FINDS IN EGYPT.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17985, 2 April 1930, Page 7

FINDS IN EGYPT.

RA WER’S TOMB

MANY treasures. (From a Correspondent.) CAIRO, Feb. 16. Dr. Selim Hassan, Professor of the j Ancient Egyptian Language at the 1 Faculty of Letters, in a description of ! the tomb recently discovered near the ! Sphinx, says that the tomb is com- ! posed of two galleries and a large num- ' her of serdabs, of which six large and fourteen small ones have hitherto been unearthed. This is abnormal, for usually a dead man has but one serdab. The chambers discovered up to the present, inj eluding the serdabs, number about 60. j Part of the tomb has already been laid | bare, 120 metres long and 20-40 metres in width. The bases and fiag- ; ments of 14 columns have .been unearthed, one being of alabaster, three metres in circumference. Man of Many Posts. The owner of the tomb called Ra Wer, lived under the third King of the Fifth Dynasty. His titles were very numerous, including that of High Priest of the Goddesses of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, Chief Secretary of the King, sole confidant and overseer of the wardrobe, guardian of the Royal diadems, one of the King's chief dignitaries, etc. Numerous statues of the owner have been found, carved in various stones, only three of which are intact. They are considered unique pieces of Egyptian art. Other statues are mostly mutilated and broken up. Two are in their original positions and in fairly good condition; both are in shrines, the whole being cut out of a single block.

Two intact heads of granite and four of white limestone have been found executed in very finished style. The most remarkable object is a statue base of alabaster, regarded as very fine work, in the sand covering the mastaba was found jn a statue representing a seated woman and a limestone stela representing Ra Wer, and before him his mother, with her hands on her breast. The clearing of the tomb is continuing. it is the largest private tomb of the old kingdom hitherto known, The burial chamber has not yet been found. Another smaller mastaba found near by seems to belong to a member of Ra Wer’s family. In the funerary chamber of this little mastaba a gold necklace was found in the sarcophagus cut in the rock. A robber broke off the sarcophagus, but was unable to execute his plans, having fallen dead beside the sarcophagus. The necklace is composed of over 600 gold heads, and about 2,500 lapis lazuli bends. Four canopic jars were also discovered. Piled-up Mummies. Dr. Selim Hassan has begun to clear the tomb of the great Prince named Kemnefert. A part of the Hall of Offerings has already been laid bare. The walls are adorned with representations of women- bearing offerings of food and water. Over each woman is written what she is carrying and the name -of the domain from which the objects were brought. Scenes of the Prince’s daily life are represented on the wall of another chamber, which was again put to use as a tomb at the end of the Pharaonic period, for the excavators found a number' of piled-up mummies in bad condition except one still hi a col'fln bearing the name of the deceased, together with funerary inscriptions and prayers. In this chamber A scarab was found of such perfect workmanship as to give the illusion of reality, and also two vases, not Egyptian, but apparently imported from Nubia. Inscriptions engraved on the facade give the titles of the deceased. Much more work is needed to clear this tomb completely. There are 60 shafts leading to the funerary chambers, mostly small and shallow. A few small pieces of goldleaf left behind by robbers have been found. Seven leaves have kept their .shape; also a small necklace of semi-precious stones, a necklace composed of 86 blue beads and 19 perforated stars has been found ■on the neck of a mummy of a small person in the tomb between those of Ra Wer and Kemnefert. Several stelae hearing line inscriptions and various other objects too numerous to describe have also been discovered.