraction of
the wood will make it fall away; but when once saturated with paraffin
wax, this movement is stopped, and the stucco is held on to the basis.
Stucco on mud bricks is a difficult material to preserve. Three
instances may be given of dealing with it. Where the coat was a mere
whitewash on mud plastering, as at Tell el Amarna (Fig. 49), I removed
the bricks behind it by cutting them gently to pieces with a chisel;
thus the coat of mud plaster was left standing up a foot or more in
air, although it was entirely friable owing to white ants having eaten
out the straw from it. Then placing a box lid covered with sheets of
paper against the face, it was firmly grasped behind, and turned over
with the lid to support it, face down. Lying on the box lid it was
taken to the house; a frame of parallel bars of wood was made, each
an inch wide and an inch apart; each bar was coated with mud-and-sand
mortar, and then the frame was pressed gently on the back of the
fresco, and puddled in with mortar between the bars. On then reversing
the frame and box lid, the fresco was left resting on the frame,
with a bedding which was perfectly true, and incapable of warping or
contraction. To pack this a sheet of cotton wool was placed on the
face, a thin board cut to size placed over this, and string lashed
tightly round the face board and notches in the ends of the frame
bars. In this state it travelled quite safely, although the material
was so tender that a finger would push through it anywhere; this was
illustrated by a museum attendant at Cairo, when ordered to carry one
of the frames of fresco.
Where the stucco is thicker, about 1/16 inch, but wholly shattered
into minute chips, none over ¼ inch across, a different treatment was
necessary, as at Medum. The mass of plaster and stucco was laid face
down, the mud cut away behind it till about a square inch of shattered
plaster was bared at the back; this was covered with a thin coat of
fresh plaster (mixed in the palm of the hand); then another square
inch was bared and coated, and so on, until the whole of the mud was
removed and the old stucco all lay smeared with a thin coat of fresh
plaster on the back. A large slate was then cut to size; a pudding of
liquid plaster was poured on to the stucco and pressed out as thin as
could be with the slate. When it was set, the old painted stucco was
thus securely cemented on to the slate; light, tough, and portable, it
travelled to America in perfect state.
The third method is where the surfaces are curved. By cutting away the
back as thin as is safe, and setting in a firm backing of cement, even
this difficult subject may be dealt with, and removed safely.
[Sidenote: Gold.]
_Metals_ do not require much treatment in the field; but it is needful
to understand the condition of them in order to know how they can
be safely treated. Gold should be cleaned as little as possible, as
the old red surface is the best appearance of it; a little brushing
with camel-hair brush and plain water to remove the dust is generally
enough. Where there is much silver in it, as in electrum, the surface
is dark with chloride of silver; this may be removed with strong
ammonia or cyanide of potassium. Gold-foil often requires straightening
out into its former shape, but it must not be burnished in so doing, as
that expands the form.
[Sidenote: Silver.]
Silver is one of the most troublesome metals, as it is so very readily
attacked by chlorine and sulphur; and, moreover, it undergoes a
colloidal rearrangement by which it breaks readily into irregular
curved grains, and it is in this state as rotten as rotten brass. If
deeply corroded nothing can well be done to it; the lumpy crust shows
more of the original form than the metal would show if bared. When the
corrosion is but slight it may be removed, either by solution in strong
ammonia or cyanide of potassium, or by reduction. To bring the chloride
into the state of porous metal, it is only needful to place it with
zinc or iron in a solution of salt or weak vinegar or lemon juice, and
in a few hours the whole of the chlorine has gone over to the fresh
metal. The powdery silver left can be mainly brushed away in water, and
a little picking with a bone point will loosen it entirely. Of course,
the whole of the silver removed has come out of the body of the metal,
which is left porous and tender, although the face may be unbroken. It
will not bear, therefore, the same cleaning as new and strong metal. In
the case of silver coins in fine condition, each coin should be reduced
separately, and the whole of the old silver weighed with it before
cleaning it away, so as to recover the original weight. Silver must
never be put bare in a tin box, as the chlorine forms chloride of tin,
which deliquesces, and then attacks the iron and stains the silver with
brown rust. Often there is both chloride and lime on the surface, and
alternations of ammonia and weak acid are required for cleaning.
[Sidenote: Copper.]
Copper objects are distinguished from bronze by retaining usually their
pliability. This renders them much easier to clean, as they are seldom
deeply corroded, and the red oxide upon them will generally flake off
clean by blows, and leave the original face in perfect condition. A
very light hammer should be used, and sharp scaling blows be given, so
as to flake off even half-an-inch breadth of scale at once, without
ever touching the old face. In hollows which cannot so easily be
struck, an iron nail may be used as a punch, and struck so as to crush
the red oxide little by little. A copper object which scales freely is
a treat to clean, as the old face can be entirely bared, and appears of
a beautiful red-brown colour with all the detail quite perfect. Very
thin copper may, however, have entirely passed into green carbonate,
if buried in a damp soil; and in this case nothing can be done except
washing off the earth and dirt.
[Sidenote: Bronze.]
Bronze and brass need much more care than copper, as they contain a
mixture of alloys of very different oxidability; hence much of the
material all through the mass will have moved up to the surface and
been corroded there, while the form and size of the original may at
present contain only half the metal in a very porous and brittle
condition. In some cases bronzes may be scaled by blows like copper,
and they then appear in their best condition. But more often they are
too brittle, or the corrosion adheres too tightly, for it to be thus
removed. For cleaning off small quantities of green carbonate, vinegar
left to stand for some days does well. But the proper solvent of both
carbonate and oxide is dilute hydrochloric acid, about 1 to 10 or 20
of water, as this will not attack the metal, but only the corroded
parts. The objection to this solvent is that it leaves a thick mud of
white oxy-chloride of copper, which is difficult to brush off, and
which stains the skin green in handling. The treatment is to brush
off as much as can be easily removed, and then pickle in hyposulphite
of soda, which dissolves the white coat; if used hot and strong this
will clean the metal to a bright metallic condition. After all these
solutions, a long washing in many waters for two or three days is
needed to remove all trace of salts which might afterwards make further
corrosion. Minute traces of chlorides are specially dangerous, as
they decompose with carbonic acid in the air, forming carbonate, and
liberating the chlorine to attack more metal; thus a trace of chloride
will eat through any amount of copper. The extent to which bronzes
should be cleaned, should be ruled by the fullest display of original
workmanship: so long as more detail can be shown more crust should be
removed. But, if possible, some of the coat of red oxide should be left
on plain parts as a guarantee of the age of the work. To bare bronzes
entirely, and then oil and smoke them, is barbarous treatment, to be
seen in some museums. If something is desired over the bare metal, the
bronze may be left in a shallow pan of water, soaking for some weeks,
by which it will gain a tinge of red oxide over it which is suitable
and pleasing. Another mode of scaling is to heat the bronze over a fire
or in melted lead, and then plunge in cold water, which loosens the
scale from it. It often happens that a bronze has the original face
broken up by corrosion, and then no cleaning is of any use, the mass
of green carbonate shows more than any other surface would do. This
last and worst state is indicated by cracks in the outer coat, due to
further expansion of the inner body. A cracked bronze is best left
alone.
A frequent disease of bronzes is the formation of small granules of
translucent bright green rust. This is attributed to an organic growth,
which is infectious, and may spread through a collection. One of the
worst instances I dipped in carbolic acid, and this absolutely stopped
the attack, proving that it is not due to action of chlorine. But we
must not take this as a certain proof of the organic nature of the
mischief, in view of the inhibitory effect of anæsthetics, etc., in
stopping electric and chemical action.
[Sidenote: Lead.]
Lead is usually coated with white carbonate, the outer face of which
shows more than the metallic surface beneath. It should therefore be
let alone; but if it shows signs of further changes, due to salts in it
acting with damp, then soaking in several waters will probably make it
safe. If carbonate continued to be formed, I should try saturating with
paraffin wax.
[Sidenote: Iron.]
Iron can seldom be cleaned; but if it has only a little superficial
rust, this may be removed by placing it in the strongest nitric acid,
which dissolves the oxide but renders the iron passive. For ordinarily
rusted iron all that can be done is to arrest further changes. A
long soaking in water to remove all salts, and then baking dry and
saturating with wax, is a safe treatment and always available.
[Sidenote: Sorting.]
Sorting and joining fragments is sometimes very essential. In the
royal tombs of the Ist Dynasty we collected thousands of pieces of
stone bowls and vases. Only a very small number out of such cartloads
of fragments were of value as they lay; but so far as they could be
reconstructed they gave an important series of forms. To extract any
result it was needful to place together all the pieces that belonged to
each separate vase; and the same work frequently had to be done on a
lesser scale in dealing with groups of broken stone and pottery. Taking
the whole of the fragments which can be supposed by their position to
belong together, they are first sorted over for quality, making as many
divisions as are quite safe to be distinguished one from the other, so
that there shall be no chance of parts of one bowl being classed in
two different divisions. All the pieces of one division, sometimes as
many as 500 of one quality, are then to be laid out on tables,--the
pieces of brim placed at the top of the tables, and classed according
to form and curvature; the pieces of middle of the vase along the
middle of the table, all carefully laid with the axis vertical; the
pieces of base at the nearer edge of the table, classed according to
diameter. Taking then the first piece of brim, it is held at each end
of each other piece to which it can possibly belong; every possible
fit is thus found. Each piece of brim is to be thus tried with all
that follow it, those before it having been already tried with it.
When all the possible junctions of brim have been made, then a row
of joined brim pieces are to be laid on a board, and the angle which
each broken edge makes with the vertical is to be looked for among all
the broken sides of the middle pieces, looking for such slope at both
upper and lower sides if the tops are not distinguishable from the
bottoms of the pieces. Thus, say the first broken edge of brim slopes
at [Illustration] 20°, every piece broken at 20° [Illustration] or
[Illustration] must be compared to see if it will fit. At least twenty
different directions of fracture can be mentally distinguished, and
the slight curve and irregularities increase this to at least fifty
varieties, so that each piece of brim only needs actual touching with
about 2 per cent of the pieces of middle. When every possible fit
of brim to middle pieces is made, then the bases can be similarly
compared, having first fitted them by sorting the curvatures. A
load of 500 pieces will take several hours of this sorting, at the
end of which every possible fit will have been made. Not more than
half-an-hour or one hour at a time can be usefully given to such
sorting, as the eye and attention become too much fatigued to observe
the fits. When finished, all the fragments belonging to one bowl are
to be wrapped together, and a number given to the parcel; and the
odd pieces can be thrown away unless worth having singly. The method
for drawing the completed forms has been described in the chapter on
drawing.
CHAPTER IX
PACKING
[Sidenote: Blocks.]
Before packing carved blocks it is generally best to saw off the backs,
so as to lighten the quantity. A face should always be sawn from each
end up to the middle, leaving it about twice as thick in the middle
as at the ends, so as to bear the strain of travelling. If a block is
so wide on the face that it is liable to be broken in transit, the
best course is to saw it in pieces, cutting from the back through to
½ or 1 inch from the face, and then snapping it, so that the face
can be rejoined perfectly. Limestone is sawn with a large rip saw or
stonemason’s saw, using a hammer and chisel if any flinty portions are
met with, and also using some hammer dressing. Soft Silsileh sandstone
may be cut with pieces of tin plate, such as petroleum tins or biscuit
tins; or else with a thin strip of wood set with wire nails to serve as
teeth of a saw. The harder stones must be moved as found, for the cost
of reducing the weight would be more than that of carrying it.
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--Box for flat slab of stone, lid of diagonal
bars.]
[Sidenote: Long objects.]
In all questions of packing long objects, it must be remembered that
the best points of support for equality of strains are at 21 per
cent (say ⅕) from each end. Any long stone must therefore be held in
its case by cross bars or thicker pads or hay at ⅕ from each end. It
is impossible to reckon on a case being so rigid, and so perfectly
fitting, that it will give uniform support all along, with a much
smaller elasticity than that of the stone. The utmost any case can
do for stone is to deaden blows and shocks, and to hold the stone so
that it is equally likely to break in the middle or at the supports;
and this is gained by the grip at ⅕ from each end. A good packing for
small slabs that are not liable to break, is a shallow box (Fig. 50),
with the stone face down on dried fodder or straw, and two cross bars
parallel and diagonal on the top, to hold the stone in. Such a box is
easily lifted by the bars, saves all Customs examination, and will not
tempt thieves. In all instances remember that it is useless to put
general softening round stones in a box. The best points to take the
pressure should be considered, and then thick pads nailed on the box
to catch those best points of contact.
[Illustration: FIG. 51.--Tray for carrying heavy blocks of stone,
lashed on by ropes through the holes.]
[Sidenote: Heavy stones.]
The largest stones cannot usefully have any case; as a case which would
not be cracked up by the weight in moving, would be so thick and heavy
that it would make the stone far less moveable. If the stone is strong
it only needs three or four thicknesses of old clothes and sacking
tightly roped on, in order to travel safely. If it has a tender face,
a skin of board may be put over that with some cotton-wool padding
under the sacking cover. It is best for blocks of 1 to 4 cwt. to make
a tray (Fig. 51) with poles projecting a foot at each corner to serve
as handles, and then lash the block firmly on the tray. This encourages
porters to lift it rather than throw it over. Such things as granite
columns or colossi need no cover, but only softening of wood or pads,
put under bearing points during moving. On shipboard they travel best
laid at the bottom of a cargo of beans in bulk or bales of cotton,
which wedge them tight.
[Sidenote: Pottery.]
Pottery is the most troublesome stuff to pack. The difficulty lies
in keeping the packing material at the right places, and preventing
it lumping together and so letting the contacts become bare. All
the larger hollows must be filled with small pottery, or very light
boxes, or empty tins, so that the packing cannot shift together. For
large jars it is best to roll up straw in cloth to form cushions 1 to
2 inches thick, and nail these on the box at the points of contact;
always observing if the jar can get loose by skewing into the diagonal.
It is often needful to tie cotton stuff over the mouths of jars to
prevent the packing working loose into the jar. For flat open forms,
such as dishes and wide bowls, a stack should be made with the flattest
below, so that each dish rests solely on its centre, and all the edges
are free. A very little softening between them, and a firm block (such
as a round tin pot) in the top one to take the pressure, will make them
all travel with a solid contact right through the centres, so that each
brim only carries its own weight. Even thin glass dishes can be packed
safely in stacks in this way.
Glazed pottery is sometimes very fragile and full of cracks. To save it
from falling apart it should be wound with string crossing diagonally
in every direction, as tightly as it can be pulled. This firmly binds
the jar so that it cannot fall apart. A couple of inches of tightly
rammed softening all round it, will make it then travel quite safely.
[Sidenote: Softening.]
The material for packing, or _softening_, varies with the country and
the season. In England there is nothing so good as the fine shavings
known as “wood-wool.” In Egypt the best stuff is _helbeh_, a dried
green crop which is very clinging, and holds in any position in which
it is thrust. _Tibn_, or chopped straw, is also useful for ramming
tight in small spaces. Firm cushions on fixed bearing points are
made by rolling up straw in old cloth, and nailing the edges on the
box, so that the pressure can never reach the nails. Rough country
cotton can be had, but it is dear; and two or three pounds of prepared
cotton wool in sheets should be taken for packing delicate things.
Plenty of whitey-brown kitchen paper should be taken for wrapping;
and some cartridge paper or brown paper for parcels. Stocks of nested
parcel-post boxes are very useful; but sliding lids fall out loose by
contraction, and glued joints crack to pieces. The domestic stock of
biscuit boxes and food tins of course all come in for varied use.
[Sidenote: Cases.]
The making of cases is little understood, and least by professional
case-makers. Cases are often supplied in London with the grain entirely
running round them, and nothing to prevent their splitting around and
dropping in two parts. The most perfect construction is that with the
grain running in all three directions (Fig. 52), but such boxes have
the disadvantage that the lid cannot be entirely removed. The most
practical form is with internal corner-posts, and the sides nailed
to these with all the grain running around. First the end boards are
nailed on to the corner strips, and then the side boards nailed on. All
the nails should be driven diagonally (Fig. 53), alternately one way
and the other, so that no board can be drawn off without splitting the
wood. And the end nails should always be close to the edge, and rake
deep down into the comer strip, to avoid splitting the end; thus the
edge of the board cannot part off with all the lid or bottom nailed to
it. For as the whole weight comes on the last inch of the sides on to
which the bottom is nailed, unless that is well held on it often parts
from the rest of the side. The lid is of course nailed on with upright
nails so as to draw off; and a large number of short nails, projecting
only ¾ inch, is the best for this, as if large nails are used the lid
splits during opening and leaves the nail in the side.
[Illustration: FIG. 52.--Box without cross bars, the grain running in
all three dimensions.]
If a case is long, it is best to have some other upright strips down
the sides. Partitions bearing against these strips are good to keep
weight from riding down when the box is dropped on one end. If objects
vary much in density it is convenient to pack a heavy compartment in
the middle and a light one at each end of a case. Any bars or boards
used to hold down heavy pieces from shifting should not be nailed
through the sides, as damage is often done by the violence needed to
loosen them in unpacking. Such bars should be held in place by side
strips, or other solid articles in the packing. Tin pots are very
convenient to protect small and delicate things, and to hold heavy
objects from shifting about.
[Illustration: FIG. 53.--End of a box in course of making, to show the
diagonal driving of the nails.]
[Sidenote: Unpacking.]
The packer must always remember that the unpacker will not know the
contents of a case, nor any precautions that are needful. The best
arrangements, which may seem infallible, may be entirely upset by the
unpacker opening the case at the bottom; hence no papers of directions
in a case should be relied upon. Also the unpacking is generally left
in museums to be done by rough labourers, who may entirely overlook
needful precautions or even throw away most valuable things in the
boxes. It is dangerous, therefore, to pack small objects in straw;
nothing under 100 cubic inches should be put separately in the packing,
anything less being put together in paper parcels. It must always be
remembered that a careless unpacker may unwrap everything, and throw
away the papers; hence no labelling or directions should be solely put
on the wrappers. Even labels with objects are not safe; as in several
museums the labels have been thrown away, or else stacked in a pile
together. Labels should have printed on the back in big red letters,
“To be kept with the object.” Marking upon each object is necessary,
whenever possible. The best way to learn the difficulties and fallacies
of packing is to carefully study the causes of any disasters found in
the unpacking.
[Illustration: TRANSPORT IN EGYPT.
Fig. 54. Two Nile boats; laden with straw.]
[Illustration: TRANSPORT IN EGYPT.
Fig. 55. Camels starting at dawn. The return at noonday.]
APPENDIX
LIST OF TOOLS, ETC., TO BE PROVIDED FOR WORK
_For Excavating._--Crowbars, ropes,[2] large hammers, cold-chisels,
stone-saw, saw-files, sieves (fine wire), native sieves.[2]
_For Cleaning Objects, etc._--Dusting-brush, nail-brush, tooth-brushes,
paraffin wax.
_For Packing._--Paper bags, jewellers’ tag labels, reams of kitchen
paper, nests of boxes, brush to mark boxes, hammers, saws, chisels,
brace and bits, pincers, stout pliers, files, awls, spokeshave,
screw-drivers, screws, wire nails,[2] square, hone-stone.
_For House._--Locks, hinges, bell.
_For Copying and Planning._--Cartridge paper, thin journal paper,[2]
rag paper for squeezes, spoke brush, paint brushes for outlines,
colours for colour copying, drawing boards (several cheap ones, various
sizes), tapes, 2-metre rods for gauging work and planning, prismatic
compass, box sextant, vertical mirror level.
[2] These can be obtained in any Egyptian town.
CHAPTER X
PUBLICATION
[Sidenote: Arrangement.]
The final shape of the publication of the record has to be borne in
mind in all the progress of it. The arrangement of the plates must
precede the writing of the details of the work. In past generations the
ideal was to define in words the conclusions and speculations of an
author, and, where unavoidably necessary, to illustrate them by some
costly engravings. How inefficient such publication may be, is seen at
once in Greenwell’s _British Barrows_, a work full of important detail,
which has to be painfully understood from hundreds of pages of text,
where plans--and little else--are needed. Indeed the only means of
using the information is to reconstruct plans from the intricate text.
As form can now be almost as cheaply expressed as words, the ideal is
widely changed. The reader is to be put first of all in possession of
all the facts and materials, and the author’s conclusions are only a
co-ordination, presented to enable the reader to grasp the material,
and to feel clearly the effect of it on his sum of ideas, or organised
sense of the nature of things. Hence nowadays the main structure of a
book on any descriptive science is its plates, and the text is to show
the meaning and relation of the facts already expressed by form. The
plates, therefore, are the first thing to prepare; and when they are
complete it is time to put in words the conclusions which have been
reached.
[Sidenote: Plates.]
The orderly arrangement of the material in plates is the first duty.
The drawings are each to be made with the final scale in view, so that
the lines may be of proper thickness, neither faint nor coarse. The
material must be classified according to its nature,--views, plans,
inscriptions, sculpture, small objects, pottery, etc. In each class,
the historical order must be followed, objects that are to be compared
placed together, and the material arranged in an orderly shape, so
that it gives a clear impression, and can be easily found again from
memory. The details of the squareness and alignment of the various
drawings on a plate are much more serious than might be supposed;
needless irregularity confuses and disappoints the eye and starves
the memory, distinctly detracting from the use and value of the work.
Obviously every object on a plate must have a number for reference;
and in a long series it is best for the numbers to run through several
plates; so that “sealing 157” or “mark 642” is a complete reference
and definition. A uniform scale should be used throughout a plate, or
a series of the same class, and it should be stated in the heading of
the plate. Every plate should have stated in its heading the source,
nature, age, and scale of the objects; for these render reference far
easier, and also give a value to loose plates apart from the volume.
The use of double-page plates is often desirable, in order to show the
whole of a large class at one view; the only drawback to them is that
objects are more difficult to find in turning over the leaves. At every
point it must be remembered that nearly all foreign students, and most
English ones, will know the plates but not the text; that the plates
will be the material practically used for comparison, and building up
a view of the subject; and therefore that they should be as far as
possible self-contained and self-explanatory, with full lettering upon
them, and should comprise the main results of the work in diagram.
To help reference to the text, the list of plates should have the
page references to each plate stated, to show where it is described
and dealt with in the text. The facility of using, remembering, and
referring to the plates should be the first consideration. It is even
well to remember to make the right-hand edge, or outer edge, of each
plate the strongest part, with the most striking objects and best
arrangement, and let the other edge be a residual, as this ensures the
best eye-grasp in turning over the leaves.
The amount of plates must depend upon the subject; but it is none too
much if the area of plates is double that of the text, or twice as
many plates as there are pages. Folding-out plates should be avoided
where possible; a double page on a deep guard, so as to lie flat when
the book is opened, is the largest that should be ordinarily used. The
most absurdly inconvenient shape is to have wide margins to a plate,
and a fold at side and another at base, to make it fit the book. It
is best to remedy such folly by taking the plates out, cutting them
to book size if margins allow, and resetting without folds. The wild
freaks of recent books in Egyptology are incomprehensible. We see
some with plates which might be bound with text, yet printed with
gigantic margins and issued in an entirely different size, so that
they cannot be bound, or even stand on the same shelf with the text;
some plates put on guards of tissue paper, so that they tear out of
the book in turning over; one serial in parts with the plates starting
fresh numbers with every separate paper, thus one part has half a
dozen “Plate 1” in it, making printed references to the work quite
impossible; other publications with the plates all renumbered and
rearranged after printing, and double references throughout; others
with scattered numbers of the plates issued, and intermediate numbers
to appear later, after many years or never; some with plates without
any numbers to the objects, and stray references in the text showing
that they are usually counted by the author from the base upward, and
from right to left. Every absurdity which want of design, forethought,
and common sense could perpetrate, seems to be found in these
monumental works.
[Sidenote: Processes.]
The processes used for plates vary greatly in cost and quality. The
cheapest is photolithography from line drawings; but only black and
white can be given thus, without any half-tones, and the illustrations
must be all together on a plate, and cannot be placed in the text. Yet
as it can be done at less than 2d. a square inch for 250, or 6d. for
2000, it enables a much larger quantity of illustration to be given
than would be possible otherwise. Relief process from line drawings
costs 4d. a square inch for the blocks alone, without printing on
paper; but as it can be placed with the text and printed together, it
has a great advantage, especially for small subjects.
Collotype is next in cost, being 6d. a square inch for 250, or 2s. for
2000, but less than this cost in Germany. It has the same disadvantage
in being restricted to whole plates, and not mixable with text, but
it gives the half-tones well from photographs, and in fine examples
is almost as good as a silver print. The finest I have seen were from
Berlin. It is best to supply glass positives to the collotyper, and
leave him to make such negatives as may suit him. If negatives are sent
they are often destroyed. Net process gives half-tones, though with too
coarse a grain for very delicate details. The cost is about double that
of relief blocks, but as it reproduces photographs which can be mixed
with the text it has an enormous use now, from cheap newspapers up to
art publications. A disadvantage is that it requires a highly glazed
paper to print upon, such as is unpleasant to read, heavy to hold, and
liable to decay. Its duration therefore is distinctly ephemeral.
For special subjects the more costly processes are requisite.
Chromo-lithography may be expected to cost about half as much again
as photolithography for each colour used. As seldom less than four
colours are efficient it costs at least six times as much as the line
plates; thus the cheapest colour plate begins at the cost of the best
net process; and it may easily come to three or four times that
amount. But probably the three-colour photography will soon abolish
chromo-lithography, and work much cheaper, perhaps at three or four
times the price of collotype.
The autotype, platinotype, heliogravure, Swan electric engraving, and
other processes all have their place for special subjects, but seldom
come into the general run of archaeological illustration.
[Sidenote: Editions.]
A very successful policy for costly works of research is to issue a
magnificent edition for libraries, book-collectors, and rich amateurs;
and then to have a much larger edition, deficient in a few of the most
costly and least necessary plates, sold at a cheap rate for students
and the general public. Thus one great work of coloured folio plates
costs £20 or 3s. a plate for the complete edition; whereas with a
few plates deficient it is only £6 or 1s. a plate. Thus the cost of
production is borne by those who demand magnificence, and the results
are yet within reach of students.
Another useful arrangement is to issue a public edition for general
reading, and an appendix of extra plates for students, which would
overweight a general edition. Thus a 2000 edition of the popular half
of the plates may cost £400, and a 250 edition of the students’ half
of the plates may cost £100, so saving £300, which would be uselessly
spent on 1750 copies that are not wanted, and which would only be a
dead-weight to the main work.
[Sidenote: Text.]
In arrangement of the text the main necessity is ready reference, and
a form which can be remembered. The way to this is by classifying the
material, dividing into chapters and paragraphs, each with a title,
and above all making a good index, which ought to be about a tenth of
the length of the work. A list of plates should have page references
for each plate. Remember that all smaller type, footnotes, and tables
are far more expensive than straightforward printing.
The general nature of the record of results has been already dealt with
under the recording; and the need of giving an organic handling of the
whole has been pointed out.
[Sidenote: Publishing.]
As to publication, if any publisher will undertake to issue a work of
research at his own risk, well and good. If the author gets a gradually
increasing royalty after the first 100 copies, that is as much as can
be expected from this class of literature. But in no case have any
profit-sharing agreement. Usually such a work will have to be issued
at the author’s risk, and a few of the pitfalls of such arrangements
may be noted. Let the manuscript really be in final condition, down
to every stop, before it goes to the printer; consider the details of
headlines, paragraphing, insertion of illustrations, arrangements of
any tables or lists, (counting the letters), and in short leave nothing
undefined. Have an agreement with the printer for terms, including an
average of, say, two author’s alterations in every page, none to alter
the length of any page: this allows for inevitable small improvements,
without leaving an entire uncertainty in the charges. Correct the
proofs in red for the author’s alterations, in black for the printer’s
errors. If alterations exceed the allowance, reckon on paying for
the resetting of the worst pages, so as to bring the average to the
allowance on the rest. Beside the contract for printing and binding,
have a contract with the lithographer, another with the collotyper, and
another with the bookseller, for his terms of commission on sales. Thus
the author knows exactly where he is, and no unpleasantness can arise
from unexpected charges.
After publication, the binder and plate-printer should be asked for
any blocks used; and to send up any “overs” or spoilt plates; as such
are often valuable afterwards to cut up for special uses, and may save
spoiling copies of the book. All photographs and drawings supplied to
the plate- or block-maker should also be asked for if not returned at
once.
CHAPTER XI
SYSTEMATIC ARCHAEOLOGY
[Sidenote: Systems of Work.]
A science can hardly be said to exist until it has a developed system
of work, and its possibilities of value for teaching purposes depend
entirely on the organization of its methods. Geology was a chaos
before the generalisation of the successive order of the strata, and
the method of the determination of a stratum by its fossils, gave the
subject a working system. Astronomy was a maze until the Newtonian
laws produced methods of analysis. Chemistry could not be said to have
any methods until the use of the balance and the theory of atomic
combination made possible the last century of development. So far,
archaeology cannot be said to have systematised any working methods
except those of artistic comparison and of epigraphy, and these can
only cover a small part of the space and time which need to be studied.
Two general modes of work, however, have been begun, beside that of
artistic comparison; and it only needs that they should be fully
carried out in order to produce a thoroughly systematic archaeology.
These methods are (1) the complete definition of facts by means of a
_corpus_ of all known varieties of objects, in terms of which every
object can be defined; and (2) the arrangement of material in its order
of development by statistical methods and comparison, which bring out
the original sequence of construction. These two methods of work may
prove to be, for archaeology, what the balance and atomic theory have
been for chemistry,--the necessary foundation for systematic knowledge
and exact theory.
[Sidenote: Need of a _corpus_.]
The collection of known objects in a _corpus_ was well done by the
early systematisers, especially Montfaucon; and though his work is
nearly two centuries old, it has not yet been superseded by better
productions in every department. Since that appeared, the mass of new
material which has been collected, especially in the last fifty years,
cannot be mastered by one man, if he is ever to find time for original
work; and the whole subject is near coming to a standstill owing
to the dead weight of preparations which are required before going
further. Until a generation of systematisers shall arise, archaeology
can scarcely progress without continual waste of material and loss by
duplication of work. Moreover, there is no general reference work, and
no notation efficient for recording new discoveries.
What is now urgently needed is for some scholars to each take one
branch of work, to collect all that is known, especially of dated
material; and then to publish all type examples, showing how the
subject varied from century to century, and to attach a system of
letters and numbers to every variety, so that any specimen can be
denoted merely by its _corpus_ number. This should be done at least for
all implements of stone and of metal, all pottery, all stone and metal
vases, all beads and personal ornaments, jewellery, clothing, domestic
utensils, and all motives of design and ornamentation.
With such a definite notation once laid down, it would be possible
to record discoveries, and especially groups of objects, rapidly and
in a small compass. It would also be possible to compile results of
excavations and the contents of museums in simple indices. In order to
work systematically in archaeology we ought to be able to look in an
index and find at once where, and of what epoch, is every instance of
a particular object: say, of a key, type M 27, or of a vase, type D
64. Such indices should be continued by supplements issued every ten
or twenty years. At present, if one would ascertain the parallels to a
particular form, it is necessary to search through hundreds of volumes
and to visit all the museums--a matter of months of work. Progress in
archaeology, as an exact science, is practically impossible; it should
be easy and rapid, were all the known material always to be found at
once in a _corpus_ and indices.
[Sidenote: Example of _corpus_.]
Only one _corpus_ has yet been formed, and that is restricted to only
one country, one period, and one material--the prehistoric pottery of
Egypt (see _Nagada_ and _Diospolis Parva_). An outline of the system
there followed will serve to show the actual working of a _corpus_,
though for each different subject the details will need separate
consideration. The whole of this pottery comprises about a thousand
varieties. Each class of pottery is denoted by its initial letter;
P for polished, B for black-topped, etc. Each form in a class is
numbered, from 1 to 99, and each sub-variety is lettered. Thus R 63
_c_ means rough pottery, type 63, variety _c_; and this completely
defines the example. The numbers are not always continuous, but gaps
in the series are left where there is much difference between the
forms. In this manner it is possible to add new forms without upsetting
the system, and new sub-varieties can be brought in by using small
letters. The forms are best classified by beginning with the most open
and flat dishes, and proceeding to the most closed forms, with narrow
necks ending. The point of reaching verticality in the sides is a
well-defined middle point.
[Sidenote: Utility.]
The practical utility of such a _corpus_ is found at once when
excavating. Formerly it was needful to keep dozens of broken specimens,
which were of no value except for the fact of being found along with
other vases. Now the excavator merely needs to look over the _corpus_
of plates, and writes down on the plan of the tomb, say, B 23, P 35
_b_, C 15, F 72, thus the whole record is made, and not a single piece
need be kept unless it is a good specimen. How essential such a record
is for future progress we shall see below.
The most obvious step now would be to corporate all the pottery of
Italy. A _corpus_ from Pompeii would be the best starting-point,
as being all of one period and well dated; then a _corpus_ of
Constantinian forms, a _corpus_ of Republican forms, and a _corpus_ of
each of the prehistoric periods. The early history of the Forum at
Rome hangs now upon the safety of little groups of potsherds lying in
a shed, yet unclassed and unstudied, and certain to be swept away some
day by some one who does not value them. Instead of this we ought to
have a _corpus_ for reference, and then the contents of each of the
archaic wells could be at once denoted and published by the numbers of
the types; the historic material would be safe, and could be studied
at any future time irrespective of the conservation of the heaps of
sherds. Carry this out in Greece, and, instead of piles of pottery
lying in the fields or on the terraces of a classical site from the
prehistoric town levels, each piece could be noted by its number, and
all could be published to make the history of the site accessible.
Without a _corpus_ such discoveries are but a pathetic destruction
of material; with _corpus_ notation they would form the basis of a
thorough history of the site and of all its changes.
All that is needed to produce a _corpus_ from a collection is a month
or two of work by a draughtsman, who has an accurate eye for form,
working to a uniform scale, and systematising the material conveniently
for future reference. Some subjects would require collecting from many
sources, but generally all the pottery of one period can be found
together in one museum.
[Sidenote: Successive ages.]
We now turn to the second method for archaeological research. This is
the synthetical arrangement of the material in the original order. The
most obvious arrangement is that by contemporary dating, as by years
named in a chronicle or on coins, or by successive reigns of kings.
But outside of this method there yet lies the greater part of human
history, which can only be reconstructed by some internal evidence of
successive periods.
A couple of generations ago there were laid down the main divisions of
successive ages of stone, bronze, and iron; and then the division of
the stone age into palaeolithic and neolithic. After that followed the
separation of palaeolithic into four main periods in France, more or
less applicable to other lands. Further definition was yet found to be
necessary, and the neolithic and bronze ages were marked off into many
classes, which had to be distinguished by the names of places where
they were first found; and thus we reach a multitude of names, such as
Mycenaean, Hallstattian, the period of La Tène, etc. Such a piecemeal
plan is well enough for a beginning; but it is not capable of exact
definition, it is cumbersome, and it does not express the relation of
one period to another.
[Sidenote: Sequences.]
Before we can think of subdividing a period into a continuous notation,
the first requisite is to be able to place the material into its
original order or sequence. Let us suppose some old country mansion,
where it has been the habit to close permanently any room in which an
owner had died, and leave everything in it undisturbed. If we went
through such a series of rooms we could not doubt their order of date
if we looked at their contents. The William IV room could not be put
to the middle of George III’s reign; the George II room could not be
supposed to go between those of James II and Anne. Each room full of
furniture would have some links of style with that of the generation
before, and of the generation after it, and no real doubt could exist
as to the sequence of the whole series. What is true of a room full of
furniture is equally true of a grave full of pottery. If we compare
together a series of groups of pottery which are not separated by any
long time, there will always be found some relationship between the
forms in different groups: one group will be seen to fall between two
others if it contains forms to be found in each of the other groups,
though these others may have nothing in common together. A fragment of
the alphabet, K L M N O P, must fall between H I J K L and O P Q R, and
proves their connection.
Thus if each form lasted in use for a uniform length of time the
problem would be fairly simple. But it is complicated by the plainer
forms lasting far longer in use than the complex or highly decorated
forms; some may go on being made for a thousand years, others may not
have been made for even ten years. Hence it is needful to resort to
various statistical modes of sorting, which differ in each case. A
complete instance of the process is given in _Diospolis Parva_, pp. 4–8.
On the other hand, the sorting of material is greatly helped by any
clear series of forms derived one from the other; especially a series
of degradation, and reduction of useful elements to mere ornament. It
is well, however, to have a check on one end of a series, by connecting
it to known times, so as to prove which way it proceeds.
[Sidenote: Sequence dates.]
What notation should be used to express a series of sequences must
vary with conditions. Where we can deal with a larger number--many
hundreds--of good graves, each containing plenty of material, then a
scale of equal numbers of graves is perhaps the fairest that can be
taken. Thus for a scale of sequence dates, for the pottery named above,
I adopted 50 numbers, each representing 20 graves.
The final result is to express the time-range of each type of pottery
and of other objects in the graves in terms of the scale of sequence
of the tombs. Thus the date of certain forms may be stated as 33–42
sequence date; 37–70 sequence date; 45–48 sequence date, etc. And when
this is once established it is easy to date all further graves by
arranging the dates of each object found in a grave, for instance in
actual cases:--
Sequence dates. Sequence dates.
30–36 35–68
32–68 60–69
30–42 68–78
31–34 68–78
----- -----
Limits 32–34 68
The larger the group the more closely it is dated, by reason of the
various forms having a very small common ground of dating.
This system enables us to deal with material which is entirely undated
otherwise; and the larger the quantity of it the more accurate are the
results. There is no reason now why prehistoric ages, from which there
are groups of remains, should not be dealt with as surely and clearly
as the historic ages with recorded dates.
[Sidenote: Conservation.]
Yet another all-important matter for the systematic archaeology of the
future must be here mentioned, especially as it greatly affects the
future schemes of field-work. The first requirement for systematic work
of study is material sufficient to work on. And to provide this there
must be both discovery and conservation. During the last century there
has been a gradual growth of archaeological perception; and in place of
only caring for beautiful and striking objects there has arisen some
interest in whatever can throw light on the past civilisations. But
unhappily the ideas of conservation have not kept pace with the work
of discovery. The present system of museums is the most serious bar to
the progress of archaeology. The building, which is the mere modern
shell, of no interest, and often of no beauty, is the master of the
collection, which is restrained and crippled by such conditions that
its use is impaired and its growth is stopped. The past is vanishing
before our modern changes yearly and daily. There is ever less and less
to preserve. And everything possible must be garnered before it has
entirely vanished. The present has its most serious duty to history in
saving the past for the benefit of the future.
[Sidenote: Buildings.]
In a museum the collection is the essential; the building is the
mere accident of the surroundings of the collection, and it should
completely conform to all the requirements. Yet can it be believed
that, even in the last year or two, enormous national museums--as at
Cairo and Brussels--have been built without the smallest regard to the
collection, or the opinions of the curators? The result at Cairo is the
most deplorable sacrifice of the art and history of a great country to
the follies and childish vanity of an incompetent and unsympathetic
architect. We will not stay to detail the entire unsuitability of that
building in style, form, size, and lighting; the constructive questions
of what is needed for a proper museum are our subject.
[Sidenote: Lighting.]
After the common purpose of all buildings--security from man and
nature--the first requirements in a museum are lighting and grouping.
Whatever interferes with these is a detriment which should be avoided
or removed. Lighting must be (1) direct, not from reflection by walls;
(2) full, but not dazzling; (3) in exactly the right direction. Of
all the precious statues of antiquity there is not one that has had
a tenth of its value spent on the best lighting possible. Most are
in hopelessly bad positions, as the Aphrodite of Melos in a weak,
diffused, sidelight; and none have the simplest blinds to change the
direction of the light, so as to study the surface in varying lighting.
To know what a figure requires, only take a fine statuette in the
hand, and try what can be made of it by the variation of direction,
obliquity, and amount of lighting. Then see how hopeless it is to know
a statue in one fixed lighting, even if that be suitable. The only
person competent to arrange the lighting of objects, and especially
statuary, is a successful photographer who has well practised the
lighting of portable figures. An almost vertical light is essential
for all human figures in the round or flat; but it needs most delicate
adjustment to bring out the more important modelling, and many
different directions of light to shew all that there is in the work.
What is true of statuary is true in a lesser degree of every other
object. No other qualities can possibly atone for defects of lighting
in a museum. No building with a bad light can be called properly a
museum; it may be an architect’s triumph, a civic ornament, a costly
patchwork, a marvel of folly, but a museum it is not, if it is unfit
for the first requirements of a collection.
[Sidenote: Grouping.]
The second great requirement, that of grouping, includes the
intelligent display of objects so as to shew their relation to
each other in development, their connection as found together, the
preservation of the whole of the material that should be preserved, and
its comparison by means of casts.
The relation of objects in development requires free space in a museum,
and the absence of any pinching consideration of how to utilise every
square foot. Their connection as found together in tombs and groups
also requires free space, more than is yet to be had in any English
museum. The preservation of the whole of the needful material is still
more utterly beyond the limits of any of the present museums. Every
year a great deal of entirely irreplaceable material is thrown away, or
neglected on the spot, because there is no hope whatever of preserving
it. In the British Museum space costs several pounds a square foot,
and only objects of great value can be reasonably preserved there. We
are driven, then, to the conclusion that the progress of archaeology
and the preservation of the past, as it comes into our hands year by
year, is essentially a question of free space. And that is practically
entirely a question of cheap space. To refuse to preserve anything that
is not worth some pounds per square foot, is the death of archaeology;
and yet such are the necessary conditions in our present museums,
however much we may expand them in their costly conditions. If we once
think of what the condition of affairs will be fifty years hence, when
many periods and places will be exhausted, and yet nothing but showy
objects are preserved, we see that the future knowledge of archaeology
is helplessly bound up in the question of our immediate expansion of
conservation.
[Sidenote: National Repository.]
We see then how absolutely necessary for archaeology and ethnology it
is to have a National Repository, where the cost of space shall never
be detrimental to the collection. I need not enter on the details of
how such a repository could be carried out, as I have fully discussed
them at the British Association, and the Society of Arts (see _Jour.
S. A._ No. 2, 478, price 6d.); but an outline of the conditions and
cost will shew the practicability of the proposal. All objects of
value to a thief should be kept in the strong custody of city museums;
but the great majority of specimens that should be preserved are too
bulky or too unsaleable to be stolen, beside casts which no one would
steal, and such do not, therefore, need more than general supervision.
A square mile of land, within an hour’s journey from London, should
be secured; and built over with uniform plain brickwork and cement
galleries, at the rate of 20,000 square feet a year, so providing 8
miles of galleries 50 feet wide in a century, with room yet for several
centuries of expansion at the same rate. A staff of about 30 persons
would suffice to arrange the new material at this rate; and having
abundant space, no time would be wasted by frequent shifting of old
material. Everything should be photographically registered as it came
in. Glass should be placed over all objects which can deteriorate; but
the amount of dirt would be a minimum in the country, and with the
air-supply filtered from dust.
The total cost of land, building, materials, and staff would be covered
by a budget of £10,000 a year. And this is the normal _increase_ of the
British Museum budget every four years. Hence if the British Museum
were to find room by clearing out objects which are not liable to be
stolen, for a few years, and placing them in the Repository, the cost
of the Repository would be paid for to all time. A mere retardation
of growth of the British Museum for five or ten years would entirely
make up for the cost of the Repository twenty times its size. That
this provision is perfectly practicable is not denied; that it would
be far cheaper than continued expansion in highly expensive conditions
is certain; and that it is essential for the growth of archaeology and
ethnology is sadly obvious. Let us hope that if we are too hide-bound
in England to grasp the new conditions of research, that at least
in America some one will provide such a storehouse for all time;
where some day the history of the world may be studied, when we have
hopelessly lost the chance of preserving what might at present be had
for the asking. If we are to make up our minds to ignore and lose what
is now being lost and destroyed every year owing to our ignorance and
blindness, we must look to the New World to rescue from our misuse the
material we now throw away, and so preserve the history of mankind.
CHAPTER XII
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
[Sidenote: Nature of proof.]
The nature of proof is more complex than it seems to be at first sight.
True enough, all proof is merely a matter of common sense; it does
not appeal to any different faculty. And though a proof may follow as
simply as possible from the facts, yet it cannot be understood by one
who is not familiar with the facts to begin with. Trigonometry is the
most obvious common sense to any one familiar with the formulae; and
the formulae themselves are only common sense to any one who takes the
trouble to argue them through. Yet, for all that, trigonometry is not
obvious to the ignorant. In the same way the evidences about the past
of man are simple and clear when the facts and methods from which they
are deduced are already known. Yet it requires a good familiarity with
the material before the conclusions can be felt to be self-evident
results.
[Sidenote: Legal evidence.]
To follow clearly what evidence and proof means, it is best to refer
to a class of evidence which is most familiar to the reader. What is
commonly called _legal evidence_ is the best-known example, as it is
met every day in law cases and police reports. Evidence is based on
the same principles, in whatever subject it may be; there is not one
logic for the present, and a different logic for the past. But the
kind of evidence, the exactitude, the certainty, which is considered
enough to determine a property or a life, is rightly looked on as
conclusive for all reasonable purposes. The laws of such evidence have
been threshed over for generations past; and it is well known what kind
of proofs may be relied upon, and what are dubious. If we then compare
this class of evidence with that which we accept in studying the past
history of man, we shall see more clearly what kinds of proof are
admissible, and how far it is reasonable to depend upon our results.
In examining legal evidence we see that it all falls under one of
four heads--(1) witnesses, (2) material objects, (3) exhaustion, and
(4) probabilities. These four kinds of evidence are of very different
values; any one of them may be stronger than the others in a given
case, and each kind has its own special weakness.
1. _Witnesses_ provide the most clear and connected proof, and the
least liable to misunderstanding; but yet a proof which is entirely
dependent on veracity, on intelligence, on absence of prejudice, and
on clear memory, and is hence the least dependable kind of evidence in
some cases.
2. _Material facts_, which may be very conclusive; such as A’s
footprint in B’s garden, or A’s chisel left in B’s house, at a
burglary. If the fact is certain, the conclusion is proved; but the
danger lies in misunderstanding the fact.
3. _Exhaustion_, which may prove A guilty because no one else could
have done the deed; as when A and B are seen in a railway carriage at
one station, and at the next stoppage B is found murdered and A leaves
the carriage. There may be not a trace of other evidence, but this is
enough.
4. _Probability_, as when A is last seen with B, and B proceeds to deal
with the property of murdered A. This kind of evidence is enough to
hang a man, solely from presumption.
Now let us look at these kinds of evidence about the past of man.
[Sidenote: Witnesses.]
1. _Witnesses_, the documents, which give a clear and connected
statement. They may be either primary, as a stone inscription or an
autograph letter; or secondary, as compiled histories or subsequent
copies. No other kind of evidence is so easy to follow; yet this is
a proof in which we are entirely at the mercy of the prejudices, the
ill-will, the frauds, and the blunders of others, and it is hence
the least dependable kind of evidence in some cases. The speeches of
Thucydides, the bias of Suetonius, the wonders of Livy, the romances of
William of Malmesbury, and the forgery called Richard of Cirencester,
each plunge us deeper and deeper into the doubtfulness of written
documents; to say nothing of the casket letters or Ossian.
[Sidenote: Material facts.]
2. _Material facts_, when rightly understood, are the most conclusive
evidence. They may be in a single object, as a palaeolithic flint
rechipped over and over in later ages; or a foreign ornament used on an
object of dated style, as a Maori tatued head in a daguerreotype would
prove the tatuing to be known between 1840 and 1860; or a restruck
coin with one type over another, as Barchocheb over Hadrian; or an
added inscription, so familiar on Egyptian statues. Or the evidence
may consist in a collocation of objects, such as a group of things
found together in a tomb; or the superposition of strata of ruins in
a town. In the case of a single object there are few possibilities
of misunderstanding the evidence; but in strata or tomb-groups there
is a chance of older things being reused. Such chances of error
are, however, extinguished by the recurrence of instances; and the
finding of certain things together in several cases under different
circumstances is one of the strongest kinds of evidence, such, for
instance, as the name of Amenhotep III often found with the Mykenaean
pottery, both in Greece and in Egypt.
[Sidenote: Exhaustion.]
3. _Exhaustion_ may prove a point; as, for instance, the Iconoclasts in
Greece or Reformers and Puritans in England were the only destroyers of
images and pictures, or Akhenaten was the only man who erased the name
of Amen. Such destructions therefore are evidence of the age and the
man.
[Sidenote: Probabilities.]
4. _Probabilities_, as, for instance, the fact that the Saxons erased
the Romano-Britons, makes it probable that Silchester, Uriconium, and
other late Roman towns which were burnt, were destroyed by the Saxons.
We see thus that each kind of proof which is accepted legally is also
used archaeologically, and is subject to much the same failings. Legal
evidence may fail by mistaking the nature of the facts, such as that
some rabbit’s blood on a knife is human blood; so may archaeology
mistake by ignorance, as when the Mykenaean treasure was called
Byzantine.
Or legal evidence may fail by wrong inferences from facts, such as that
some human blood on a knife is due to a murder, while it has come from
the owner’s finger. So archaeology erred from a wrong inference in
calling the treasure of Troy “the treasure of Priam.”
Or legal evidence may fail owing to mere prejudice, thus ignoring the
truth. So archaeology has suffered from the prejudice that nothing in
Greece can be older than the VIIIth century B.C.
[Sidenote: Legal proof.]
It is supposed sometimes, by those unfamiliar with the subject, that
archaeological evidence is so doubtful or so slight that it cannot
be relied upon, and is not to be compared with the certainties of
legal proof. Let us see then what legal proof is in important cases.
In one case a will was lost, and the mere memory of its contents,
stated by a survivor who had assisted in writing it, was accepted
as sufficient proof of what had been in it, and the property was
distributed accordingly. In another case property was left by A to B,
or failing B to C; B also made a will leaving it to D. A and B were
killed together in an accident, and the slightest observation of which
moved last, determined whether C or D had the property. Again, there
are innumerable cases of setting a will aside because of the testator
not being of a sound mind for disposing of property; and various
assertions of irrelevant facts by various interested parties are held
to reveal the true mental capacity of a person to a judge and jury. In
a murder trial the question of whether one or both of the assailants
were guilty was held proved by the deceased having been tied by two
different forms of knots. In another trial the mere presumption due to
concealing a body and dealing with the property of a murdered person
was enough to hang a man. Such are some of the evidences which are held
good in law to settle questions of life and property.
Happily archaeology is relieved from the terrible dilemma of being
bound to come to a conclusion at once, as the law has to do. Questions
can be left pending, and it is not peremptorily needful to act one
way or another. An open mind can be kept on difficult and obscure
points; and a matter can be discussed in fresh lights, without keeping
a prisoner standing in the dock the whole time. Legal conclusions are
often wrong; though, as the law can do no wrong, a free pardon is all
the sufferer gets when his innocence is proved. But if legal proofs,
arguments, and conclusions were kept freely open to revision for years;
if they were printed in every textbook for beginners; if all students
were encouraged to find fresh evidence, and to upset what was laid
down, and if the high-road to position lay in reversing the decisions
of past authorities, it seems only too likely that there would be a
greater wreckage of bad cases and bad law than there now is of bad
archaeology.
[Sidenote: Egypt and Europe.]
For an example of the nature of archaeological evidence it will be
best to study the connections of Egypt with early Europe. This subject
is not only a fascinating one historically, but it includes a great
variety of different kinds of evidence,--from paintings, from groups
found in tombs, from remains of palaces, from objects exactly dated by
royal names, from objects dated by their nature and style; and evidence
which is of various degrees of certainty. Moreover this evidence has
been more actively and continually attacked than any other class of
discoveries of late years, and hence the most that can be argued
against it is well known.
[Sidenote: In XXVIth Dynasty.]
Until 1883 nothing was known of the Greeks in Egypt before the
Ptolemaic age; the accounts of Herodotus about the Greek mercenaries,
and their connection with the XXVIth Dynasty, stood solely as a
literary statement, without a scrap of tangible evidence. At the close
of that year I bought an archaic Greek statuette in Cairo (Fig. 56);
and on enquiring about the source of it, I heard of Nebireh, and hunted
out the site in the Western Delta. There I found the ground covered
with archaic Greek pottery dating throughout the XXVIth Dynasty, and
it was evident that a great Greek city had existed there. Next year,
at the close of 1884, I began exploring it, and found on the first day
there, a decree of the people of Naukratis. Here then the evidence of
Greek occupation depended upon the presence of thousands of pieces
of Greek pottery and sculpture; and to imagine that these had all
been imported by Egyptians was beyond any possible supposition. A
town containing almost entirely Greek remains, and with only clumsy
imitations of Egyptian subjects, was certainly occupied by Greeks. And
as there is no instance or probability of Greeks having imported great
quantities of vases made in earlier times, this place contained good
evidence for Greeks having lived there from the VIIth century B.C. As
such it was generally accepted; but the dedication by the Naukratites
was withheld from the public for six months by over-cautious
authorities, for fear that something else might contradict it. This is
a case where what was undoubtedly good evidence should rather have been
stated at once, with a reservation that it was very improbable that
the stone had been brought from another site, or dedicated anywhere
except in Naukratis. The evidence of the pottery shewed that Naukratis
dated from the middle of the VIIth century; and this agrees with the
statement by Athenaeus that a statue was dedicated there in the 23rd
Olympiad, 688 B.C.
In the next season, the spring of 1886, I went down to Defeneh, and
there found a great mass of Greek pottery of the same period as that
of Naukratis. Here again, then, the Greeks had inhabited the site; and
the evidence was clear that this was a great camp of Greek mercenaries.
The modern name Defeneh so closely agrees to the ancient Daphnae that
no one hesitated to accept their equivalence. Here the identification
rests, then, not on a contemporary inscription, but on a modern Arabic
name.
Important evidence about the manufactures of these places is given by
the pottery. Although the two sites were occupied at the same period
by Ionian Greeks, yet the bulk of the pottery on one site differs from
that on the other. The conclusion is that probably it was made locally
by Greek potters, and not brought by traders from Greek towns, as
trade would probably have imported from the same sources to both sites.
The evidence here is from the difference of classes.
Another conclusion is drawn from the few varieties of painted pottery
which are found in common at both sites. From the levels at which they
were found at Naukratis these varieties were dated at various years
between 610 and 550 B.C.; and such varieties were found together in a
chamber at Defeneh with jar sealings bearing royal names of Psamtek
II and Aahmes, and therefore dated between 595 and 565 B.C., as the
Greeks were removed from the camp in the latter year. The evidence
here is from the collocation of objects; those dated by the levels at
which other things were found at Naukratis agreeing with those dated by
mixture with Egyptian sealings at Defeneh.
[Illustration: THE GREEKS IN EGYPT.
Fig. 56. Warrior, in alabaster. Naukratis, XXVI Dyn.]
[Illustration: THE GREEKS IN EGYPT.
Fig. 57. Graeco-Egyptian vases. Abydos, XVIII Dyn.]
[Sidenote: XVIIIth Dynasty paintings.]
We now turn to the great group of dating of the XVIIIth–XXth Dynasties;
and as the nature of the evidence is our present consideration we shall
classify it according to the kind of source of the evidence. The most
certain dating is that of offerings painted on the walls of tombs, as
it is always agreed that such represent objects which were in current
use when the tomb was decorated; they therefore are not older than the
tomb, nor can the paintings have been added later. Of this class are
the paintings of vases in the tomb of Rekhmara, under Tahutmes III in
the XVIIIth Dynasty; these vases are shewn as being brought in by the
Kefti foreigners, and strongly resemble the vases found in Cyprus,
Mykenae, and other Greek sites. Here the connection of Egypt in
the XVIIIth Dynasty with people who made such vases is certain; but
the vases might be older than the scene, or such vases might continue
to be made to a later time, hence the connection with any given epoch
on Greek soil is only a strong probability but not absolute. Another
dated painting is that of stirrup vases (to use a more convenient word
than “pseud-amphorae,” “false-necked vases,” or “_bügel kanne_”) among
the offerings in the paintings on the tomb of Ramessu III of the XXth
Dynasty. That such forms were familiar at that date is absolute; but
they might be older vases preserved in the Royal Treasury, or might be
imitations by Egyptians of older foreign forms, like English repetition
of Chinese patterns.
[Sidenote: Burnt groups.]
The next class of evidence is that of objects which have been placed
in such conditions that they cannot have been disturbed after a given
date. This evidence is given by several deposits of groups of vases,
clothing, etc., which were burnt in pits sunk in the floors of houses,
and then earthed over. Such groups cannot possibly have been disturbed
later on to insert objects, as the charcoal and ashes are undisturbed,
and the foreign objects are likewise burnt. Hence the evidence of the
Egyptian objects if clearly dated must carry the foreign objects to the
same date. Several such groups have been found at Gurob. In one were
many Egyptian objects all agreeing well to the date of Amenhotep III,
as fixed by a glazed pottery kohl tube; in another a group agreeing
with the date of Tutankhamen, which was shewn by some fragile pendants
which could not have long survived in use; another group agrees to
the age of Ramessu II, who is named on a pendant of glazed ware; and
a fourth group agrees to the rougher style of Sety II, which is dated
by a dish with his name. The character of the Egyptian objects thus
points to each of these dated objects being contemporary with the rest
of their group, and therefore truly dating the group. Now in these
groups were first, five well-made globular stirrup vases (see Fig. 59);
second, pieces of several stirrup vases of a later form; third, the
neck of a later and coarser stirrup vase; and fourth, two much later
coarse and unpainted stirrup vases. Here the changes in the character
of the vases agree with the relative dates given by the Egyptian
objects. The stirrup vases might be all older than the Egyptian
dates, but that is very improbable by the regular degradation of them
according with the dates; and the groups cannot be later than the dated
objects as they agree well with the date of such Egyptian things fixed
in other cases. It is then extremely improbable that the stirrup vases
should not belong to the periods of the Egyptian kings whose names are
found with them. Variation in either direction is prohibited by these
limitations.
We may add that there are two other burnt groups without kings’ names,
and the connection of stirrup vases with Egyptian objects in these
agrees well with the connection shewn by the other groups. Another
such grouping was in a burial in open ground at Abydos; there several
examples of Graeco-Egyptian ware (Fig. 57), two figures and a ring vase
with pomegranates and lotus flowers, were found with Egyptian pottery
and beads of the XVIIIth Dynasty.
[Sidenote: Rubbish mounds.]
A somewhat similar grouping is afforded by the rubbish mounds of the
palace of Akhenaten at Tell el Amarna. There the palace was entirely
deserted after the reign of his successor, about 1360 B.C., and the
town ruined finally by Horemheb, 1330 B.C. It seems then impossible to
suppose anything later being mixed up with the rubbish heaps, which
contained nearly a hundred dated objects, none later than 1360 B.C.
The supposition has even been suggested that some unknown people,
who left no other traces, have at some later time come laden with
hundreds of potsherds, and dug over the rubbish mounds to mix them
together. Such are the wild fancies which must be resorted to if the
evidence is to be upset. The rubbish mounds consist of some thousands
of tons of potsherds and dust; and among these, entirely mixed with
them, were found nearly a hundred rings and objects of Akhenaten and
his successor, and over 1300 pieces of Aegean pottery, representing
probably 800 vases. The palace, which was deserted after 1360 B.C.,
also contained several pieces of the same pottery. Here the great
quantity of the material of all kinds precludes all the suppositions
that might be made about isolated specimens. The mounds are too large
for later material to be mixed with them; the dated objects are too
many to be accidental, or to have been older than the mounds; and the
Aegean vases are too many to have been preserved from earlier times.
The whole conditions prove that all the objects were in common use
contemporaneously.
[Sidenote: Houses.]
A somewhat less certain dating is given by remains found in houses.
At the palace of Akhenaten the definite date of its ruin fairly shews
the Aegean pottery in it to be contemporary with his generation. In a
house at Gurob, Aegean pottery was found with wood-carving of the XIXth
Dynasty and a ring of the late XVIIIth Dynasty, and also under the
walls of a house which was built at the close of the XVIIIth Dynasty.
These are not precise datings, and are open to claims that the houses
were later than the evidence shews; but such connections give a strong
presumption.
Similar, but converse, evidence is given from the Greek side. At
Mykenae was found a figure of a monkey in violet glaze (No. 4573
Athens); this is of Egyptian work and bears the name of Amenhotep II.
A piece of glaze found in a building by the lion gate has the name of
Amenhotep III. A scarab of Thyi, his queen, was found in the palace of
Mykenae. And three large jars of drab-coloured Egyptian pottery (4569
Athens), such as is quite unknown from Greek sources, were also found
at Mykenae. Now these examples prove the import of Egyptian things of
the XVIIIth and XIXth Dynasties before the fall of Mykenae; they do
not give an exact dating as their time-connection on the Greek side is
unstated, and they might belong to any part of the history of the town.
But their agreement in age gives a strong presumption that the latter
half of the XVIIIth Dynasty was contemporary with some part of the
flourishing period of foreign trade at Mykenae.
[Sidenote: Scarabs.]
At this point we should notice an assertion often made, that Egyptian
objects, especially scarabs, often bore the names of kings who were
earlier than the date of the manufacture. This is sometimes the
case, and on this ground it has been attempted to discredit all
evidence about scarabs. Now an exactly similar case occurs in Roman
coinage, where at eight different periods restorations of coins of
earlier emperors took place, no less than twenty emperors being thus
commemorated. Yet no one has impugned the evidence of Roman coins
in dating an excavation, on the ground that as some were restored
therefore none are of certain value. Similarly seven kings restored
the scarabs of earlier times, twelve different kings being thus
commemorated; but that is no reason for discrediting the age of the
remaining ninety-nine scarabs out of every hundred. The restorations,
say of the XIIth Dynasty kings by Tahutmes III, are as obvious as the
restorations of earlier emperors by Gallienus. No doubt to a person
ignorant of coins the subject would seem uncertain and confused; but
then scientific evidence is not expected to appeal to those who are
ignorant of the subject, whether it be coins or scarabs. We must then
credit the evidence of scarabs for dating, although there are some
restored in a different style, and although some case might be found
where a scarab had been reused at a much later date than that of its
manufacture. Such exceptions are certainly not one per cent of the
whole, and cannot therefore be invoked to explain away the whole of
the instances.
[Sidenote: Tombs in Egypt.]
The largest class of evidence is that from collocation in tombs.
The weak points of this are (1) reuse of tombs so that primary
and secondary interments may be mixed; this should be obvious in
any properly conducted excavation, and cannot be brought in as an
hypothesis unless some mixture of date can be otherwise proved: (2)
the tomb contents being older than the dated object, and so brought
to too low a date, which is very unlikely, as a whole group of things
would not be preserved for long together: (3) the dated object being
older than the tomb, which is practically the only danger. A few rare
examples have been seen of older objects being reburied, but so rarely
that only a very small proportion of cases could be thus explained. The
great majority of things in hand at any one time belong to within a
generation or two. In our own time, although we treasure older things
more than did the people of any past age, yet not one per cent of what
we have is over a hundred years old. In late Roman coinage the waste
was such that in a hundred years only an eighth survived in use, and
in half a century more only a twenty-fifth remained. It is very rarely
that beads or pendants of very different ages are mixed in ancient
necklaces, or that scarabs of reigns far apart are buried together. I
do not remember a mixture of more than two contiguous reigns in any
group of scarabs that I have found. Hence this possibility of an older
object being reused may occur rarely, but cannot be called upon in the
whole of the cases, or even for any perceptible proportion of them.
In certainly nine cases out of ten we must expect that a dated object
was buried within less than two or three generations from its original
period.
The tomb groups containing Aegean pottery are, it so happens, not so
well dated as the burnt groups; and are therefore inferior to the burnt
groups, both on this account, as well as by the greater possibility
of mixture. The Maket tomb at Kahun is the principal example. The
dated objects in that are of Tahutmes II and III; and though at first
I supposed it to be of later age on the strength of some beads not
then known before the XIXth or XXth Dynasty, yet as such beads were
afterwards found in a deposit of Tahutmes III at Koptos, there is
no reason for questioning that the whole is of his age. Also the
experience of the past dozen years has shewn that such a date agrees
well to all the other objects in the tomb. The absence of blue painted
pottery does not imply a date after the disuse of it in the XXth
Dynasty, but before that style came into use in the middle of the
XVIIIth Dynasty. In this tomb was a fine Aegean vase (Fig. 58) with
ivy-spray pattern, which is thus dated to about 1500 B.C. The burials
were quite undisturbed and therefore the vase cannot belong to a later
date, but might possibly be earlier.
Other examples have not this precise dating. At Kahun a burial in the
open ground, and undisturbed, had scarabs and objects of the style of
the middle or end of the XVIIIth Dynasty, with a stirrup vase from
the Aegean (_Kahun_, p. 32). The undisturbed tomb at Gurob containing
the beautiful wooden statuette of Res, certainly of the XVIIIth
Dynasty, had in an opposite chamber a stirrup vase, which must have
been buried at the same period. Another burial at Gurob had a piece
of a stirrup vase with beads exactly like those of Ramessu II. And at
Naqada a tomb which by the style of the painting, must have belonged to
the beginning or middle of the XVIIIth Dynasty, had been so entirely
plundered that the only object left was a fine globular stirrup vase.
In these cases there is no exact dating, but a consensus of style in
each case of the XVIIIth or early XIXth Dynasty; and the connection
of the Aegean pottery with it is in some cases absolute and in others
only presumptive. The argument for date of the pottery rests then in
these cases on the uniformity of the period connected with it, and the
absence of any discrepant dating.
[Illustration: FIG. 58.--Aegean vase of Tahutmes III. Maket tomb. 1:3.]
[Sidenote: Tombs in Greece.]
Now this argument is greatly reinforced if we can shew that the same
connection of period exists on the other side. At Ialysos in Rhodes
a tomb with Aegean pottery contained a scarab of Amenhotep III. At
Mykenae, grave No. 49 contained also glazed ware of Amenhotep III. At
Enkomi in Cyprus in grave 93 a scarab of Queen Thyi was found with
Aegean pottery. And from the same cemetery comes a metal ring of her
son Amenhotep IV. These cases therefore connect one period of the
Aegean remains with the Egyptian reigns from 1414 to 1365 B.C. If on
one hand it might be supposed that the single Greek objects in Egyptian
tombs were older than the time of their burial, here on the other hand
the possibility is reversed, and the single Egyptian objects in Greece
could only be older and not later than the group with which they were
buried. As on both sides the dating is the same--the latter part of the
XVIIIth Dynasty--it shows that in both countries the groups contained
objects of contemporary date. If we were to further refine on the
question, and enquire whether the differences of date of the reigns
in Egypt correspond to equal differences in Greece, we are met by the
lack of all relative dating yet assignable to the Greek tombs; on that
side we have only a vague statement of “Mykenaean period,” or some such
generality; and it is therefore only that period in general that we can
assign to the XVIIIth–XIXth Dynasty in Egypt.
[Sidenote: Variation with date.]
We may, however, see a little further into detail on the Egyptian side
by observing how the stirrup vases vary in form and work. At Naqada,
probably under Tahutmes III, was a globular form, with simple broad
bands, and dull face. At Gurob under Amenhotep III the vases have more
broad bands and a polished face (Fig. 59). Under Tutankhamen there
were fine lines appearing between the bands. Under Ramessu II the form
is coarser. And under Sety II is only a coarse unpainted imitation.
Lastly, under Ramessu VI at Tell el Yehudiyeh were some rude debased
copies. Here the relative style of the vases agrees with the varying
date of the objects found with each; and hence we are justified in not
only placing one general period in Greece as contemporary with another
period in Egypt, but also in connecting the varied forms with the
reigns which are named with them. The evidence which we gain from the
mere general admixture, without any proof of the objects originating in
the generation by which they were buried, is here further carried on
into evidence for the exact age of each type by the sequence of style
agreeing to the sequence of the dated objects.
[Illustration: FIG. 59.--False-necked vases from Egypt.
XVIIIth Dyn. Amenhotep III. Tutankhamen.
XIXth Dyn. Ramessu II. Sety II.
XXth Dyn. Ramessu III. Ramessu VI.]
[Sidenote: Style.]
We now turn to a question of style alone. In grave 93 at Enkomi was
found a gold collar of Egyptian work with nine different patterns in
it; of these, eight are well known as designs of the time of Amenhotep
IV, and the ninth is a variant of such. As these designs are not known
in such forms at a century later or earlier, this collar cannot have
been made far from 1400 B.C.; and as it is of slight and tender fabric
it cannot have long been in use. Hence the date of its burial and of
the tomb must be in the fourteenth century B.C. Of other examples of
style, which may be quoted as important, is a great group of blue
glazed ware of the same form, colour, and designs, as the vases of
Ramessu II, but found in grave 66 at Enkomi; a gold pin, with a hole
in the middle, of the XVIIIth–XIXth Dynasty found at Gurob, like one
from grave 66 at Enkomi; a group of bronze vases with lotus handles
found in the Idaean cave in Crete, exactly of the fabric of those of
the XVIIIth–XIXth Dynasty; a figure of a swimming girl holding a dish,
carved in bone, from the Idaean cave, a favourite design in the XVIIIth
Dynasty; and some other instances of similar style, ornament, and
processes, which need hardly reinforce the general argument.
[Sidenote: Recapitulation.]
To recapitulate the evidences of the XVIIIth–XXth Dynasty:--
_Evidence of paintings._ Tombs of Rekhmara and Ramessu III.
Result. Aegean objects possibly older than the paintings.
_Evidence of burnt groups._ Four, from Amenhotep III to Sety II.
Result. Aegean pottery possibly older than the groups.
_Evidence of rubbish heaps._ Tell el Amarna.
Result. Aegean pottery certainly contemporary with Amenhotep IV.
_Evidence of houses._ Tell el Amarna, Gurob, Mykenae.
Result. Aegean pottery probably of XVIIIth Dynasty. Greek houses
probably of XVIIIth Dynasty.
_Evidence of tombs._ Maket tomb; tombs at Gurob, Mykenae, and Enkomi.
Result. Aegean pottery possibly older than Tahutmes III; probably
of XVIIIth–XIXth Dynasty or possibly older; Greek tombs of
XVIIIth Dynasty, or possibly later.
_Evidence of style._ Gold collar. Idaean vases and carving.
Result. Importations to Greece of XVIIIth Dynasty, and perhaps
XIXth; copy of XVIIIth Dynasty design, possibly later.
The possible deviations from the probable results are thus seen to
balance one another, some leaving the limit only open to earlier times
and some only to later times, so that change cannot be accepted in
either direction.
[Sidenote: XIIth Dynasty, Kahun.]
We now go back to an earlier stage in the history, that of the XIIth
Dynasty. Some ten years ago the stage which we have already discussed
was the “fighting frontier” of the subject; five years ago the XIIth
Dynasty was the fighting frontier; now this is almost pacified, and the
struggle against prepossessions is carried back to the still earlier
periods.
The view back to the XIIth Dynasty was first opened out in excavating
the rubbish mounds of the town of Kahun. This town was entirely built
at one time for the workmen employed on the pyramid of Usertesen II,
this then is the starting date. While the houses were fully occupied
a large rubbish mound was accumulated outside of the walls. When the
official work of building ceased at the finishing of the pyramid, we
may conclude that the town began to dwindle, as I found many of the
houses and streets had been used as rubbish holes for waste of the
XIIth Dynasty. Therefore the less convenient and accessible rubbish
heap outside of the walls is probably entirely of the reign of
Usertesen II. As it does not contain any Egyptian material that could
be dated later than that, the evidence of the shrinkage of the town
should be accepted as giving a probable limit to the age of the outer
heaps.
In these heaps the great bulk was of regular Egyptian pottery of
the XIIth Dynasty, filling up a depth of 6 or 8 feet in parts, and
therefore very unlikely to become mixed with later objects dropped by
accident. Now with this pottery thus certified as to its age, were
found pieces of several kinds hitherto entirely unknown. Black ware
decorated with white spiral lines, and with yellow and red lines and
circles of dots, red pottery with white returning spirals, and with
painting in red, white, and green. The style was obviously of the
Aegean family, so much so that even the best authorities asserted that
these were pieces of Naukratite pottery of the XXVIth Dynasty and shut
their eyes to the great difference of fabric and material. For some
years I protested that the evidence of finding was absolute for the
XIIth Dynasty date, and that no such pottery was known at a later date
to which this could be compared. But some general resemblance to the
style of the XXVIth Dynasty was allowed to calm the archaeological
conscience of my friends into ignoring all the positive evidence. No
such pottery was known on Greek soil at an early date; therefore none
existed; therefore this could not be of that date. This argument is
still in full favour for other and earlier periods. But a shock of
surprise came when delicate black pottery with white painting and red
was found at Kamares in Crete, and published by Mr. Myres in 1895;
and later the same style of pottery was so largely found that Messrs.
Hogarth and Welch write in 1901 that “so far from that ware being a
rarity, it is to be looked for in Crete wherever any strata of remains
underlie the Mykenaean. It occurred in our digging at Knossos at all
points at which the early town was probed to the rock” (_J.H.S._ xxi.
78). The pre-Mykenaean period is now before us and is found to agree
entirely with the dating already reached on unimpeachable grounds at
Kahun. That we may recognise connections between Greece and Egypt in
the XIIth Dynasty is now orthodox, and we may proceed to see what
further evidence appears for this dating.
[Sidenote: XIIth Dynasty, Crete.]
At Knossos was found a portion of an Egyptian seated figure in diorite
bearing an inscription of Ab-nub-mes-uazet-user, which from the style
is probably of the XIIth Dynasty.
At Praesos were found several globular beads of carnelian and of
amethyst such as are well known in the XIIth Dynasty, and the latter
material is not found dated to a later period in Egypt.
At Knossos was found a globular alabaster vase of the regular type of
the XIIth Dynasty; and also the alabaster vase lid of King Khyan,
whose date is unfortunately not fixed on the Egyptian side, but who is
probably of the XVIth Dynasty, though perhaps of the XIth.
The long period now known in Greece before the civilization which is
dated to the XVIIIth Dynasty compels such a presumption of connection
with far earlier periods, and the connection is so well shewn by the
Kamares ware, that the evidence for the XIIth Dynasty relationship
scarcely needs further support. It depends on identity of style of
highly decorated pottery, and of beads; and the transport of two pieces
of Egyptian work.
[Sidenote: Pan graves.]
Another connection of this age is shewn by the “pan-grave” pottery
found in Egypt. This class of shallow circular graves is dated to
the close of the XIIth Dynasty by several discoveries of worn and
damaged objects of the XIIth Dynasty in the graves, without anything
that could be fixed to a later date. In these graves is a large class
of non-Egyptian pottery; some of it black and red, highly polished;
others, rude thick pottery with incised patterns. The similarity of
the black and red to the style of the prehistoric pottery of Egypt is
obvious; it is a later branch of the same fabric. And when we consider
from what other land that may have come into Egypt, we naturally look
to the similar forms found in the Celtic pottery of Southern Spain by
Bonsor (Fig. 60), as indicating that it belongs to the western Libyan
culture. Again, the rough incised pottery is of the same Celtic family
found in Spain, showing a western source. The suggestion lately put
forward that these may have come into Egypt from the East is wholly
baseless. It is in Spain and the allied Celtic pottery of Europe that
we find the types which were brought into Egypt by the rude invaders
at the close of the XIIth Dynasty. So that a connection of the western
barbaric culture of the bronze age with the close of the XIIth Dynasty
must be concluded, from the evidence of similar pottery intruded into
Egypt, and associated in graves with the objects of that age.
[Illustration: FIG. 60.--Celtic and pan-grave pottery and ornament.
Central Europe. Yorkshire. (_J. Anth. Inst._ xxxii., pl. xxvii.)
South Spain. (_Rev. Arch._ xxxv. 121–2.)
Diospolis, Egypt. (_Diospolis_, xxxviii., xl.)]
It is probably then to the same invaders that we should look for the
source of the black incised ware (Fig. 61) with patterns filled with
white, and of characteristically western--Italic or Greek--forms, which
is found in Kahun in the XIIth Dynasty, and in burials at Khataaneh
of the XIIIth Dynasty. It is the latest stage of a class of imported
pottery which recurs at intervals from the early prehistoric age
onwards. A piece of this pottery was found in one of the “pan graves,”
thus linking it with the other foreign pottery brought in at that
period. It has been found at Hissarlik in the lowest levels, in Bosnia
at Butmir, and of prehistoric to XIIIth Dynasty age in Egypt.
[Illustration: FIG. 61.--Black incised pottery, with white filling.]
[Illustration: FIG. 62.--Buttons of ivory, carnelian, glazed steatite,
etc. VIIth Dyn.
The upper row with misapplied Egyptian designs.
The lower row with entirely un-Egyptian designs. 2:3.]
[Sidenote: VIth to IIIrd Dynasties.]
On going back another stage to the Old Kingdom, of the IVth to VIth
Dynasties, we still find links between Egypt and the West. In the
VIth dynasty is found a class of non-Egyptian buttons (Fig. 62) with
devices, which in some cases may have been used as seals; more than a
hundred of these are now known, and in no case are they of Egyptian
fabric, as when an Egyptian subject was copied it was always in a
mistaken manner. Now a close parallel to many of the designs is found
on Cretan engraved stones, and it is therefore to that civilisation
that we must look for the source of a considerable foreign importation,
which probably accompanied a movement of population at the overthrow
of the civilisation of the Old Kingdom. The actual incomers may have
passed by sea from the islands, or by land along Africa.
On turning to Crete we see in the noble lamp with lotus capital found
at Knossos, a type which cannot have been derived from anything that
we know of the XIIth Dynasty in Egypt. The free buds around the band
had long since become lost at that time; and even in the Vth Dynasty on
the Abusir capital they are less distinct. A form belonging to the Vth
Dynasty is the only one that is at all likely to have been the origin
of this fine Cretan capital. Again a vase with two handles from Knossos
is certainly an exact copy in local stone, of the regular Egyptian type
of the Old Kingdom, which was quite unknown later. And two pieces of
the brims of bowls, one of Egyptian diorite, the other of liparite,
are of exactly the type made in the close of the IIIrd Dynasty at
Medum, and in the early IVth Dynasty at Gizeh; this might perhaps last
until the Vth Dynasty, but we could not suppose it to come later, as
it would have been quite out of the run of later forms. The copying of
motives and forms which passed entirely out of use, is a strong form
of evidence; a single object might survive to later times, but for a
form to be copied it must be the familiar and usual form at the time
when the copy is made. Hence we cannot place the familiarity with these
Egyptian types in Crete later than the Vth or perhaps IVth Dynasty.
Still earlier, the Western influence on Egypt is seen by the black
incised bowls, of which one piece was found inside a mastaba of the
time of Sneferu (end of IIIrd Dynasty), and another piece between two
mastabas of about the same age at Dendereh, where it must have been
buried in sand at the period of the building. Another piece of such
black incised pottery was found in the tomb of King Zer of the Ist
Dynasty; see Fig. 61.
[Sidenote: Ist Dynasty, Aegean.]
This brings us back to a surprising series of pieces of painted
pottery from the Royal Tombs of the Ist Dynasty (Fig. 63). The forms
are Aegean; the material, the facing, the colouring, the varieties
of pattern, all belong distinctively to the Aegean. The opinion of
Professors Furtwängler and Wolters is that these belong to the earliest
type of Island pottery. Certainly there is nothing like them found
in Egypt, except the confessedly Aegean pottery of later times. One
prehistoric Egyptian vase has been compared with them, but it has
no resemblance in form, material, facing, or colouring, and only an
approximation to one of the patterns. They stand unquestionably in line
with other Aegean ware. These pieces are found scattered in several of
the Royal Tombs; and those from the earlier tombs are of an earlier
style. Thus there is no absolute proof, but only a strong presumption,
that these belong to the age of the tombs of the Ist Dynasty.
Further evidence is, however, given by a portion of the original tomb
offerings of King Zer, which were left untouched by all the plunderers
and destroyers. In one corner-chamber of his tomb were an alabaster
vase of regular Ist Dynasty type, four pottery jars of the same age,
and nine jars of foreign ware, different in forms, in material, and in
facing, from any Egyptian pottery of that age, but agreeing in all
these characteristics with Aegean pottery, and including a vase of the
same nature as the painted pottery, but without decoration. The whole
group was cemented together by the burning of the unguents which had
been buried in the jars.
[Illustration: FIG. 63.--Pottery of earliest Aegean style. From Royal
Tombs of the Ist Dynasty, Egypt.]
Here is then a case like that of the Kamares pottery at Kahun. The
evidence is clear, there is no visible loophole for avoiding the
archaeological conclusion. And the only argument against it is that no
such pottery has been found in Greece, but only more advanced styles
of such fabric under later conditions. Now that the Knossos finds have
led all those who see their value to grant a connection in the IIIrd
or IVth Dynasty, we may soon see the fighting frontier pushed over to
include this great and distinctive group of the early Ist Dynasty.
[Sidenote: Ist Dynasty, Cretan.]
Nor does this stand alone. This year another class of foreign pottery
has been found in the ruins of the temple of Abydos, of the Ist
Dynasty, and perhaps somewhat before it (Fig. 64). The material is
unlike any in Egypt, a dense black pottery; the facing of it is usually
highly burnished, unlike Egyptian of that age; the forms are wholly
un-Egyptian, the long pointed amphora with curved neck, and the hollow
feet to vases, being unmistakably of the Greek family. Exactly similar
pottery in material and finish, is found in fragments of the later
Neolithic period at Knossos; a piece from Egypt and one from Knossos
when seen side by side seem as if they had been broken from the same
jar. The forms of the Cretan examples are not yet re-established, but
some at least are the same as the Egyptian examples. As most of the
cups of this type at Abydos had contained a brilliant red haematite
paint, it is very likely that the pottery came over as vehicles for
trade products.
Yet again in the Ist Dynasty deposit of ivory and glazed objects in the
temple of Abydos, was a cast copper figure of foreign style which is of
the same family as the copper figures found in the Diktaean cave.
[Illustration: FIG. 64.--Polished black pottery of Cretan origin.
Temple of Abydos. Dyn. I.]
[Sidenote: Prehistoric.]
And all this leads us back to the Egyptian prehistoric age. There
we see commonly painted on the pottery, and on walls of a tomb, the
large ships then in use. Some had as many as 60 oars, yet we see the
greatest of the Venetian fighting galleys had only 24 on a side. A
rowing ship is useless on the Nile, except for sometimes getting down
stream, as no rowing would suffice to take a large vessel continuously
up against the current. But the rowing galley has been the vessel of
the Mediterranean, from the French navy back to the Phoenician, and
no one knows how long before. These great vessels, which bore various
ensigns showing the ports from which they started, must have been
concerned in important business; probably trading the oil and skins
and wood one way, and the dates and corn of Egypt in return. Among
their imports were probably the foreign bowls of black incised ware,
filled in with white, which are found even as far back as near the
beginning of the prehistoric civilisation. They clearly belong to that
foreign class which is found as far apart as Spain, Bosnia, and Troy;
and the original home of this pottery has yet to be found, in that
Mediterranean region about which we are just beginning to discover our
own ignorance.
If at present our evidence of connection between Egypt and the West,
before the XIIth Dynasty, rests upon the identity of styles and
fabrics, we must remember how that same class of evidence in later
periods has been amply reinforced by dated objects with inscriptions,
found in most unequivocal positions. And we may then at last reach the
conception that after all, civilisation started at much the same time
all round the Mediterranean, but advanced rather sooner in Egypt than
on the northern shores.
In this study of the facts which link together the early history of
Europe with that of Egypt, we have now seen the varied sources and
values of the different kinds of archaeological evidence; and the modes
by which the accumulation of different evidences may reinforce the
conclusions, and render them more exact.
CHAPTER XIII
THE ETHICS OF ARCHAEOLOGY
[Sidenote: Individual rights.]
At first sight, ethics might not seem to have more to do with
archaeology than with chemistry or astronomy. Yet even in those
subjects an entire monopoly of some useful material, or the destruction
of the only records of irreplaceable observations, would bring in
serious questions of individual right. It is notorious what a large
element of conduct is involved in biology, where species are being
destroyed every year, where the rabbit and the thistle have been
wantonly made the curse of a continent, and where a mixture is taking
place which will efface the results of ages of segregation. In
archaeology there is perhaps a greater range of ethical questions,
of the individual _versus_ the community, than in any other science.
And the results of action are the more serious as the material is
very limited, and perhaps no other chance of observation may ever
occur. In most sciences the opportunity of experiment and observation
is unlimited. If an alloy is spoiled it can be remade at once, if a
star is not examined to-night it may be next night, if a plant is not
grown this year it may be next year. But Theodoric’s gold armour
once melted, we shall never know what it was like; the heads of the
Parthenon statues once burnt to lime, are gone for ever; or the Turin
papyrus once broken up, we can hardly hope ever to recover all the
history it contained.
[Sidenote: Destruction.]
The destruction that has gone on, and is now going on continuously,
seems as if it could leave scarcely anything for the information of
future ages. Every year sees wiped out the remains which have lasted
for thousands of years past. Now, in our own day, the antiquities of
South Africa and of Central and South America have been destroyed as
rapidly as they can be found. Elsewhere, engineers of every nation
use up buildings as quarries or wreck them for the sake of temporary
profit, or for more legitimate purposes as in the submersion of
Philae and Nubia. Speculators, native and European, tear to pieces
every tomb they can find in the East, and sell the few showy proceeds
that have thus lost their meaning and their history. Governments set
commissioners to look after things, who leave the antiquities to
be plundered while they are living in useless ease. And the casual
discoveries that are made perish in a ghastly manner. The Saxon
regalia of Harold, the treasures of Thomas à Becket’s shrine, the
burial of Alfred, the burial of Theodoric, and the summer palace
of Pekin, have within modern memory all gone the same way as the
wonders that perished in the French sack of Rome or the Greek sack
of Persia. However we may deplore this, our present consideration is
destruction by archaeologists, and what their responsibilities are in
difficult situations. In all ages there has been destruction for gold
and valuables, and in the Renascence a ruthless seizure of marbles
and stone work. To that succeeded destruction for the sake of art,
excavations in which everything was wrecked for the chance of finding
a beautiful statue. Then in the last generation or two, inscriptions
became valued, and temple sites in Greece and in Egypt, and palaces in
Babylonia, have been turned over, and nothing saved except a stone or a
tablet which was inscribed. At last a few people are beginning to see
that history is far wider than any one of these former aims, and that,
if ever we are to understand the past, every fragment from it must be
studied and made to tell all it can.
But still there continues the plundering of sites in the interest
of show museums, where display is thought of before knowledge, as
is unhappily the case in many national collections. To secure an
attractive specimen, a tomb will be wrecked, a wall destroyed, a temple
dragged to pieces and its history lost, a cemetery cleared out with no
record of its burials. And when carefully authenticated and recorded
specimens reach museums, their fate is not yet a safe one, especially
in local museums. Stones will be built into walls, and ruined by the
damp bringing salt out; objects are left to drop to pieces from lack of
chemical knowledge, or from the official dread of the responsibility
of doing right instead of allowing wrong. Information is deliberately
destroyed; labels are thrown away or heaped together out of the way
in a glass case where the objects are artistically displayed, with no
more history than if they had come from a dealer. Groups of things,
whose whole value consists in their collocation as they were found, are
scattered up and down a museum as if they had no meaning. Or priceless
antiquities will be left out for years of exposure to weather, as
certain sculptures were in London, until at last they received worthy
safeguarding in defiance of the Treasury. Unhappily far too many of
those who are responsible for keeping the things which have at last
reached a haven, need educating in the elements of their profession.
[Sidenote: Restoration.]
This leads to another difficult question, that of restoration. The
horrible destruction which has gone on under that term is now somewhat
recognised, after much, or most, of the original buildings of our
ancestors have disappeared beneath scraping and recutting, so that
we only possess a copy of what has been. And in museums till within
the last few years, statues were so elaborately built up out of what
was--or was not--to be had, that it is often a difficult preliminary
study to set aside the shams. In the Louvre there is the honesty of
stating how much has been added to the original; and the list is
sometimes so long that it is hard to make out what gave the first
idea to the restorer for building up his work. Yet in many cases some
mere supports are needful, and the best museums now make such helps
as distinct as possible from the original. The only full solution of
the matter is the great extension of the use of casts; and the ideal
museum of sculpture would have the originals untouched on one side of a
gallery, and the full restoration of casts of the same things on the
other side.
[Sidenote: Sacrifices.]
When we stand face to face with a problem like that, of the Forum at
Rome there rise a multitude of questions which have intricate and
far-reaching solutions. The removal of the latest of the pavements of
the Forum has been bitterly resented. The Sacred Way is gone, and what
is there for sentiment to dwell on! Yet who would reasonably prefer the
Lower Empire to the Twelve Caesars? And then is not the Republic still
more interesting and less known? And then the Kings hold a prerogative
of glamour to every schoolboy; and what was Rome before the Kings?
We see the inevitable result of such a crowd of interests, in the
honeycomb of pits and planks and tunnels and iron girders which now
bewilder the visitor, where formerly he walked down the Sacred Way and
blessed his soul in romantic peace.
Now this elaborate treatment is most desirable, but is scarcely
attainable unless there is a strong public interest, and a government
willing to carry out proper conservation. Let us turn to a different
set of conditions, as at the temple of Osiris at Abydos. There were
more than a dozen different levels of building; all the lower ones
only of mud brick; the whole of the lower levels under the high Nile,
and certain to be a mud swamp so soon as the Nile rose next summer. To
treat such a place like the Forum would have involved enormous iron
substructure layer under layer, and a wide drying area for hundreds
of yards around, at a cost of certainly five figures. No one would be
likely to give a hundredth of the cost to attain that end. If any
part were left without clearing to the bottom, the next high Nile
would make entire pudding of it. And so the permanent preservation of
such a site was impossible. All that could be done whenever it was
begun, was to dig it in as dry a season as possible, when the water
was at its lowest; to clear it entirely to water level; and to make
plans, levelling, and records, of every wall and every detail, removing
everything that stood in the way of going lower. Henceforward that
temple site, instead of existing in unseen layers of solid earth,
exists only on paper.
[Sidenote: Responsibility.]
Now here is a great responsibility. Whatever is not done in such an
excavation can never be done. The site is gone for ever; and who knows
what further interests and new points of research may be thought of
in future, which ought to have received attention. Are we justified
morally in thus destroying a temple site, a cemetery, a town, while we
may feel certain that others would see more in it in future? If a site
would continue untouched, and always equally open to research, it would
be wrong to exhaust such places. But what are the conditions? In Egypt
sites are continually passing under cultivation, and once cultivated
no one would ever know more about them. They are being continually dug
away for earth to spread on the fields, and all that lies in them is
scattered and lost. The stonework is continually the prey of engineers
and lime-burners. The Nile is always rising, so that every few
centuries makes ground inaccessible that was previously out of water.
And the probable movement of invention and appliances will most likely
bring under cultivation in future most of the cemetery sites which are
now bare desert. In the last few years most of the cemetery and temple
sites of Nubia have been blotted out by the new lake for irrigation.
Further, on any site of cemetery, temple, or town which is known to
contain anything, the native will dig by night if he cannot do so by
day, and will leave nothing but a wreck behind. It is sadly unlikely
that there will be anything left to excavate in Egypt a century
hence; all the known sites will be exhausted in twenty years more at
the present rate. A thousand years hence--a trifle in the history of
Egypt--people will look back on these present generations as the golden
days when discoveries came thickly year by year, and when there was
always something to be found. And therefore the best thing that can be
done under all these conditions is to work with the fullest care and
detail in recording, to publish everything fully, and to then trust the
history of Egypt to a few hundred copies of books instead of to solid
walls and hidden cemeteries. The destruction which is needful to attain
knowledge is justified if the fullest knowledge is obtained by it, and
if that is so safely recorded that it will not again be lost. The only
test of right is the procuring the greatest amount of knowledge now and
in future.
[Sidenote: Rights of the future.]
Here we are landed in a question on which very different positions
are taken. What are the rights of the future? Why should we limit our
action, or our immediate benefit or interest, for the sake of the
future? If ever this question comes into practical dealings, it does
so in historical work. Any one who is above the immediate consideration
of food and starvation, does consider the future. Our public buildings
are preserved for the use of coming generations; our libraries and
museums are largely for the benefit of those yet unborn. Was not the
future of England the great charge, the inspiring aim of Alfred, of
Edward I, of William III? Do we not even now spend ungrudgingly for the
great future of our colonies? In every direction we unquestioningly
assume that the future has its rights; that distant generations of our
own flesh and blood are far more to us than present millions of other
races; that the knowledge, the possessions, the aims, that we have
inherited are but a trust to be passed on to the nation yet to be.
And to those who live not only in the present but also in past ages by
insight and association, the transitory stewardship of things becomes
the only view possible. In this generation I possess a gem, a scarab,
a carving: it is almost indestructible, it may be lost for a time but
will reappear again a thousand, five thousand, twenty thousand years
hence in some one else’s hands, and be again a delight and a revelation
of past thought, as it is to-day. We have no right to destroy or
suppress what happens just for the present to be in our power. To do so
is to take the position of a Vandal in the sack of Rome.
[Sidenote: Rights of the past.]
The past also has its rights, though statues may be misappropriated
and churches be “restored.” A work that has cost days, weeks, or
years of toil has a right to existence. To murder a man a week before
his time we call a crime; what are we to call the murder of years
of his labour? Or, without touching life, what difference is there
between putting a man in prison for a year so that he cannot work, and
destroying a year’s work when it is done? If anything, the balance is
in favour of preventing rather than destroying his work. Every monument
we see has been lovingly intended, carefully carved, piously erected,
in hopes that it would last. And who are we to defeat all that thought
and labour? Every tablet, every little scarab, is a portion of life
solidified;--so much will, so much labour, so much living reality. When
we look closely into the work we seem almost to watch the hand that did
it; this stone is a day, a week, of the life of some living man. I know
his mind, his feeling, by what he has thought and done on this stone.
I live with him in looking into his work, and admiring, and valuing
it. Shall I then turn on him like a wild beast and kill so much of his
life? Surely if we would draw back from wiping out a few years of the
life of some man with whom we have no sympathies, far more should we
shrink from even hurting the beautiful and cherished result of the life
of a man whose mind we admire and honour in his work. I give my life
to do so much work in it, and if I were to know that every night the
work of the day would be annihilated, I had rather be relieved of the
trouble of living. In all worth, in all realness, the life of past men
preserved to us has rights as veritably as the life of present men.
The work of the archaeologist is to save lives; to go to some senseless
mound of earth, some hidden cemetery, and thence bring into the
comradeship of man some portions of the lives of this sculptor, of
that artist, of the other scribe; to make their labour familiar to us
as a friend; to resuscitate them again, and make them to live in the
thoughts, the imaginations, the longing, of living men and women; to
place so much of their living personality current side by side with our
own labours and our own thoughts. And has not the past its rights, as
well as the present and the future?
What care then, what conscience, must be put into the work of
preserving as much as possible of the past lives which those about
us are wishing to know and to share in. The mummy of Rameses or of
Thothmes, the portrait of the builder of the great pyramid (Fig.
65), or of the Pharaoh of the Exodus (Fig. 66) is a permanent mental
possession of all cultivated mankind, as long as our literature shall
last. The knowledge of the growth of the great civilisation of Egypt,
from the days of men clad in goat-skins to the height of its power, has
all been reconstructed in the past ten years, and will be part of the
common stock of our knowledge of man, so long as civilisation continues.
[Illustration: Fig. 65. The Builder of the Great Pyramid.]
[Illustration: Fig. 66. The Pharaoh of the Exodus.]
[Sidenote: Duties.]
With the responsibilities before us of saving and caring for this past
life of mankind, what must be our ethical view of the rights and duties
of an archaeologist? Conservation must be his first duty, and where
needful even destruction of the less important in order to conserve
the more important. To uncover a monument, and leave it to perish
by exposure or by plundering, to destroy thus what has lasted for
thousands of years and might last for thousands to come, is a crime.
Yet it is the incessant failing of the thoughtless amateur, who
knows nothing of the business; and far too often also the inexcusable
malpractice of those who know better. To wantonly destroy a monument
by cutting pieces out, whether to put them in a museum or to hide
them in a pile of curiosities, is unjustifiable if the whole can be
preserved entire. In the case of only fragments remaining, a selection
often must be chosen; yet even then copies of the whole of the material
should be made and published all together. To unearth whole tombs or
chambers full of objects, whether in an Egyptian cemetery or a Roman
camp, and neglect to record and publish the facts of the position or
groups of the objects, should debar the inefficient explorer from ever
touching such places again. To remove things without ascertaining all
that is possible about their age, meaning, and connections, is as
inexcusable as it is easy. To undertake excavating, and so take the
responsibilities for preserving a multitude of delicate and valuable
things, unless one is prepared to deal with them efficiently, both
mechanically and chemically, is like undertaking a surgical operation
in ignorance of anatomy. To turn over a site without making any plans,
or recording the positions and relations of things, may be plundering,
but it is not archaeology. To remove and preserve only the pretty and
interesting pieces, and leave the rest behind unnoticed, and separated
from what gave them a value and a meaning, proves the spirit of a
dealer and not that of a scholar. To leave a site merely plundered,
without any attempt to work out its history, to see the meaning of the
remains found, or to publish what may serve future students of the
place or the subject, is to throw away the opportunities which have
been snatched from those who might hate used them property.
To suppose that excavating--one of the affairs which needs the widest
knowledge--can be taken up by persons who are ignorant of most or all
of the technical requirements, is a fatuity which has led, and still
leads, to the most miserable catastrophes. Far better let things lie
a few centuries longer under the ground, if they can be let alone,
than repeat the vandalisms of past ages without the excuse of being a
barbarian.
[Sidenote: Future of Museums.]
We must always have regard to what may be the condition of sites and
of knowledge five hundred or five thousand years hence. For if you
will deal with thousands of years you must take thousands of years
into account. If a site is certain to be destroyed by natural causes,
or the cupidity of man, then an imperfect examination and a defective
record of it is better than none. But to ensure the fullest knowledge,
and the most complete preservation of things, in the long run, should
be the real aim. To raid the whole of past ages, and put all that we
think effective into museums, is only to ensure that such things will
perish in course of time. A museum is only a temporary place. There is
not one storehouse in the world that has lasted a couple of thousand
years. Only two or three bronze statues have come down to us from
classical times preserved by each generation. A few pieces of gold work
have been treasured for a little over a thousand years, but only in
North Italy. And the whole of our present active clearance of things,
that have hitherto lasted safe underground for six thousand years or
more, practically ensures that they shall not last one thousand longer.
The gold work will be the first thing to disappear, as it is even now
disappearing every few years from museums into the melting-pot. And it
is a serious question whether we are morally justified in thus ensuring
its destruction by exposure. As a counsel of perfection I should like
to see twenty electrotypes made of every bit of ancient gold and
silver work, and these dispersed over all countries. It might then be
considered whether it would not be a noble act to bury the whole of the
gold where it would cost a national undertaking to recover it, say in a
hundred fathoms of water, and so preserve it for future ages, when only
a few wrecks of the electrotypes would have survived. The future of the
rest of museum treasures cannot so certainly be anticipated. Bronze is
sure to disappear in warfare sooner or later, especially as metals grow
scarcer owing to exhaustion of mines. Ivories will probably vanish,
like most fragile things, by mechanical damage. Pottery and vases will
go the same way as the museum of Kertch, which was bashed to pieces
by a disappointed European soldiery. Stone carving has a promise of
longer life, especially if it is reused in buildings, and so saved from
exposure and wear; for instance, whenever the Baptistry of Pisa may
fall to pieces, a mine of Latin inscriptions will come to light. But,
broadly speaking, there is no likelihood that the majority of things
now in museums will yet be preserved anything like as long as they
have already lasted. The hordes of anarchy and of Asia have never left
Europe alone for more than a few centuries.
[Sidenote: Publications.]
It is then to the written record, and the published illustrations,
that the future will have mainly to look. Our books will probably not
last more than a few hundred years; and it will be reprints of the
most valued, and summaries of the others that will be the sources of
knowledge in the future thousands. The wide spread of publications in
different countries, which are never likely to all undergo eclipses
simultaneously, is the best guarantee for the permanence of knowledge.
But by the time the First Dynasty has doubled its age, we cannot
expect, that the greater part of our record of it will still be
known. Certainly the inefficient and inconclusive books will vanish
first; and the more compact and generally used a work is, the longer
are its chances of life. We must always remember therefore that in
archaeological work we are removing what would be as solid proof
to future ages as it is now to us; and we are trusting all future
knowledge of the facts to inflammable paper, and the goodwill of
successive generations, many of whom may have very different interests.
Had any past age of civilisation dug up and removed every trace of the
earlier times, and committed all the results to their literature, we
should not be able to learn anything but some brief summary, nor glean
but a few trifling fragments, which would have lost their meaning and
connection.
[Sidenote: State Claims.]
And here we come against another large ethical question of the rights
of the individual against the community, in the claim made by the state
to interfere with property in antiquities, in ways in which it does
not interfere with any other property. From past ages the English law
has claimed for the Crown all treasure accidentally discovered. Such a
law is the best way to ensure that no such discoveries are made known,
and to drive the finder to put all such treasures in the melting pot.
The actual gain to the Crown is ignorably trivial, certainly not an
average of a thousand pounds a year; yet, in order to grab this trifle,
the law drove all such treasures to destruction. At last an improvement
was made by the Crown only demanding specimens needed for the national
collection, and paying intrinsic value for them. Even some old
candlesticks, the proceeds of an XVIIIth century burglary, were claimed
when accidentally found.
And when the state does not claim, the landlord or tenant makes a
claim, which is just as bad, as such claims lead workmen always to
conceal and sell surreptitiously the antiquities which are continually
found in all working in old towns. The only law which could act for
the full preservation of antiquities would be the grant of the entire
rights to the finder if he proclaims his find, but no rights in what
he does not proclaim. The actual average gains of an average landlord
_per annum_ by discoveries of antiquities are at present incalculably
small, probably not a farthing in the pound on the rental or anything
near that. Hence there would be no perceptible loss by granting finds
to the finder; and everything would be saved and preserved as it was
found. At least a beginning could be made by landlords and public
bodies offering full intrinsic value for any gold and silver found on
their premises; they could not lose by that, and they might gain large
profits in the archaeological value of things. To suppose that (without
great precautions) they can get the whole value of finds by simply
claiming them, is fatuous.
This same fatuous idea pervades many governments. It is thought that
by simply making a law, digging can be prevented, or antiquities can
be kept in a country. Such laws merely enforce an extensive illicit
system, through which valuable and important things can readily be
removed in defiance of law, whenever they are found. There is not a
country from which any antiquity could not be removed by sufficient
care in smuggling. Every national museum has its underground feeders,
knows how to defeat the laws of other countries, and incessantly grows
in spite of laws. To seize property without paying its real value
is seldom a profitable proceeding in the long run, and that is what
every government tries to do with antiquities. The Italian government
has confiscated a large part of the values of private collections, by
forbidding the exportation of any important picture or statue. And yet
such things can and do leave Italy. The Greek government, as well as
the Turkish, forbid the exportation of any and every kind of antiquity;
yet fine things from both lands continually come over to the West.
[Sidenote: State Rights.]
These confiscatory laws, these claims on private property on behalf
of the state, are more or less illogical nibblings on a wide claim
which no state has ventured yet to formulate,--namely, that all
objects of past generations are public property. This means, if
fully carried out, that no person can own any object of antiquity as
private property. No private collections would be possible in such a
condition, all would belong to the state. Of course there is a huge
amount of material which is duplicate, and not needed in a national
collection; but the state claims would be maintained if all collections
must be placed in a public building, (such as a local museum) where
they could be seen. The energy of collectors, the transfer of specimens
from one to another, would not be stopped, only the objects would be
compulsorily visible in a public place. And everything wanted for a
national collection would be transferred. This condition of things is
slowly being reached by the state buying important objects continually,
when they are sold on changing hands. But the logical outcome of the
present laws and present tendency would be this nationalisation of all
antiquities. Whether such a result would be satisfactory at all points
may be doubted; but it is clearly a position to which all changes at
present tend. If fully and honourably carried out by the state paying
the finder full value for all it took, and giving up confiscation of
all sorts, the result would probably be the best that could happen for
archaeology.
One great result of defining the position thus, would be to prevent any
ancient buildings being destroyed or altered without state consent. If
every structure, say, over five hundred years old, needed three months’
notice to an inspector before it could be pulled down or dealt with,
there would be a great check on the present changes. Every cathedral
and church, every castle and manor-house, would need special licence
for changes in all parts older than the prescribed limit. A notice of
one week might be required for the destruction of structures as yet not
known, which were unearthed in course of digging. Such a protection of
monuments would not affect vested interests or property values nearly
as much as an ordinary railway bill that passes through Parliament
without a protest; and it seems not too much to hope that such a
protection of all monuments of historic interest might be carried out.
The legal position might take the form of pronouncing all ancient
buildings, stone circles, and earthworks the ultimate property of the
Crown, with the existing owners having full powers as trustees for the
Crown to preserve, use, and enjoy such property, and to sell or devise
such trusteeship in every way as if the property was not beyond the age
limit of private property. Only the right of destruction and alteration
would be reserved.
A state register of works of art is desired by Professor Ernest
Gardner, who proposes that (1) the ownership of works of ancient art
and sculptures and pictures by great masters should be entered on a
register in charge of a public registrar; (2) the registrar should have
a right to see to the safety of such objects; (3) any fairly qualified
scholar may apply to be entered on a register of students kept by the
registrar; (4) owners of registered works must fix times for exhibition
to students or to the public, or else a registered student must be
allowed to see any work within a reasonable period; (5) the owner, if
absent, must appoint some one to preserve and exhibit such works; (6)
in case of sale of a work to a foreign country, the government shall
have the option of retaining it at the price fixed for the sale.
[Sidenote: Excavating Laws.]
The attitude of foreign governments regarding scientific excavating has
not been happy. Too often the prohibitions have been used not in the
interests of archaeology, but for promoting plundering. Because it is
easy to drop on an open excavation, all regular excavations have been
fenced with severe difficulties and costs; while in Greece and Turkey
none of the proceeds have been allowed to the finder. On the other
hand, it is difficult to always drop on a surreptitious native, and the
sympathy of the courts--in Egypt at least--is openly on the side of
the plundering native, who is seldom punished for anything. Hence the
curious situation is that the whole values of the property have been
solely created by the labours and study of the archaeologist; yet he is
almost debarred from using the material which an ignorant peasant may
dig and destroy as he pleases.
The form of law which is wanted is (1) the punishment of all
destruction or removal of antiquities, by a special court, independent
of local sympathies or favouring of the plunderer; (2) the rigid
requirement of technical knowledge and ability in those who excavate,
with the condition that everything is published promptly, and that
nothing found can be sold or pass except into a public museum; (3)
the right of the government of each country to such objects as are
necessary to the national collection, on reimbursing whatever may have
been given as bakhshish to the finder, and some proportion of the costs
according to the case.
CHAPTER XIV
THE FASCINATION OF HISTORY
The love of past times, the craving for that which is gone, is one of
the more obscure instincts which appears to be brought forward by the
wider growth of interests of the mind. It takes many forms; it appeals
to the intellect, to the curiosity, to the affections; yet it is really
a single instinct, and one which, from its strength, must spring from a
primal cause.
The sense of loss touches us at every sunset, and in anticipation
tinges all the afternoon with the sense of lengthening shadows. Even
the things that seem most common, least worthy, when in use, all gain
some being as time passes. Each little thing, that carelessly we value
not at first, grows rich with store of years. As Antony says--
You all do know this mantle: I remember
The first time ever Caesar put it on;
’Twas on a summer’s evening in his tent,
That day he overcame the Nervii.
Still more do places gain their hold upon us, unheeded at the time.
A store of memories of days spent amid strong associations, that
stirred and built the mind, are the truest riches in all after-life.
We dwell upon those portions of the past, those days at Athens, or
Florence, or in the Forum, as on a treasure; they are a portion of our
life crystallised into the structure of our thoughts--a haven of the
imagination.
And how much deeper still is the sense of the past when we turn to
friends,--or even closer yet. One whom perhaps we hardly heeded in our
daily life, is dignified at once by the irrevocable. But all this is
merely our personal regret: the direct, selfish, individual interest.
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me.
Let us step from this out into the past beyond our personal touch. See
now a churchyard, tall in grass, with the dial on its stand, which each
generation has passed by--how full of memories of gone years it is,
how the eye clings to its weathered disc and minds that so it was on
the day of Trafalgar or the Boyne; while by its side is the old carved
sarcophagus tomb of some Turkey merchant, silently showing his virtues
to each changing time, and calming the mind with quiet age. We love
such for the sake of the past, which draws us to its bosom to make one
more link in the long chain.
And pass inside the church, where Tudor and Edwardian, and Norman and
Saxon, have each poured out their souls; in which every stone seems
saturated with their longings; where pleadings and rejoicings seem to
mutely fill the dead air; where the walls have echoed every bride and
every infant and every mourner through all the changing generations;
where _Fæder ure_ has yielded to _pater noster_ before even our
familiar supplications were ever heard. This indeed holds us as if it
were a place where we can actually live with the past selves that have
made us, and be at one with those who would have craved to see us in
the ages beyond them.
And if past loves and hopes seem thus to give their life to the
lasting walls, how fearful is the breath of terror that clings round
every stone of the Colosseum. One single mangled death there made ten
thousand fiends of men who sat on those benches; and every year had
its thousands of such agonies, through all the centuries. The mass of
horror beyond all thought that dwells in that arena, is only exceeded
by the thousandfold fire of cruelty that has burnt on those seats
around. The place is hell petrified.
And, within a stone’s throw of that, how the whole past, from which our
present ages have sprung, lives before us in the Forum. The triumphs
where the beauty of Greek art served but to make the clumsy westerner
gape; where the noblest blood of other lands,--Perseus, Caractacus,
Zenobia,--has stood abased; where the barbaric Goth has fiercely joyed
in splendid pillage of its wondrous wealth; where Theodoric and Karl
had each hoped to restore the shattered decay, with the rough material
of their own kin, which needed yet a thousand years of hewing; a space
of greater hopes and dreads, greater successes and failures, than any
other acre that we know.
And yet, before all this, there passed age after age of men, who built
up civilisations which we just begin to perceive. The golden splendour
of Mykenae, the earlier magnificence of Minoan Knossos, the delicate
wares of still older Crete, all live with the same life as ourselves,
all are precious to us as if we had made them, all make us fellow minds
with those who thought and fashioned and treasured such things in like
manner to ourselves.
Turn now to our own land, and on a wide western moor stand within a
ring of grey stones, which our own flesh and blood there placed in
faith and trust, for something greater than the cares of daily life;
so far from us in generations, so far from us in thoughts, that we can
hardly grasp the pulse of the same life with them, and feel what they
felt. Yet it draws us like those sounds which were the first music to
man, the sough of the wind in the wood, and the lap of the wave on the
shore, ever the sweetest yet to ourselves. And the grey stones still
touch us and bind our thoughts and our love of all our forefathers to
themselves in elemental memories.
What underlies all this fascination of the past? What is it that thus
moves men
In thinking of the days that are no more?
It is the same great attraction, whether it be a personal memory, or
the being of our forefathers, or a page strong with past life in some
history, or the handling of the drinking bowls of the oldest kings of
the earth as they come from the dust of Egypt. It is but one sense in
varied forms. It is the love of life.
In primal seas first sprang that love of life,--of preservation, of
continuity of life. Even long before man it led to the moral growth
of self-sacrifice, of affection, of social union. In man it led the
Stoic on to the brotherhood of all men, and the responsibility of
man for man. It has led the modern forward to the brotherhood of all
existing life, the responsibility for the animal as well as the man.
It now leads us on to clinging to the life of our ancestors, their
being, and their natures; and beyond that to the fascination of all
history, as being the continuity of life, the ever-shifting changes of
the one great chain which we see around us at its present stage, and
of which we form part. The man who knows and dwells in history adds a
new dimension to his existence; he no longer lives in the one plane
of present ways and thoughts, he lives in the whole space of life,
past, present, and dimly future. He sees the present narrow line of
existence, momentarily fluctuating, as one stage, like innumerable
other stages that have each been the all-important present to the
short-sighted people of their own day. He values the present as the
most complete age of history for study, as explaining the past. He
values the past as the long continuity that has brought about the
result of the present, in which he happens to breathe. He lives in all
time; the ages are his, all live alike to him; the present is not more
real than the past, any more than the room in which he sits is more
real than the rest of the world. Cleaving to that one stream of life
which branch by branch has flowed through so many channels in all the
ages, and still runs on into the future, he can give account of the
Fascination of History.
INDEX
Ab-nub-mes-uazet-user statuette, 158
Abusir lotus capital, 163
Abydos, Osireion, chain clearing, _frontispiece_
„ temple, black pottery, 166
„ „ copper figure, 166
„ „ excavation of, 173
Account keeping, 35–37
Accumulations of town, rate of, 9, 11
Accuracy in levelling, 59
„ „ observing, 50
„ „ recording, 49–50
Accusations against workmen, 40
Adjustment of stuff in moving, 42
„ „ vase-fragments, 70–71
Advances of money, 35
Adzes, dating of, 14
Aegean pottery, 145–170
Age of objects in plate-heading, 115
„ „ towns, 11
Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV), 147, 148, 152, 154, 155
Alignment of drawings, 115
Amateur digging, 1, 3, 48, 179, 180
Amenhotep II, 148
„ III, 139, 145, 148, 152, 153–155
„ IV (Akhenaten), 147, 148, 152, 154, 155
America, possible saving of history by, 134
Amphora, Cretan, 166
Ancient civilisations, 191–192
Angles, calculation of, 57, 58
„ of vases measured, 71, 103
Antiquities, exportation of, 184
„ exposure of, 172
„ nationalisation of, 185
„ preservation of, 85–104
„ sale of, 187
„ securing of, 33
„ smuggling of, 184
„ thrown away, 132
Approaches to site of work, 28
Arabic, necessity for, 6
Archaeological duties, 177–178
„ evidence, 136–168
„ experience, 3, 4, 14
„ responsibilities, 170, 178
Archaeology, classical, 2
„ conditions of progress, 130
„ hindered by present museums, 130
„ mistakes in, 139–140
„ narrow definition of, 2
„ progress depends on space, 133
„ systematic, 122–135
Architecture, photographing of, 74, 75, 78
Arrangement of objects, 79
„ „ plates, 114–117
„ „ text, 119–120
„ „ work, 41–47
„ with publishers, 120
Athenaeus confirmed, 143
Author’s alterations, 120–121
Autotypes, 119
Awls, 113
Azab, wooden floor of, 77
Backgrounds for photography, 79
Backing of frescoes, 96–98
_Bakhshish_, 33–35, 188
„ accounts, 35
Banking accounts of men, 35
Barrels for soaking stones, 86
Bases of vases drawn, 70–71
„ „ „ sorted, 103
Basket-boys, and picks, 31–32
Baskets, 33, 44–45
Beads, 14, 15
„ pattern of, 52, 95, 96
„ position of, 52, 95
„ seldom of mixed ages, 150
Bead-work, 95
Beeswax, 66, 67, 71, 80, 90, 95, 102
Bell, 113
Benzol, 92
„ wax in, 91
Black incised ware, 160–162, 163–164, 167
„ velvet for backgrounds, 79
Blank sheets in spacing drawings, 63
Block-tints for vases, 70
Blocks returned after use, 121
„ zinc, 68
Blotting-paper, 89
Boats, prehistoric, 167
Bone point, 98
Bones, cleaning of, 76
„ marking, 51
„ preserving, 90
Bonsor, discoveries in Spain, 159–160
Book-post for drawings, 64
„ seller, 121
Bosnia, black incised ware, 161, 162, 167
Boxes, grain of wood in, 110
„ making of, 109–111
„ nailing of, 110
„ nests of, 109, 113
„ with bars, 106
Box-sextant, 55–56, 113
Boys, ages of, 20–21
„ chain of, 44, _front._
„ collecting, 44
„ in work, 24
„ throwing, 44
„ use of, 32
Brace and bits, 113
Bracelet of Zer, 80
Brass, treatment of, 100
Brick, burnt, 10
„ mounds, 10
„ walls, tracing of, 46–47
„ -work, 9
Bricks, age of, 47
„ colour of, 46
„ size of, 47, 52
Brims of vases drawn, 70–71
„ „ „ sorted, 103
British Museum, growth of, 134
Bronze, destruction of, 181
„ hypocephalus, 76
„ statues, preservation of, 180
„ treatment of, 100–101
„ vases, Idaean cave, 155
Brunswick black, marking with, 52
Brushes, 91, 98, 112, 113
Brushing, 86, 87, 89, 98, 100
Bügelkanne, _see False-necked vases_
Builder of Great Pyramid, 178
Buildings, destruction of, 185–186
„ photographing, 75, 78
„ planning, 52–55
„ restoration of, 172, 185
Burials, primary and secondary, 52
„ undisturbed, 12
Burnt groups, 145–146
„ papyri, 95
Buttons of VI–VII Dyn., 162
Buttresses left in digging, 30
Cairo museum a failure, 131
„ rubbish-mounds, 11
Calculation of angles, 57
Camel-hair brush, 91, 98
„ transport, 112
Camera, 73–75
„ copying-, 81
„ direction of, 80
„ hand-, 74, 75
„ -legs, 81
„ pattern of, 73–74
„ setting up of, 80
„ size of, 74
„ -stand, 81
Camp requirements, 6
Carbolic acid, 89, 101
Carbonised papyri, 94
Card blackened for small stops, 75
„ -board for drawing, 68
„ slips, 78
„ tube, 74
„ with concentric circles, 71
Carefulness, means of securing, 34
Carrier-boys, 30, 41, 43
Carrying, 30, 32
Cartonnage, 52
Cartridge-paper, 109, 113
Cases, grain of wood in, 110
„ making of, 109–111
„ nailing of, 110
„ with bars, 106
Casting, 64–66
„ backs of frescoes, 97–98
Casts of statues, 172–173
„ plaster, 64–66
„ „ photographing from, 77
Celluloid, 71
Celtic pottery like pan-grave, 159–160
Cementing disintegrated granite, 87
„ sculptures in walls, 86, 171
Cemetery site, nature of, 11, 12
Chain of boys, _frontispiece_, 44
Chambers, contents of, 52
„ emptying of, 44
Charcoal, 47, 80, 90
„ dust, 76
Chemical knowledge, need of, 85, 171
Chromo-lithography, 118
China ink, drawing with, 68
„ „ marking with, 52, 76
Choice of facts in recording, 49
„ „ workmen, 21
Claims of landlord, 183
„ „ State, 183–184
Classification of material, 115, 119–120
Clay moulds, 65
Cleaning of bones, 76
„ „ bronzes, 100–101
„ „ gold, 98
„ „ iron, 102
„ „ pottery, 76
„ „ silver, 98, 99
Clearance at edge, 43
„ from bottom, 42
„ of sites, 41–43, 174, 181
Clues in digging, 5
Coffin, 52
Coinage, wastage of, 150
Coin impressions, 66, 67, 77
„ restorations, 149
Coins, casting, 77
„ cleaning, 99
Cold chisel, 112, 113
Collectors, 48, 185
Collotype, 74, 118
Colossi, transport of, 107
Colour on slabs, 87
„ preservation of, 87–88
„ -printing for vases, 70
Columns, packing of, 107
Commerce, prehistoric, 167
Commission on sales, 121
Commissioners, utility of, 170
Compass, prismatic, 55, 113
Compasses, 57
Complex forms fade soon, 128
Conservation, 5, 130–135
Contracts, 121
Copper figures, 166
„ treatment of, 99
Copying graffiti, 72
„ inscriptions, 61–63, 72
„ walls, 61–63, 72
Corner-posts to boxes, 109
_Corpus_ of pottery, 124
„ system, 123–126
Cost of publication of drawings, 68, 117
„ „ „ „ photographs, 118
„ „ „ „ text, 120
Cotton, 109
„ wool, 66, 97, 107, 109
„ „ not with papyri, 94
Cretan connections, XVIII Dyn., 155
„ „ XII „ , 158
„ „ VI „ , 162
„ „ IV „ , 163
„ „ I „ , 166
Cross-bars in packing, 106
„ partitions in packing, 111
Crowbars, 33, 112
Crown property, 183, 186
Crystal, inscriptions on, 76
Cultivation of sites, 174
Curators of museums, 49, 172
Cutting down from edge of work, 42
Cutting-out knives, dating of, 15
Cylinders, impressions of, 66, 67
Damping of papyri, 93
Daphnae, 10, 13, 143–144
Dark room, 83
Dated objects, 4, 14–15, 52
Dating of adzes, 14
„ „ beads, 14
„ „ cutting-out knives, 15
„ „ mounds, 17
„ „ objects in general, 4, 14–17
Day and piece work combined, 30, 32
„ -pay, 24, 27–31
Dealers in antiquities, 3, 25, 38–39, 48
Decomposition of glazes, 88
Decoration in bead-work, 95
Defeneh, 10, 13, 143–144
Den, tomb of, 44
Dentist’s wax, 67
Deposits, foundation, 80
Desert views, 1
Destruction by wet-squeezing, 61
„ of antiquities, 170–171, 172
„ „ buildings, 10, 185–186
„ „ evidence, 48
„ „ information, 171
„ „ monuments, 179
„ „ sculptures, 86, 172
„ „ site, 174
Detail, verification of, 50
Developers, 82–83
„ proportions in, 82
Developing, 82–84
Development of tools, 14
Diagonal bars for box-lids, 106
„ driving of nails, 110, 111
„ lighting, 77
„ mirror in photographing, 75
Digging by amateurs, 1, 3, 48, 179, 180
„ purpose of, 1
„ regularity of, 28
Diktaean copper figures, 166
Dilettante work, 1, 3, 48
Diorite bowl, Crete, 163
„ statue, Crete, 158
Diospolis Parva, pottery from, 160
Direction of lighting, 77
Discoveries, age of, 175
„ casual, 170
Discrimination of sites, 9
„ „ style, 14, 17–18
„ „ walls, 46–47
Disintegration of granite, 87
„ „ stone by salt, 86
Disobedience to orders, 35
Distance from lens, 80
Distinguishing brick-walls, 46–47
Distortion in photography, 74
Divided rod, 54–55, 113
Doctoring of natives, 38
„ „ workmen, 37–38
Door-sills, 52
„ ways, 52
Double-plates, 116
Drab pottery at Mykenae, 148
Draughtsman wanted for _corpus_, 126
Drawing boards, 113
„ by lamplight, 62
„ facsimile, 5, 68
„ from squeezes, 62–63
„ interpretation in, 68
„ plan, 5, 68
„ thickness of lines in, 69, 115
„ vases from fragments, 70–71
Drawings, cutting up, 63
„ packing of, 63–64
„ posting of, 64
„ reduction of, 69
„ reproduction of, 68, 115
„ returned after use, 121
„ scales of, 69
Dressing of graves, 76–77
„ „ objects, 76
Driving of nails, 110, 111
Drop-shutter view, 75
Dry squeezes, 61–63
Ebony stain, 68
„ statuette, 78
Editions, varieties of, 119
Egypt and Europe, 141–168
_see Europe_
Electro-types, 181
Electrum, 98
El Hibeh, 9
Engineers, wrecking by, 170, 174
Engraving, Swan electric, 119
Enkomi, tombs at, 152, 154, 155, 156
Enlarged photographs, 74, 75, 80, 81
Ether, 92
Ethics of archaeology, 169–188
Europe and Egypt,
XXVI Dyn., 142–144
XVIII „ , 144–156
XII „ , 156–161
VI „ , 162, 167
IV „ , 163, 165, 167
I „ , 164–166, 167
prehistoric, 167–168
Evidence, by collocation, 139, 150
„ by scarabs and coins, 149
„ failures of, 139–140
„ from burnt groups, 145–146
„ „ copied forms, 163
„ „ houses, 148
„ „ paintings, 144–145
„ „ rubbish mounds, 147, 156–157
„ „ tombs, 150–153
„ in a single object, 138
„ nature of, 136–140
Excavation, hindrance to, 187
„ purpose of, 1
„ recording results of, 124
Excavator, qualifications of, 1–7, 19, 36, 85
„ responsibilities of, 1, 8, 174
Exhaustion, evidence by, 137, 139
„ of metals, 181
„ „ sites, 174–175
Exodus, Pharaoh of, 178
Experience, archaeological, 3–4
Exposure in photography, 75, 78, 79, 82
„ of sites, 178
Extortion by overseers, 25
Extra plates for students, 119
Faces, flaking of, 87
„ of limestone, 87, 88
Facts, stating of, 50
False-necked vases, 145, 146, 153–154
„ „ „ variation with age, 153–154
Families of workmen, 39
Fascination of history, 189–193
Files, 113
Filling, 13, 47, 52
„ and carrying, 32
Films, curling of, 83
„ packing of, 83–84
„ rapidity of, 75
Finest lines in drawing, 69
Finger-work in excavating, 6–7
Flake-white, use of, 77
Flaking of faces, 87
Flint knife obtained whole, 34–35
Flooring, wooden, 76, 77
Focus, 74–75, 80, 81
Foil, gold, 67–68
„ tin, 67
Foot-notes, 120
Foreigners’ use of plates, 116
Forms of pottery, 16–17
„ „ „ duration of, 128–129
Fort-mounds, Defeneh, 10
Forum, excavation of, 173
„ interest of, 191
„ pottery at, 126
Foundation deposit, 80
Fragments, means of securing, 34
„ method of drawing, 70–71
„ sorting and joining, 102–104
Frame for drawing vase-fragments, 70–71
„ „ supporting fresco, 96–97
„ of strings for scale-drawing, 72
„ with backing of muslin, 65
Free-swinging lens, 80
French chalk, 65
Frescoes, 52, 88, 96–97
Fuller’s earth, 92
Furniture, successive ages of, 127
Future ages, rights of, 175–176
„ condition of museums, 133
„ destruction of museums, 180–182
Gang, proportions of, 44
Gangs of workmen, 26, 27, 32
Gauging of stuff to be removed, 42
Gelatine for extracting salt, 89–90, 92
Gems, photographing, 77
Girls as workers, 23, 24, 75
Gizeh, tomb of Sem-nefer, 78
Glass background, 79
„ waxed for papyri, 94, 95
Glaze, decomposition of, 88
Glycerine, 91
Glycin, 83
Gold collar from Enkomi, 154
„ foil, 67–68, 98
„ pin, Cypriote, 155
„ preservation of, 180–181
„ treatment of, 98
„ value offered for, 184
Governments, attitude of, 183, 187
Graeco-Egyptian vases, 144
Graffiti, copying, 72
Grave, age of, by sequence-dates, 129
„ dressing of, 76–77
Greece, _see Europe_
„ conditions of work in, 26, 32, 33
Greek pottery, 17
„ workmen, 26–27
Greeks in Egypt, 142–144, 146
Grouping in museums, 132
„ of objects as evidence, 139
Groups in museums, 172
„ numbering of, 51
„ of ivories, 91
„ of objects, 48–49, 51, 69, 115, 172, 179
„ photographing of, 80, 81
Guards to plates, 116, 117
Gum, contraction of, 93
Gurob, 145, 148, 151, 152, 153, 156
Guttapercha moulds, 66
Haematite paint, 166
Hammer dressing, 105
„ light, 99
„ sledge, 112
Headings of plates, 115
Head-lines of text, 120
Head-shawls, seizure of, 39
_Helbeh_, 109
Heliogravure, 119
Hinges, 113
History, fascination of, 189–193
„ importance of, 4–5, 171, 193
„ knowledge of, 4–5
Hibeh, El, 9
Hissarlik, black incised ware, 161, 167
Holes, excavated, 43
„ in bricks, 47
Hollow feet to vases, 166
Hollows in ground, 11, 12, 13, 44
Hollows in inscriptions, 76
„ „ packing, 108
Hone-stone, 113
Honesty in workmen, 22, 34, 37
Horemheb, 147
Horizontal position, photographing, 80
Huts, mud, of excavators, 6
Hypocephalus, bronze, 76
Ialysos, tomb at, 152
Idaean cave, bronze vases, 155
„ „ carved dish, 155
Idleness, remedies for, 21, 28
Illness among workmen, 31, 37–38
Impressions of cylinders, 66
Indestructibility of small antiquities, 176
Index to books, 120
India-rubber for dry-squeezing, 63
Indications after rain, 13
„ of nature of site, 12, 13
Indices of types required, 124
Infectious illness, 38
Inking in of drawings, 61, 63, 68
„ „ „ squeezes, 61
Inks for drawing, 52, 68
Ink-writing copied, 72
„ „ photographed, 79
Inscriptions, columns and lines, 72
„ copying, 60–63, 72
„ „ before removal, 53
„ made legible, 76
„ on stone, 76
„ sanded, 76
Insight in excavating, 4–6
Inspectorship of antiquities, 185
Instantaneous shutter, 75
Instruments, use of, 54–55
Inventory-sheets for small objects, 69–70
Iron, treatment of, 102
Ironing textiles, 89
Irregularities in plates, 115
Israel stele, 62
Ivory, destruction of, 181
„ preservation of, 90–92
„ tablet of Zer, 76
Jaw, removal for measurement, 53
Jelly for extracting salt, 89–90
Jewellers’ tag-labels, 52, 113
Joining fragments, 102–104
„ sheets of drawings, 63
Jointing of brickwork, 46, 76
„ „ flooring, 76
Kahun, black incised pottery, 160
„ burials at, 151
„ rubbish mound at, 156–158
„ town site turned over, 41
Kamares pottery, 158–159
Kefti bring vases, 144
Key-plans, 53
Khataaneh, black incised ware, 160
Khufu, portrait of, 178
Khyan vase lid, 159
Kitchen-paper, 109, 113
Knife, cutting-out, development of, 15
„ dinner-, uses of, 46–47, 94
„ pen, 65, 93
Knossos, carving, 163
„ Egyptian figure from, 158
„ pottery, 158, 166
„ vase lid of Khyan, 159
„ vases from, 158, 163
Knowledge in recording, 49
„ requisite for excavating, 187
„ systematic, 123
Koptos, 151
Labelling objects, 52, 112
Labels in museums, 112, 171
„ „ packing, 112
Labourers, control of, 5, 7, 22–23
„ qualities of, 21
„ selection of, 20
„ training of, 5, 21–22
Lachish, pottery at, 17
Lamp, Cretan, 163
Languages, knowledge of, required, 5–6
Lantern-slides, 74, 81
Laws, present, concerning archaeology, 182–184
„ requisite, concerning archaeology, 185–188
Laying out for photographing, 80
Lead, treatment of, 102
Legal evidences, 136–138
„ proof accepted, 140–141
Legal uncertainties, 140–141
Length of bricks, 47
„ „ ropes, 46
Lens, distance from, 80
„ free-swinging, 76
„ wide-angle, 74
Lettering of plates, 116
Letters used for distinguishing sites, 51
Levelling-mirror, 58–59, 113
Levels of buildings, 173
„ „ pottery for dating, 144
„ „ walls, 52
Libyan influence, 159
Lids of boxes, 110
Lifting in removing, 42, 44, 45
Lighting by reflection, 78
„ in photography, 77–79
„ of museums, 131–132
Lime-burners, destruction by, 10, 174
Linen, glued, 94
Lines, thickness of, in drawing, 69
Liparite bowl, Crete, 163
List of plates, 116, 120
Lithography, chromo-, 118
„ photo-, 55, 68–70, 117
Locals according to villages, 31
„ for carrying, 30–38
Locks, 113
Logarithms, 57
Lotus capital, 163
Magnifier, use in work, 47
Maket tomb, 151–152, 156
Manuscript, readiness for printing, 120
Margins to plates, 116, 117
Market money, 35–36
Marking of bones, 51
„ „ objects, 51–52, 112
Material facts, evidence of, 137, 138
Materials, presentment of, 50–51
„ properties of, 85
Measurement, accuracy of, 55
„ in planning, 53–55
„ in photography, 80
„ of vase-fragments, 71
„ „ walls, 54
„ „ work, 28, 30
Mechanical contrivances, 33, 43, 71, 72
Medicines, 38
Mediterranean civilisation, 141–168
Medum tombs, 62–63
Memory, in excavating, 18–19
Mer-en-ptah, portrait of, 178
Metals, treatment of, 98–102
Method of plotting 3-point survey, 56
Metre rod, 54–55, 113
Mill-stones, Roman, 10
Mirror, 78, 95
„ diagonal, 75
„ levelling, 58–59, 113
Mistakes in naming objects, 3–4
„ „ publication, 117
Misuse of ropes, 45–46
Mixture of objects of various ages, 150
Monkey, violet glazed, 148
Montfaucon, 123
Moulds for casting, 60, 65–68
Mounds of fort, Defeneh, 10
„ „ town, 10, 11
„ position of, 42
„ throwing on, 41
Mounting papyri, 94
Moving of earth, 30, 43
Mud-brick mounds, 10
„ „ sun-dried, 9
„ „ walls, tracing of, 46
Museums, buildings unsuitable, 130–131
„ curators of, 49, 172
„ future of, 180–182
„ grouping in, 132–133
„ groups of objects in, 172
„ growth of, 184
„ lighting of, 131
„ methods in, 86, 95, 101
„ plundering for, 171
„ present, hinder archaeology, 130
„ preservation in, 180–182
„ requirements of, 131–135
„ sculptures in, 86, 172–173
„ space needed in, 132–135
„ unpacking in, 112
„ use of, 176
Muslin, 65
Mykenae, objects from, 140, 148, 152, 156
Mykenaean period, 127, 153
Nails, 113
„ diagonal driving of, 110, 111
„ use of, 99
Naqada, dressing of tomb, 77
National Repository needed, 133–135
Nationalisation of antiquities, 185
Native digging, 175, 187
Naukratis, 142–144
Nebireh, 142
Negatives, 82–84, 118
Negress, ebony, 78
Nekheb, goddess, 64
Neolithic vase at Knossos, 166
Net process, 118
Nile boats, 112
„ rise of, 174
Nitric acid, 92
Notation of successive ages, 127
„ „ time in work, 29
Note-taking in excavations, 52
Nubian shore, submersion of, 170, 175
Numbering of groups, 51
„ „ objects on plates, 115
„ „ plates, 117
„ „ sheets of drawings, 63–64
Numbers, printed, 70
„ scratched on, 52
Obelisks at Tanis, 9
Objects, groups of, 48–49, 51, 69, 115, 172, 179
„ inventory of, 69
„ numbering of, 51
„ outlining of, 69–70
„ position of, 50, 52, 179
„ preparing, 76
„ scale of drawing, 69
Oblique lighting, 77
Observation, 9
Oiling of moulds, 61, 66
Organization of work, 5
„ „ workmen, 5, 24, 31
Order, historical, in plates, 115
Outlining of small objects, 69–70
Overseer or _reis_, 24–26
Overlapping images, 56
Overs, 121
Packer, 111
Packing frescoes, 97
„ glass, 108
„ materials, 109
„ pottery, 108–109
„ stones, 105–108
Pads in packing, 106, 107
Page-references to plates, 116, 120
Paint-brushes, 113
„ red, in cups, 166
Paintings on tombs as evidence, 144–145
Palestinian pottery, 17
Pan-graves, 159–160
Paper bags, 113
„ for drawing, 68, 113
„ „ packing, 109, 113
„ „ printing, 118
„ „ squeezing, 60, 113
„ moulds, 60–61
„ squeezes, 60–61, 64
Papyri, photographing of, 79
„ treatment of, 93–95
Paraffin wax, 87, 89, 90, 91, 96, 102, 112
Parcel-post boxes, 109, 113
„ „ for drawings, 64
Partitions in boxes, 111
Passages, underground, 55
Past quickly vanishing, 130
„ love of, 189–193
„ rights of, 176–178
Pasting of papyri, 93, 94
Patterns of gold collar, 154–155
Payment by results, 33
„ deductions for locals, 31
„ proportions in, 31–32
„ rate of, 29
„ weekly, 35
Pencil-cutting for outlining, 69–70
Pendulum-mirror, 58
Periods, of bronze and stone, 127
„ successive, 127–130
Pharaoh of Exodus, 178
Philae, submersion of, 170
Philistine, 64
Photographic apparatus, 73
„ developers, 82–83
„ developing, 82–84
„ drying, 83
„ enlarging, 74, 80, 81
„ films, 75
„ reflectors, 78
„ register of objects, 134
„ washing, 83
Photographing and drawing, 73
„ of buildings, 73
„ „ excavations, 73
„ „ papyri, 79
„ „ views, 74, 81
„ „ wall-scenes, 81
Photography, 73–84
„ backgrounds in, 79
„ dark room for, 83
„ diagonal mirror in, 75
„ drop-shutter in, 75
„ lighting in, 77
„ scale in, 80–81
„ shadows in, 79
„ skew-back, 75
„ stereographic, 81–82
Photo-lithography, 117
„ „ colours reversed in, 70
„ „ for drawings, 68
„ „ „ plans, 55
„ „ reduction for, 69
Physics, 85
Pickling of bronzes, 100
Picks and baskets, 31–33
Piece and day work combined, 30, 32
Piece pay, 27
„ work, 24, 29–31
Pillars left in digging, 30
Pincers, 113
Pins, 83, 91
Pit, excavation of, 42, 45, 52
Placing of stuff removed, 42
Plan, 33
„ accuracy of, 55
„ drawing, 5, 53
„ measurement of, 53–55
„ of chambers, 44, 52, 53
„ „ towns, 52, 53
Plane, 65
„ -table, 55
Platinotypes, 119
Plaster, casts, 61, 64–66
„ coats of, 87, 97
„ handling of, 64
Plates, book, 114–119
„ „ double, 116
„ „ loose, 115–116
„ „ spoilt, 121
„ magazine for, 74
„ photographing from, 77
„ rapidity of, 75
„ size of image, 81
Pliers, 113
Plotting, 55–59
„ vase dimensions, 71
Plunderers, 12, 48
Plundering of sites, 11, 171, 178–179
Points of support in packing, 105–106
Pompeii, _corpus_ of pottery needed, 125
Position of objects, 50, 52, 53
„ in photographing, 78
Positives, 118
Postage of drawings, 64
Potsherds, 10, 12
Pottery, Aegean, 145–170
„ black incised, 160–162, 163–164, 167
„ chips, 47
„ _corpus_, 124–126
„ destruction of, 181
„ duration of forms, 128
„ Greek, 142, 147, 148
„ of prehistoric age, 17, 167
„ „ I Dyn., 164
„ „ XII „ , 157, 159
„ „ XVIII „ , 148, 153–154
„ packing of, 108–109
„ painted, from Kahun, 157–158
„ preservation of, 88–89
„ salt in, 88–89
„ scale for drawing, 69
„ typical forms, 16
„ value for dating, 15–17, 128–129
Praesos beads of XII Dyn., 158
Prehistoric ages, 167–168
„ camp site, 13
„ cemetery site, 11
„ sequences, 129
„ shipping, 167
„ tomb dressed, 77
Preparing objects for photographing, 76
Presentment of material, 50–51
Preservation in museums, 180–181
„ of antiquities, 85–104, 176–188
„ „ bones, 90
„ „ colour, 87–88
„ „ gold-work, 181
„ „ information, 5, 48
„ „ ivories, 90–92
„ „ papyri, 92–95
„ „ pottery, 88–89
„ „ sarcophagi, 87, 90
„ „ stone, 86–87, 181
„ „ stucco, 87–88, 90
„ „ wood, 89–91
Princesses in fresco, 88
Printed numbers for plates, 70
Printer’s agreement, 120–121
„ errors, 120
Printing, colour-, for vases, 70
Prismatic compass, 55, 113
Probability, evidence from, 138, 139
Processes for plates, 117–119
Prohibition of wet squeezing, 62
Proof, nature of, 136
Properties of materials, 85
Proportions in mixing developers, 82
Protractor, 57
Pseud-amphorae, _see False-necked vases_
Publication, 114–121
„ detailed, 175
„ mistakes in, 117
„ necessity of, 182
„ past methods of, 114
„ permanence of, 182
Publishers, agreements with, 120
Pyramid, great, Builder of, 178
Railway, light, 43
Ramessu II, 146, 152, 153, 154, 155
„ III, 145, 154, 155
„ VI, 153, 154
Rate of payment, 29–30
Recommendations of workmen, 40
Reconstruction of stone vases, 102–104
Record by _corpus_ system, 125
„ importance of, 48, 175
„ in piecework, 29
„ publication of, 114
Recrystallisation of salt, 86
Red paint, 166
Reference-numbers on plates, 115
„ to plates, 115–116
„ to text, 119–120
Reflections in lighting, 78
Reflectors, 78
Register of sheets, 63–64
„ „ works of art, 186–187
_Reis_ or overseer, 24–26
Rekhmara, tomb of, 144, 155
Relief-process, 118
Reliefs, copying of, 60
Repository needed, 133–135
Res, statuette of, 152
Responsibilities, in excavating, 1, 8, 174–175
„ of archaeologists, 170, 182
Restorations, 172, 176
„ of scarabs, 149
„ of stone vases, 70–71, 102–104
Results, presentment of, 50–51
Rethreading of beads, 96
Re-use of tombs, 150
Rights of the future, 175
„ „ „ past, 176–178
Rise of Nile, 174
Rolls of drawings by post, 64, 68
„ „ papyri, 92–94
Ropes, 33, 45, 112
„ length of, 46
„ preservation of, 45–46
Rotted bead-work, 95
„ ivory, 91–92
„ papyrus, 93
„ silver, 98
„ wood, 90–91
Royalties on books, 120
Rubbish-mounds, 11
Rust in bronze, 101
„ „ iron, 102
Sacking for packing, 107
Salt in metals, 100, 102
„ „ pottery, 88–89
„ „ stones, 86
„ „ textiles, 89
„ „ wood, 89
Sand, throwing, 75
Sanding of tender stones, 87
„ „ weathered stones, 71, 76
Sarcophagi at Abydos, 43
„ „ Zuweleyn, 10
„ preservation of, 87, 90
Sauce-pan, cast-iron, 90
Saw-files, 112
Sawing, 105
Saws, 105, 112, 113
Scale-drawing, frame for, 72
„ mentioned on plate-heading, 115
„ of drawing for plates, 69, 115
„ „ „ „ tools, 69
„ „ „ „ vases, 69
„ „ payment, 29
„ „ plotting, 55
Scaling of bronze, 101
„ „ copper, 99
Scarabs, few posthumous, 149
„ restorations of, 149
„ seldom long in use, 150
Screw-driver, 113
Screws, 113
Sculpture, casts of, 172
„ cemented in walls, 86
„ lighting of, 131–132
„ museum of, 172
Sealing-wax moulds, 66–67
Search for fragments, 34–35, 102–104
Section-lines for stone vases, 70
Selection of facts in recording, 49
Separation of objects in museums, 49
Sequence dates, 129
Sequences in a mansion, 127
Serials published, 117
Series of forms of stone vases, 102
Sety II, 146, 153, 155
Sextant, box-, 55–56, 113
Shade-lines in drawing, 69
Sheet of card ruled, 72
Sheets of inventories, 69–70
Shifting of stuff, 42
Shutter, drop-, 75
Sieve, native, 112
„ wire, 112
Sifting earth, 35
Sighting-lines, 54
Signals for work, 28
„ survey, 56–57
Silicate solution, 91
Silver coins, 99
„ treatment of, 98–99
Site of cemetery, 11–12
„ „ temple, 9–10
„ „ town, 10–11
Size of bricks, 47, 52
„ „ sheets for reduction, 70
Skeletons, marking of, 51
„ preservation of, 53, 90
Skew-back camera, 75
Skull, removal for measurement, 52
Slate backing to frescoes, 97
Sliding of earth, 42
Slopes of rubbish-mounds, 11
Smuggling of antiquities, 184
Sneferu, black incised ware, 163
Soaking of bronzes, 101
„ „ iron, 102
„ „ lead, 102
„ „ pottery, 88
„ „ stones, 86
„ „ textiles, 89
Softening in packing, 106, 108–109
Sorting fragments, 102–104
Spain, pottery from, 159–160, 167
Speculators, destruction by, 170
Spies, 38–39
Spoke-brush, use of, 60–61, 113
„ shave, 113
Square, 113
Squareness on plates, 115
Squares of plans, 53
Squeezes, dry, 61–63
„ wet, 60–61
Stain, ebony, 68
State claims, 182–184
„ register of works of art, 186–187
„ rights, 184–187
Stations, surveying, 57–58
Statistical sorting of pottery, 128
Statuary, casts of, 172
„ lighting of, 131–132
„ preservation of, 180
„ restoration of, 172
Statuette, ebony, 78
Stirrup vases, 145, 146, 154
„ „ variation with age, 153–154
Stone chips, 9, 13
„ of buildings, 76
„ vases, block-tints for, 70
„ „ drawing from fragments, 71
„ „ sorting fragments, 102–104
Stones, large, 30
„ moving of, 27
„ salt in, 86
„ scale of drawing, 69
Stops in manuscripts, 120
„ „ photographing, 74–75
Storing of antiquities, 6
„ „ ropes, 46
Straw for packing, 108, 109, 112
Strings of beads, 95–96
Stucco, coloured, 88
„ facing, 87
„ on bricks, 96
„ on walls, 47
„ on wood, 96
Students’ plates, 119
Style, discrimination of, 14, 17–18
Successive ages, classed, 126
Super-heated wax for preserving, 90
Superimposed buildings, 41–42
Support, points of, in packing, 105–106
Survey, three-point, 56
Surveying, 5, 53–59
„ of walls, 52
Survival of museums, 180–181
„ „ things in use, 128, 150
Systematic archaeology, 122–135
„ work in excavating, 2
Systematizers needed, 123
Tables, printing of, 120
Tablet, ivory, 76
Tahutmes II, 151
„ III, 151, 152, 153
Tally for accounts, 37–38
Tanis, with obelisks, 9
„ workers at, 20
Tape-measure, 55, 113
„ steel-, 55
Tapioca-water, 88
Telescope used in work, 28
Tell el Amarna, frescoes at, 88
„ „ „ vases at, 147, 148, 155, 156
„ „ Yehudiyeh, cemetery mounds, 43
Temple, causes of ruin, 10
„ evidence of, 47
„ site, clearance of, 41–47
„ „ nature of, 9–10
Tenting in desert, 6
Textiles, 89
Theodolite, 55
Thickness of lines in drawing, 69
Threads, 65, 90, 92, 95
Three-colour photography, 119
Three-point survey, 56
Throwing, 30, 41
„ sand, 75
Thyi, Queen, 148, 152
_Tibn_, 109
Tilting in photography, 80
Tin-foil moulds, 67
„ plate for reflectors, 78–79
„ „ „ sawing, 105
„ „ „ small stops, 75
„ pots, 108, 111
„ saucepans, 90
Tints, block, for vases, 70
Tomb groups, 48–49, 51
„ „ scattered, 49
„ of Sem-nefer, 78
„ -robbers, 45
Tombs, evidence from, 150–153
„ mixture of contents, 150
„ numbering of, 51
„ position of, 52
„ proportion of important, 12
„ reuse of, 150
„ unplundered, 12
„ wrecking of, 171
Tools necessary to work, 33, 112–113
„ provision of, 33
Tooth-brush, uses for, 67, 112
Topography, 33
Town, planning of, 52
„ site, clearance of, 41, 44
„ „ nature of, 10
„ „ rate of accumulation, 10–11
„ „ turned over, 41
Tracing out walls, 13, 41, 46–47
Transport of antiquities, 85, 97, 107–108, 112
Tray with poles, 107
„ wooden, 95
Treasure trove, 183
Trenching ground, 41, 43
Trial-pits, 41
Troy, black incised ware, 161, 167
Trucks, 43
Turning back, 41
„ over, 41, 43
Tutankhamen, 145, 153, 154
Uncertainties, legal, 140–141
Underground passages, 55
Undisturbed tombs, 12
Uniformity of scale, 115
Unpacker, 111–112
Unpacking of boxes, 111–112
Unplundered tombs, 12
Unpunctuality, remedies for, 31
Unrolling of papyri, 93–94
Unsanded stones, 71, 76
Usertesen II, 44, 157
Valuables, finding of, 27
Variation of vases with age, 153–154
Vases, block tints for, 70
„ drawn from fragments, 70–71
„ measurement of angles, 71
„ scale of drawing, 69
Vertical lighting, 77
„ mirror level, 58–59, 113
„ position of camera, 80
Wages in Egypt, 29
„ „ England, 27
„ „ Greece, 27
Wall-scenes, photographing of, 81
Walls, copying, 61–63, 72
„ face of, 47
„ surveying of, 52
„ thickness of, 52
„ tracing of, 13, 41, 46–47
„ visible after rain, 13
Warrior in alabaster, 144
Washing of negatives, 83
„ out salt, 86, 88, 89, 100
Wastage of coinage, 150
Water-colours, 77, 113
Wax, bees-, 66, 67, 71, 80, 90, 95, 102
„ dentist’s, 67
„ paraffin, 87, 89, 90, 91, 96, 102, 112
Waxed glass for papyri, 94
Weathered stones, sanding of, 71, 76
Weeding-out of workmen, 40
Weights carried by boy, 43
Western, _see Europe_
Wet squeezes, 60–61
White ants, 89, 96
„ filling of black ware, 161
„ flake-, use of, 77
„ -wash on walls, 96
Whiting for inscriptions, 76
Wide-angle lens, 74
Wills, contradictory, 140
Witnesses, evidence of, 137, 138
„ veracity of, 138
Wood flooring, 76, 77
„ rotted, 90–91
„ salt in, 89
„ tray, 95
„ wet, 91
„ white ants in, 89
„ -wool, 109
Work, irregular, 27
Workmen at Tanis, 20
„ chains of, 44
„ control of, 5, 7, 22–23
„ distribution of, 26
„ English, 27, 32
„ Greek, 26–27, 32
„ management of, 36
„ organization of, 24, 26, 29, 31
„ qualities of, 21
„ selection of, 20–21
„ substitution of, 23, 31
„ training of, 5, 26, 34
Wrapping-paper, 109
Wrappings, 52
Wrecking by engineers, 170, 174
„ „ lime-burners, 174
„ „ natives, 175
„ of tombs, 171
Yorkshire, pottery from, 160
Zer, Aegean pottery of, 164–165
„ black incised ware, 164
„ bracelet of, 80
„ ivory tablet of, 76
Zinc, box for washing, 83
„ blocks, 68, 118
„ tally for accounts, 37–38
„ trays for soaking stones, 86
Zuweleyn, sarcophagi at, 10
THE END
_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.
WORKS BY W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE
=THE PYRAMIDS & TEMPLES OF GIZEH.= (Out of print).
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=NAUKRATIS I.= 45 plates, 25s. _Quaritch._
=HIEROGLYPHIC PAPYRUS FROM TANIS.= (Out of print).
=A SEASON IN EGYPT, 1887.= 32 plates, 12s. (Out of print).
=RACIAL PORTRAITS.= 190 Photographs from Egyptian Monuments, 45s.
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of the second, and it is not too much to say that the whole book
easily takes rank before all other English elementary treatises on
Greek sculpture.... There are few books of the kind which can be so
freely recommended as Prof. Gardner’s.”
_GUARDIAN._--“Mr. Gardner’s book may be confidently recommended as
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=A HANDBOOK OF GREEK CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY.= By A. H. J.
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the most familiar themes; the style is fresh and vigorous, and
the explanations are, as a rule, clear. The book is, from its
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=A HANDBOOK OF GREEK AND ROMAN COINS.= By GEORGE F. HILL, M.A.,
British Museum. 9s.
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_ATHENÆUM._--“Quite worthy of the traditions of the British Museum
Coin Room.... We cannot too much praise the fifteen beautiful
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_LITERATURE._--“Mr. Hill has succeeded very deftly in providing
exactly the type of information of which the student so often
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monetary history of Greece and Rome in less than 800 pages.”
=THE DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME=: A History of the Monuments. By
RODOLFO LANCIANI, University of Rome. 6s.
[_Ready._
_GUARDIAN._--“We are glad to learn from the preface to this volume
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latter part of this subject, the ‘History of the Excavations,’ and
meanwhile the present instalment will be welcomed by all who have
felt the fascination of the story of the survival or destruction of
the ancient monuments.”
_WESTMINSTER BUDGET._--“A most enlightening little work, which
gives a real insight into the scholarly and scientific method on
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=ROMAN PUBLIC LIFE.= By A. H. J. GREENIDGE, M.A., Hertford College,
Oxford. 10s. 6d.
[_Ready._
_SPECTATOR._--“Both logical in arrangement and lucid in exposition.
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life of the Romans which has been an example to all time.”
_PILOT._--“The style of the book is throughout clear and
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=CHRISTIAN ART AND ARCHÆOLOGY.= A Handbook to the Monuments of
the Early Church. By WALTER LOWRIE, M.A., Late Fellow of the
American School of Classical Studies at Rome. 10s. 6d.
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_PILOT._--“A most useful and judicious epitome of a difficult
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successful of the excellent series to which it belongs.”
_ATHENÆUM._--“Mr. Lowrie is to be thanked for a most interesting
book, in which he has collected a great amount of hitherto
inaccessible information in a very convenient form.... This book
should do much to diffuse knowledge about a subject that awakens a
wide and keen interest.”
_GUARDIAN._--“The best handbook to the artistic monuments of the
first six centuries of the Christian Church which has appeared in
English, perhaps in any language.”
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Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed. Inconsistencies between the main text and Index were
resolved in favor of the main text.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation
marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left
unbalanced.
Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs
and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support
hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to
the corresponding illustrations.
Descriptions in the List of Illustrations often are more informative
than the captions printed with the illustrations.
The half-page photographs were printed two to a page, one above the
other, and often with a shared caption. In this eBook each photograph
is shown with its own caption.
Footnote 2 in the Appendix on page 112 originally was two identical
footnotes, because that Appendix crossed a page boundary.
The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page
references.
Page 124: “Nagada” may be a misprint for “Naqada”.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Methods & Aims in Archaeology" ***
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