aie ae Moiese cstieeegs ee ae ee = ¥ S <= : i stesrne hers : : = Sestenreesr se 5 . = ¢ ss ; ; : 5 a ae, teers 2 atriosrteh beets, “ Pal a mom by Tu. > ne WAS tad & PEG AL cre tt Bice ee a a, ee Division Dit 6 | “Section. W Ly Py! 4 {° & eS = Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/tutankhamenotherOOweig TUTANKHAMEN ARTHUR WEIGALL THE AUTHOR, WITH THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNOR OF THE PRO- VINCE, STANDING IN FRONT OF THE TOMB OF TUTANKHAMEN TUTANKHAMEN And Other Essays BY ARTHUR WEIGALL FORMER INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF ANTIQUITIES, EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT AND MEMBER OF THE CATALOGUE STAFF OF THE CAIRO MUSEUM Author of “The Life and Times of Akhnaton,” “The Glory of the Pharaohs,” etc. ILLUSTRATED new BY yvorx GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY aD) TUTANKHAMEN AND OTHER ESSAYS ase lah phelles PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE T is not many months since a volume of my essays I and papers on Egyptological matters was pub- lished, under the title of “The Glory of the Pharaohs”; but the interest aroused in the whole sub- ject of Egyptian research by the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen has created a definite call for another volume of the same kind. In the previous collection there were, amongst some miscellaneous articles, three or four papers which had a close bearing on the excava- tions in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings; and I there gave some account of the work conducted under my supervision in that royal necropolis. In this new volume there is again a varied collection of papers deal- ing with different aspects of Egyptian research, but the first few chapters are directly concerned with the new tomb. Never before has the public been so widely stirred by an archeological discovery as it has been by the opening of the sepulchre of Tutankhamen, and on all sides one may observe an eager desire to learn something about the past ages of man both in Egypt and in other countries. The cynic has already been aroused by it to scoff at what he terms the pursuit of a new nine-days’ wonder; but I am inclined to believe that the finding of this ancient Pharaoh’s tomb has revealed an almost universal love of ancient things, until now largely sup- pressed by the clamour of the concerns of the present day, and I think that the world at large is at last about v vi PREFACE to claim that inheritance in the regions of the Past to which the archeologist has opened the road. The estate of Egyptology has been long enough the exclusive do-! main of the scholar. His pioneer work is hardly begun, it is true; but from now onwards, I believe, he will have to labour under the eyes of an ever-increasing public who will follow him into those regions, and will con- tinuously demand to know what he has found. This is all to the good. Upon the Egyptologist it will have a humanising effect which is badly needed; and upon the public a knowledge of the Past cannot fail to exert a broadening influence. In this life of ours which, under modern conditions, is lived at so great a speed, there is a growing need for a periodical pause wherein the mind may adjust the relationship of the things that have been to those that are. So rapidly are our impres- sions received and assimilated, so individually are they shaped and adapted, that, in whatever direction our brains lead us, we are speedily carried away from that broad province of thought which is our common heritage. But, a man who travels alone finds himself, in a few months, out of touch with the thought of his fellows; and, similarly, a man who journeys continuously along the narrow road of his own modern experience finds him- self grown impatient of the larger outlook of the world’s continuity, and just as the solitary man must needs come into the company of his fellows if he would retain a healthy mind, so the man who lives in his own confined present must allow himself an occasional visit to the realm of the past if he would keep his balance. Heraclitus, in a quotation preserved by Sextus Em- piricus,* writes: “It behooves us to follow the common * Bywater: Heracliti Ephesii Reliquiae, p. 38. PREFACE vil reason of the world; yet, though there is a common rea- son in the world, the majority live as though they possessed a wisdom peculiar each unto himself alone.” Every one of us who considers his mentality an im- portant part of his constitution should endeavour to give himself ample opportunities of breathing the breath of this “common reason,” which comes like a cool breeze from the regions of the Past. We should remember the yesterdays, that we may know what all the bother of to-day is about; and we should foretell to-morrow not by to-day but by every day that has been. Forgetfulness is so common a human failing. In our rapid transit along the individual pathway of our life we are so inclined to forget the past stages of the jour- ney. All things pass by and are swallowed up in a mo- ment of time. Experiences crowd upon us; the events of our life occur, are recorded by our busy brains, are digested, and are forgotten before the substance of which they were made has resolved into its elements. We race through the years, and our progress is headlong through the days. Everything we have used, as it is done with is swept up into the basket of the Past, and the busy scavengers, unless we check them, toss the contents, good and bad, on to the great rubbish heap of the world’s waste. Loves, hates, gains, losses, all things upon which we do not lay fierce and strong hands, are gathered into nothingness, and, with a few exceptions, are utterly forgotten. And we, too, will soon have passed, and our little brains which have forgotten so much will be forgotten. We shall be throttled out of the world and pressed by vill PREFACE the clumsy hands of death into the mould of that same rubbish-hill of oblivion, . where lie Days past like dreams, and waning moons slid by, And mixed heaps of lost mortality, unless there be a stronger hand to save us. There is only one human force stronger than death, and that force is History, for by it the dead are made to live again. Sometimes, then, in our little race from day to day it is necessary to stop the headlong progress of our in- dividual experience, and, for an hour, to look back upon the broad fields of the Past. “There is,” says Emerson, “a relationship between the hours of our life and the centuries of time.” Let us give history, and arche- ology its due attention; for thus not only shall we be rendering a service to all the dead, not only shall we be giving a reason and a usefulness to their lives, but we shall also bring to our own brains a balance which cannot easily otherwise be obtained; we shall adjust our thoughts to the big movement of the world; and, above all, we shall learn how best to do our duty in this won- derful age to which it is our inestimable privilege to be- long. CONTENTS CHAPTER I Tue Future or Excavation In Ecypr . . II ‘Tue Vatwey or THE Tomss OF THE KINGS . III THe Toms or TuTanKHAMEN IV TuTrankHAMEN: THE HistoricaL ProBLemMs VY Tue Ancient Guouts or THEBES VI Tue Matevotence or Ancient EcyptTian Spirits . VII Tue Prospiem or Ecyrtian CoronoLocy VIII Tue Eastern Ecyrptian Desert anp Its In- TERESTS . IX Tue Quarrizs or Wapy HamMamMAatT LHe RED OMA LIGHEOAD.. yi cialis) s)ics XI Tue Imperrat Porpuyry QuarRiEs . XII Tue Quarrizs or Mons Craupianus XIII =TsHe Tempe or Wapy AsAp XIV THe Frioopine or Lower Nusia XV THe Ecyrtian Empire XVI THe Gateway OF THE East . XVII Tue Meanine or CIVILIZATION. . . TRUEST POMS A, ech aa daa iis oily at PAGE 15 38 71 99 119 136 158 171 191 211 237 256 275 296 311 335 348 363 ILLUSTRATIONS The Author, with the Egyptian Governor of the Prov- ince, Standing in front of the Tomb of Tutankhamen Frontispiece A General View of the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings The Mummy of Rameses the Second . The Entrance to the Tomb of Tutankhamen A Sketch of the Golden Shrine in the Burial Chamber of Tutankhamen Examples of Ancient Sent Goldwork: The Gold Ear Ornaments of Sety the Second . The Hall Built by Tutankhamen in the Temple of Luxor The Famous Statue of Sekhmet after Being Smashed s a Native Who Believed in Its Malevolence . : The Avenue of Ram-Headed Sphinxes in Front of the Main Entrance of the Temple of Karnak . Wady Hammamat Paihia Cont; An Abandoned Sarcophagus at at Hammamat . The Roman Town of Mons Claudianus Mons Claudianus. A Large Granite Column n Lying to the North East of the Town : The Colossi at Thebes tiie go RE The Colossi at Thebes During the Inundation Gerf-Husen a oe ee ee ee Inscribed Granite Rocks Near the First Cataract xi PAGE 40 48 64 80 96 112 144 160 192 192 264 264 304 304 320 320 ea" mie ae vives et nate rote a | 1 ia | Wim ie ei is Le, _ : a nd Wee * vata ip Mai M ha N ised cy we ; ah Ws dhe ia, as eh ot inst ghar ot a ; me Gli ii f a fi 4 he Whstclih «fol ha is a is i} ; ' ‘* ia Y bist me ae PL Cre iar ee, ey lida ny f i} RSA ie a 3 Re Wael ; TUTANKHAMEN ibaa i aa rr i t pillbaniis ie Wemaiiseknan i ital ry , : 14 a A cette Co a au item : TUTANKHAMEN CHAPTER I THE FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT [) == the last two or three years a great and astonishing change has taken place in the atti- tude and bearing of educated Egyptians. In 1882 the nation was bankrupt, and the native govern- ment had, by frenzied taxation, reduced the country to such complete chaos, that European intervention was necessary ; and this had led to an anti-foreign movement which had to be suppressed by force. The British Occu- pation resulted; and from that time until the outbreak of the great war, Egypt remained under British super- vision and guidance, having little more than a nominal control over its own affairs. The British Government, however, had always said that this Occupation was only a temporary measure, which would be terminated as soon as the Egyptians showed clear signs of being able to govern themselves; and now the time is fast approach- ing when we shall honour that promise, and shall leave this interesting people more or less to its own devices. Already the first steps in evacuation have been taken, and great numbers of British officials have retired from service under the Egyptian Government. At the same time, native officials have been given much wider con- 15 16 TUTANKHAMEN trol; and now it may be said that British management — of the country’s affairs has been reduced to a condition almost as nominal as was native management twenty or thirty years ago. This has led to the change to which I have referred. No longer do the upper-class Egyp- tians remain in the background like good children who should “be seen but not heard”; no longer do they go about their unobtrusive business, leaving the activities and labours of government in the hands of their pur- poseful, high-minded, and energetic British guardians. No longer is Egypt a sort of exhibition to which crowds of European and American sight-seers flock, so that they may enjoy themselves, and smile at the quaint na- tives, under the kindly eye of the British policemen. To-day, thanks to England, Egypt is an independent nation, and Egyptians are becoming increasingly con- scious of the fact that the land is theirs, and that foreign visitors are their guests, any privileges which the latter enjoy being given to them by their native hosts, and these hosts asking in return a degree of consideration and politeness which in earlier years they had neither the power nor the wish to exact. There is a new attitude of self-assertion to be observed, which, while it may somewhat startle a few of the old-fashioned British officials, is received by the majority with gladness, as being a sign of the recovery of this most engaging people from its long sickness. But amongst those who have not yet adjusted their minds to the new order, many of the European and American excavators and Egyptologists are, unfor- tunately, to be classed; and in this chapter I want to warn them that unless they speedily correct their atti- tude, and recognise the great obligation which they owe FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT 17 to their hosts, they may cause the stopping of all foreign excavation in Egypt. It is a subject which should be of interest to the general public at this time, when the whole world has been stirred by the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen; and I do not hesitate, therefore, to discuss it in a book of this kind. For several years I served the Egyptian Government in the capacity of Inspector-General of Antiquities; and it was then my duty both to assist these excavators in their work, and, at the same time, to maintain what may be called the proprietorship of the Egyptian nation in the sites con- ceded to foreign archeologists. I thus became accus- tomed to view the matter from the two standpoints; and now that the balance of authority is swinging over, so that soon the Egyptian and not the foreign attitude towards excavation will first have to be reckoned with, I feel able to give my warning with knowledge and ex- perience. For many years now excavating concessions in Egypt have been granted to foreigners on very generous terms by the Egyptian Government. Each application for such a concession came before the Archeological Committee, which consisted of the Director-General of the Department of Antiquities, various native and Eng- lish high officials, and a few interested antiquarians of different nationalities; and if the credentials of the ap- plicant were satisfactory, the concession was granted on the understanding that proper scientific records would be made and published, that the Department of An- tiquities had the right to intervene and stop or re- arrange the work at any time, that everything found belonged to the Egyptian nation, but that half the an- tiquities would be given to the excavator whenever such 18 TUTANKHAMEN a gift was consistent with the interests of the national museum in Cairo. In theory this meant that the unique pieces were to be retained in Egypt, but in practice it came to be under- stood that if several objects of first-rate importance were found they would be divided equally between the excavator and the Cairo Museum. In certain cases, owing to the kindness or the weakness of the authorities, the excavator got the best of the bargain, the two most important instances of this being the removal to the United States of the statues of the Pharaoh Mykerinos and his queen, and the retention by German excavators of the marvellous works of art discovered by them at Tell-el-Amarna. Every now and then the archeological world was disturbed by some instance of an excavator having taken advantage of these generous terms to enrich himself; but on the whole the granting of concessions under this ar- rangement led only to the enrichment of the world’s museums, and to the advancement of knowledge. Con- stant care had to be exercised, however, to prevent con- cessions being granted to the wrong kind of excavators, that is to say, to men who wished to make money out of their “finds”; for it is the first principle of scientific work that the sites which are unproductive of portable objects and which are therefore but a waste of time to the loot-hunter, must be excavated with as much care as those which yield plenty of antiquities, and that as much attention must be given to the recording of the position and measurements of bare walls and other dull material as to that of rich deposits of objects, the increase of archeological information of all kinds being the true aim rather than the acquisition of museum specimens. FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT 19 The Egyptian Government, whenever it had the money to spare, also conducted excavations; and there were certain sites which it reserved for itself. Amongst these was the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes; and here, in the last years of the nineteenth century, important excavations were conducted by the then Director-General of Antiquities, which led to the discovery of the tombs of the Pharaohs Thutmose [, Thutmose III, Amenhotep II, and others. Shortly after these discoveries were made there came up the Nile a certain elderly American gentleman, Mr. Theodore Davis, who was so attracted by the beautiful climate of Upper Egypt, that he bought a house-boat, or dahabiyeh, and decided to spend each winter in the neighbourhood of Thebes. In 1902 he generously offered to give a sum of money to Mr. Howard Carter, then Inspector-General of Antiquities, in order to enable him to conduct further excavations in the royal valley, the funds of the Department being at the time somewhat low and work being suspended. The offer was accepted by the authorities on the understanding that Mr. Davis was simply identifying himself with the Cairo Museum, and was not regarding himself as having any conces- sionary rights; and in 1903 the tomb of Thutmose IV was discovered during the work carried out with his money. In the same year the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut was dug out by Mr. Carter, on behalf of the Govern- ment, again at Mr. Davis’s expense; and thus this keenly interested American gentleman came to be regarded, so to speak, as the banker behind the Cairo Museum ex- cavations in this Government reserve. In 1904 Mr. J. E. Quibell took Mr. Carter’s place at Luxor, and continued the work on the same terms; 20 TUTANKHAMEN and in 1905 I was appointed Inspector-General, and for some weeks Mr. Quibell and I were working together at Thebes. During this time the tomb of Yuaa and Tuau, the father and mother of Queen Tiy, was discovered; and at the close of the work Mr. Quibell left Thebes. I did not feel able, however, both to conduct these excava- tions and to administer the inspectorate; and I therefore insisted that if the work were to continue, Mr. Davis and the Department must employ an archeologist to direct it under my supervision. This was done, Mr. E. R. Ayrton being appointed; and in the following years the tombs of Queen Tiy and Akhnaton, Horemheb, Septah, and others, were dis- covered, Mr. Davis financing the Government, and the work being conducted under my inspection on behalf of the Cairo Museum, to which all the antiquities were taken, with the exception of a few objects given to Mr. Davis as souvenirs. As soon as a tomb was found I took charge of the work, and the expenses of packing the objects, etc., were defrayed by the Government, Mr. Davis only paying for the actual excavation. The position was not altogether an easy one for me; for, naturally, Mr. Davis year by year identified himself more closely with the work, and was inclined at length, very understandably, to resent government supervision. On the other hand, it was my business to maintain the authority of the Department I served, and to uphold the proprietorship of the Egyptian nation in this royal necropolis, against an increasing tendency on the part of visitors to regard the Valley as Mr. Davis’s own prop- erty, and the objects he found as his gift to the Cairo Museum. However, thanks to his good nature, the serenity of our work was ruffled by but few breezes, and FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT 21 I was able to uphold the two main principles for which I stood, namely, that the Egyptian Government ought to be master in its own house, and that excavation by amateurs was only permissible when trained archzolo- gists were in charge. It must clearly be understood that Mr. Davis never was, and never regarded himself as, a benefactor of mankind or anything of that sort. He generously contributed a certain sum of money each year to these excavations—a sum which the Egyptian Gov- ernment might easily itself have paid; and in return he had the great pleasure and the many thrills of treasure- hunting under the most ideal conditions. From the European or American point of view he was to be thanked for his fine patronage of Kgyptology, and from the Egyptian standpoint he was under a debt to the native government for permitting him to excavate in this royal necropolis. Mr. Davis was by no means the only wealthy amateur who was attracted by this most enjoyable method of spending the winter. ‘Thebes is a popular winter resort, where visitors live an extremely com- fortable existence in magnificent hotels or luxurious dahabiyehs or steamers; and in this perfect climate noth- ing can pass the time so pleasantly as a little leisurely excavation, provided that the actual work is done by others. One employs an archeologist to make the records, and a handful of natives to do the digging; and the whole thing costs but a few hundred pounds, in re- turn for which one has a goal for the daily ride or walk, a pleasant picnic luncheon each day, and the continuous expectation of a romantic haul of treasures. Lord Northampton excavated thus in another part of the Theban necropolis; Lady William Cecil spent a 22 TUTANKHAMEN happy winter in this manner amongst the tombs at Aswan; Mr. Robb Tytus, a rich young American, dug out part of the palace of Amenhotep III, at Thebes; two ladies, Miss Benson and Miss Gourlay, excavated. part of the temple of Mut at Karnak; and so forth. In each case an archeologist was employed to do the actual work, and there was no objection to be raised on scientific grounds. In this manner Lord Carnarvon also began his career as an excavator, being attracted to Thebes by the climate, and desiring an easy occupation to pass the time, but in his case he commenced operations without the aid of any trained archeologist other than myself, and as I was generally very busy, the hard work had to be undertaken by himself. In the second season, how- ever, and thence onwards, he employed Mr. Carter, who had retired from Government service, to look after the work for him; and admirable excavations were carried out in various parts of the Theban necropolis. ‘The sites chosen were not government reserves, and therefore he was allowed to take half the antiquities found, whereas Mr. Davis, working in the Valley, could take nothing. The objects thus acquired were supplemented by shrewd and tasteful purchases, and soon the “Carnarvon collec- tion” came to be one of the most important in England. I do not know how many thousands of pounds Lord Carnarvon spent on the excavations or in the shops, but it may safely be said that the antiquities which were thus obtained had a market value greatly in excess of the sum laid out. I do not think, however, that he regarded the matter from a financial point of view, for he had gradually become very much interested in Egyptology, and thoroughly enjoyed the work; but the oft-repeated FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT 23 statement—never, I think, made by himself—that his self-sacrificing expenditure in the cause of science had left him very greatly out of pocket is quite incorrect. He always knew that his collection would one day be sold, and thus while he was spending money on this fascinating and useful hobby he was able to feel, if he thought about it at all, that it was actually a very profit- able investment.* The point I wish to make is that in his case, native opinion was justified in thinking that his thanks were due to the Egyptian Government for a great privilege conferred, just as foreign opinion was justified in regarding his work as of great benefit to Egypt. If we in England were to allow an Egyptian to dig up our kings in Westminster Abbey the ex- cavator would obviously be under as great an obligation to us as we were to him. In 1912 I left Upper Egypt, and shortly afterwards Mr. Davis died at a ripe old age. Then came the war, and excavation was suspended. ‘Two or three years later Mr. Carter persuaded Lord Carnarvon to ask the Egyptian Government to let him take up Mr. Davis’s work in the Valley of the Kings; but this being a gov- ernment reserve the excavating-contract stipulated, I understand, that everything found in any untouched tomb which might be discovered should go to the Cairo Museum, but that any antiquities found loose in the rubbish or in disturbed deposits should be subject to the usual half-and-half division. Like Mr. Davis, there- fore, Lord Carnarvon thus became a privileged worker for the Cairo Museum, directly under the formal super- vision of the Government in the person of Mr. R. Engel- * In his Will, made upon his deathbed, Lord Carnarvon generously sug- gested that his widow might offer the collection to the British Museum for £20,000, a figure, as he stated, far below its value. 24 TUTANKHAMEN bach, who had taken my place as Inspector-General of Antiquities; but he had this advantage over Mr. Davis, that he had always a chance of obtaining for himself a share of some of the “finds,” to add to his collection. The work, however, though not very expensive, proved to be unproductive of antiquities. In my time, we had cleared a large part of the Valley, and we knew that the tomb of Tutankhamen, and perhaps those of one or two minor personages, alone remained to be found. Lord Carnarvon at length desired to abandon the site, but Mr. Carter persuaded him to hold on until it could be said that the Valley had been completely ex- amined. ‘Then, suddenly, came the great discovery. Lord Carnarvon, who, at the time, was in England, im- mediately went out to Egypt, and, having seen the amaz- ing contents of the first chamber of the new tomb, re- turned to England to make arrangements to meet the situation. Meanwhile, the director of some neighbouring ex- cavations which were being conducted by the Metro- politan Museum of New York, seeing that Mr. Carter was wholly unprepared to handle so great a quantity of antiquities, very generously placed his staff at Lord Carnarvon’s disposal; and thus the long and difficult work of preserving and removing the objects was begun. Public interest in the discovery was widespread, and in England Lord Carnarvon, somewhat bewildered, found himself a famous man. Moreover, to his surprise, he was told that there was a fortune in his discovery. There were the photographic rights to be disposed of to some enterprising journal; there were the kinemato- graph rights to be negotiated for; there were the usual rights in his anticipated book on the subject; and, above FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT 25 all, there were the newspaper rights in his daily service of news as the work developed. The money expended during the past years of unproductive work in the Val- ley would thus be repaid with interest; and though the antiquities themselves belonged to the Cairo Museum, he had the satisfaction of finding—by chance and not by design—that his happy days at Thebes in the in- dulging of his delightful hobby seemed likely to turn out to be most profitably spent. Then came his natural and understandable, but, to my mind, unfortunate mistake. In the excitement of the moment, and in the flurry caused by a descent of eager journalists upon him, he sold to the London Times the absolutely exclusive rights to all information in regard to his discovery; and that newspaper an- nounced in its columns that “neither Lord Carnarvon nor any member of his party will supply news, articles, or photographs to any other individual, newspaper, or agency,” and it was further stated that this promise to give no information to anybody whatsoever, other than the Times journalists, was to hold good until “the com- pletion of the excavation of all the chambers of the tomb.” Immediately, of course, a storm of protest from the Egyptians themselves broke about his devoted head. No one, of course, blamed the Times, which was quite within its rights. But Lord Carnarvon was reminded that the tomb was in no sense his property, since it belonged to the Egyptian nation; and it was pointed out to him that in thus accepting money for his exclu- sive news in regard to discoveries which he had made only by courtesy and under the nominal supervision of the Egyptian Government, he had committed a grave breach of etiquette. “It is an unheard-of thing,” 26 TUTANKHAMEN said the native Minister of Public Works, “that we Egyptians should have to go to a London newspaper for all information regarding a tomb of one of our own Kings.” Thus, when he returned to Egypt he found himself harassed and perplexed by a most awkward situation; but in loyalty to his agreement with the Times he faced the storm with as much indifference as he could com- mand, and went about his business encouraged by a little group of rather thoughtless friends, who had been ac- customed for years to regard the Egyptians as quietly acquiescing in the right of the excavator to do as he chose, in the cause of science. The position of the Egyptian Department of An- tiquities was most difficult. They had a perfect right at this point to take charge of the proceedings, but Mr. Carter and his staff were doing the work admirably, and it would have been very unkind to dismiss them. On the other hand, Lord Carnarvon and Mr. Carter, with the help of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, knew well enough that the work was in the best possible hands, and very naturally they showed some objection to the inspections made by Mr. Engelbach, the Inspector- General of Antiquities, just as Mr. Davis had resented my own official supervision of his work. The situation was most uncomfortable for Mr. Engelbach, but with great tact he did his best to uphold Egyptian rights and to do his duty to the nation which employed him, with- out in the process diminishing the authority of the excavators, whose point of view he could so well under- stand. The chief troubles caused by Lord Carnarvon’s ac- tion may be classed in five groups. Firstly, the arrange- FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT 27 ment with the Times called Egyptian public attention to the whole question of the rights and status of the foreign excavator in Egypt. Is the excavator, it was asked, a sort of owner of the area of his work, and are his discoveries his own secret, to be hidden from the Egyptians and the world until he choose to disclose it? Or is he Egypt’s guest, and under a great obligation to that country for allowing him to excavate? At the time of Lord Carnarvon’s discovery the Director-General of Antiquities was endeavouring, as he still is, to introduce a law which shall prohibit foreign excavators from taking any of their “finds” out of the country. According to this proposed law all antiquities discovered will have to go the Cairo Museum; and this will put a stop to those excavations which are financed by European or Ameri- can museums rather for the purpose of obtaining an- tiquities to fill their show-cases, than for the unrewarded gathering of archzological information. And this law being under consideration, it was felt to be most un- fortunate that Lord Carnarvon should, by his quite innocent action have asserted a sort of proprietorship of the tomb he had discovered, thereby causing many Egyptians to wish to send him about his business. Secondly, various London newspapers refused to take the service of news offered for sale by the Times; and they therefore sent their correspondents to Thebes to obtain what news they could in the teeth of all op- position. Thus a journalistic battle was at once en- tered into; and important native journals, such as Al- Ahram, joined the fray with zest, demanding to know what right an excavator had to sell exclusive informa- tion in regard to Egypt’s own sacred dead, and, indeed, 28 TUTANKHAMEN what right he had to excavate at all, especially in a gov- ernment reserve. Thirdly, the contract with the Times imposed a bond of silence upon the hard-working and most high-prin- cipled excavators, obliging them to act in a rather ludi- crous manner which to their friends and colleagues seemed reminiscent of the simplicity of childhood, and to the Egyptians appeared indicative of the knavery of bad men. ‘They had to slink about with shut mouths, in a manner of brigands; and they gave the impression throughout native Egypt that they were trying to ob- tain some of the objects for sale abroad. Wild stories were circulated as to the removal by aeroplane of millions of pounds’ worth of gold; and the ladies of the party were said to have left the tomb with wonderful jewels hidden under their skirts. The tomb was discovered at a time when the political situation was so delicate that the utmost tact was re- quired to avoid trouble with the Egyptians. Yet, at the opening of the first chamber no representation of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities had been present; and native gossip said that not only had Lord Carnarvon deliberately slighted and insulted the Egyptian nation, but that he had purposely so arranged matters in order to obtain possession of the treasures. The fact that he was an honourable man, incapable of such actions, had no weight with the unreasoning gossips. Fourthly, the contract with the Times obliged the excavators sometimes to attempt to refuse free access to the tomb to Egyptologists who had some connection with a newspaper, as all Egyptologists must have from time to time in the interests of that publicity which is needed to obtain support for scientific work. ‘Thus the FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT 29 excavators cut themselves off from possible advice and help, and unconsciously established a precedent of a rather startling nature. The Egyptologists and others thus shut out at once applied direct to the Egyptian Government for permission to enter the tomb, which was readily granted; and in this manner a definite trial of strength between the Government and the excavators took place, which is bound to re-act upon the future relations of the two. Fifthly, the accidental turning of the discovery to such lucrative account was likely to encourage all kinds of commercial enterprises, and to let loose on Egypt a horde of undesirable diggers anxious simply to obtain loot or to make a discovery which could be exploited by anewspaper. Egyptians themselves, untrained in scien- tific methods, would demand excavating concessions, and they could only be checked by the passage of the pro- posed law mentioned above. These five points will make it sufficiently clear, I think, that on the grounds of archzological principle as well as on those of expediency there should have been no course open to an earnest Egyptologist other than that of resisting the innovation. Yet, as a matter of fact, most Egyptologists sided with the hard-working and most competent excavators, who themselves may be credited with the best of intentions. I may mention that in the sequel the monopoly of the news was quite unable to be maintained, and when the inner chamber of the tomb was opened the main facts were announced to the world through all the important newspapers simultaneously. That, however, is not my present point: I wish only to show that the attitude of an excavator in laying claim to this sort of proprietorship of the area 30 TUTANKHAMEN he has been allowed to excavate can only lead to situ- ations dangerous to the interests of Egyptology at this present time when native opinion has to be considered so carefully. I believe that unless foreign excavators in Egypt adjust themselves speedily to the new conditions in that country, they will cease to be given digging-concessions. Egypt, as I have said, is now fast assuming charge of its own affairs, and we English are retiring from its councils. A new interest in their history and archeology is developing amongst better-class Egyptians; and not long will they permit foreign Egyptologists to work as they have worked before, with greater regard for their own museums and their own public than for the interests of Egypt itself. I will give an instance of what I mean. In the old days the excavator conducted his season’s work in pri- vacy, regarding visitors as intruders who interrupted him. I have heard Lord Carnarvon and the excavators of the Metropolitan Museum of New York declare, un- derstandably enough, that it was intolerable that their work should be held up by the arrival of some party wishing to be shown over the excavations; and though the ever-increasing interest in the great discovery obliged them at length to allow several Egyptian notables to visit the work, they much objected, sometimes, to this necessity. Excavators must try to remember, however, that they are the guests of the Egyptian nation; and in future they must so adjust their plans that from time to time native visitors may be taken over the works. They must show a real desire to educate these people in their history, and they must regard it as one of the duties imposed upon them by the terms of their concession, and FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT 31 not as a waste of time. In the case of the tomb of Tutankhamen a number of native pressmen, at the special invitation of the Egyptian Government, came all the way from Cairo to Luxor to see the sepulchre, but the excavators, not having been properly notified of the visit, at first wished to refuse them admission, and finally allowed them to see the first chamber from be- hind a barrier across the entrance passage, yet did not permit them to look at the antiquities which had already been removed to a neighbouring workshop. This sort of clash on a point of etiquette ought never to have taken place. There should be no secrecy on the part of excavators in regard to their “‘finds,” nor any thought that informa- tion concerning any particular discovery belongs to them alone and not to the public. When the Germans dis- covered the now famous head of Queen Nefertiti at Tell- el-Amarna in 1918, and, for some unaccountable reason, were allowed to take it to Berlin, they kept the matter as dark as night; and it is only now, ten years later, that photographs of it are beginning to circulate. Less than a year ago an English Egyptologist showed me these pictures in profound secrecy, telling me that on no ac- count must they be made public, lest a breach of eti- quette be committed. Breach of fiddlesticks! All information regarding “finds” made in excavations in Egypt should, if only for the sake of politeness, be at the disposal of the Egyptian nation as rapidly as possible, and thence should be passed on to the world at large. ‘This was done, for ex- ample, by Professor Petrie’s party, who, having made a discovery of importance during the same season which saw the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamen, an- 32 TUTANKHAMEN nounced it in a free bulletin to the Press at large. The only serious question of etiquette which arises is that in regard to Egypt: in what manner can the excavator best show his appreciation of the privilege conferred on him by the Egyptian Government in allowing him to excavate at all? It is to be argued that Lord Carnarvon’s discovery put Egypt under a great obligation to him; and, though we consider this true, thoughtful Egyptians have ex- pressed an opposite view. The tomb, they say, was so safely buried beneath tons of rock that it was in no danger, and its treasures might well have been left to the better handling of a future generation. As it is, a mass of material has been discovered at a time when there is no proper place to house it, and when our know!- edge of how to preserve it is very limited. “Is the world fit to assume responsibility for all these treasures of the past?’—asks Professor Petrie—‘‘to ensure that fanati- cism, violence, or greed will not extinguish them?—to guarantee them for some more thousands of years of existence? Or is all this exposure the last stage?” Have these wonderful objects survived the siege of nearly thirty-three centuries, only to be shown to us of this one generation and then to fall to pieces because conditions are not ready for their preservation ? This line of thought is not fanciful, and it must be considered seriously. When Mr. Davis found the tomb of Queen Tiy and Akhnaton we came upon a funeral- shrine made of wood, covered with plaster on which figures were modelled. The shrine had been taken to pieces in ancient times and these modelled surfaces were lying against the walls at various angles. We were able to photograph them and to copy the inscriptions; but FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT 33 a few hours after the introduction of the outside air the plaster-work had cracked and crumbled and fallen off the wood beneath. If objects in such a condition had been found in the tomb of Tutankhamen, they, too, would have perished before means of preserving them could have been procured. It may perhaps be said with truth that we are not yet ready to conduct excavations of this kind; and I do not suppose that Mr. Lucas, the extremely able chemist who was employed by Lord Carnarvon, will deny that, with all his skill, the work might have been done better by a future generation. And as to the housing of these ob- jects, all those who know the Cairo Museum, built, as it is, beside the Nile in a climate having a humidity which rises to 80 per cent, with an annual mean of about 70 per cent, will admit that that building is entirely unfit to receive them; whereas, in another thirty or forty years there may be a safe museum and some proper show- cases ready to preserve them. The staff at Cairo is too small and too hard-worked to deal with the rapidly increasing mass of antiquities, and ruinous confusion grows ever more confused. The building, though fairly new, is dilapidated, and part of the roof fell in a short time ago, destroying many fine objects. If antiquities removed from a tomb where they were perfectly safe are thrown pell-mell into an under- staffed museum in a damp climate and left there to rot, excavation becomes utterly immoral; and in fact the act of excavation should involve both the immediate safe- guarding of the objects found and complete arrange- ments for their perpetual preservation. Lord Carnar- von’s excavations have suddenly sprung this mass of glorious relics of the past upon an unprepared present, 34 TUTANKHAMEN and the grave question of how to hand them on intact to the future is one which, perhaps, has not been prop- erly considered. The search for, and the finding of, a royal tomb, however, is “a gorgeous experience,” to employ a phrase used by Professor Petrie in congratulating the discov- erers of this particular sepulchre; and we may well understand their desire to dig in the Valley of the Kings. But let us face the truth and realise that Lord Carnar- von’s splendid find, while it has given such a great “lift” to Egyptology, is thought by many persons to be a doubtful benefit to posterity. When the discovery had been made, Mr. Carter and the staff lent to him by New York did the best that this generation can do to meet their obligations and to shoulder their responsibilities ; but the risks were great, and one cannot say whether there is any hope of a long lease of life for the objects which have been brought to light, or whether future generations will be able to thank the excavators for opening this tomb. So much for this the greatest archxological find of modern times; and I do not at all willingly criticise one whose curious, interesting, and charming personality so tragically passed from this world at a time when his name was on millions of lips. But the case is typical, and shows so clearly the point of view of the foreign excavator as opposed to that of the native. The ex- cavation of sites which are in danger from some cause is another matter, and in such cases the Egyptians should be grateful; though it may be said that, under existing conditions, the benefit is generally mutual as between the foreign excavator and the Egyptian Gov- ernment. The latter is relieved of expense, and the FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT 35 former usually gains in objects the value of what he has spent upon the work. Be this as it may, however, the Egyptians are of opinion that thanks are due to them for allowing foreigners to dig; and my object in this chapter is to warn excavators and those interested in their work that they must accept that point of view, right or wrong. They must endeavour to be more sim- ple, more obliging, more gracious, more considerate of Egyptian feeling. In vulgar language, they must get off their high horse. In protesting against the proposed law which is de- signed to prevent antiquities leaving Egypt, and which is to be similar to the law now existing in Italy and Greece, they must not arrogantly demand their rights: they have none. Rather, they should marshal the argu- ments on both sides, and draw their correct conclusions in a diplomatic manner. ‘The two sides of the case may be stated as follows: On the Egyptian side it may be said that Egypt is the natural home for Egyptian antiquities, and that the modern Egyptians are the rightful stewards of the relics of their ancestors. On the excavators’ side the reply may be made that antiquities are the property of all mankind, not of one nation, and that Kuropeans and Americans are at present far more able to appreciate these relics of early man than are the Egyptians. Those in favour of retaining all Egyptian antiquities in Egypt can argue that the Cairo Museum will always have a certain number of European scholars in its em- ploy, and these, with the natives now being trained, will be able to take care of the collection; whereas objects which leave the country often pass into unskilled hands. In reply it may be said that, as a whole, the excavators 36 TUTANKHAMEN of foreign museums are more skilled than those likely to be employed at Cairo, and that the services of larger numbers of trained men can be engaged than can be afforded by the Cairo Museum, which now, at any rate, is so badly understaffed. Again, the Cairo Museum, it is to be said on the one hand, can easily be converted into a satisfactory store- house, and proper air-tight show-cases can be obtained. Moreover, the climate is more fitted for the preservation of the fragile objects than is that of certain Kuropean or American cities. On the other hand, it is to be said that at present the Cairo Museum is a wretchedly unsafe building, and that there is no guarantee that it will be improved. Cairo, too, has a humid atmosphere, as I have said above, no better in this respect than that of many foreign capitals. On the Egyptian side it is to be argued that if Egyptian antiquities continue to be distributed over the world, Egyptologists will have to spend their time in wandering over the face of the earth when they wish to study the objects themselves; whereas if the objects are massed in one place their labours wilk be greatly lessened. On the side of the excavators, the answer is that Egypt is very far away from the world’s chief seats of learning, and that widely-spread collections mean widely-spread interest. Cairo, it will be said, is as safe a capital as any other; for the Egyptians will always be under the eye of the great Powers. European capitals, and perhaps American, are open to riots and disturbances more grave than any to be expected in Egypt. The reply is that, in the troubled state of the world, it is bad policy to place all our eggs in one basket. The wider the dis- FUTURE OF EXCAVATION IN EGYPT 37 tribution of the collections the less will be the fear of a great disaster to them. Those in favour of the new law can argue that ex- cavations by foreigners will still be permitted and that the results in increased knowledge will be sufficient re- ward for the workers. The excavators can reply with the unfortunate truth that foreign excavations will very largely cease for want of subscriptions, if there is to be no return in actual objects. Such is a bare outline of the arguments on either side; and the point I wish to make is that the foreign excavators have no cause for complaint. They have freely filled their museums during the past years with antiquities obtained from Egypt, and their attitude now must be one not of outraged dignity but of gratitude for past favours and hope for continued indulgence. If they will show a real interest in the archeological edu- cation of the Egyptian people, and will always recognise the right of the Egyptian Government to maintain its nominal proprietorship, they will go far to ease a situ- ation which is very unpromising for the future of ex- cavation in Egypt. CHAPTER II THE VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS V QYHE famous Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, or Biban-el-Malitk as the natives call it, in which the tomb of Tutankhamen has recently been found, was first used as a burial-place for the Pharaohs of Egypt during the sixteenth century B.c. Previous to this the kings were buried in various parts of the country, according to the position of their capital; and sometimes a Pharaoh had two tombs prepared for him, though it is not known whether, in such cases, it was in- tended that the body should lie for a time in each of the sepulchres, or whether one of the two was simply a sort of extra residence for the royal Ka, or spirit. At any rate, we must understand that an ancient Egyptian burial was not, as with us, a means of disposing of a dead body, but was a method of preserving it and pro- viding a comfortable home for it and the spirit which still dwelt in it. The kings of the earliest dynasties (B.c. 3600 to 3100) were buried in large brick tombs in the western desert behind the city of Abydos in Upper Egypt. Mena, the first Pharaoh of a united Egypt (8.c. 3520) seems to have had two tombs, one at Abydos and one at Nakadeh. King Zeser (3.c. 3100) built for himself the great Step-Pyramid at Sakkara, near Memphis, his capital; but he seems also to have had a sepulchre at Bét 38 VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF KINGS 39 Khallaf, near Abydos. Sneferu, who reigned shortly after this, was buried in a pyramid-like tomb at Meidim, some miles above Memphis; but he also appears to have erected another pyramid-tomb for himself at Dahshir, near Sakkara. Then came Khufu (Cheops) (B.c. 3020-2997) who built the Great Pyramid at Gizeh as his sepulchre. His successor, Dedefra, made his tomb at Abu Roash, a few miles to the north of this; but the next king, Khafra (Khephren) (3B.c. 2989-2923) returned to Gizeh and erected the Second Pyramid there, his successor, Men- kaura (Mykerinos), building the Third Pyramid, close to it. The Pharaohs Sahura, Neferarkara, and Nuserra of the Fifth Dynasty (B.c. 2863-2811) were buried in pyramids at Abusir, between Gizeh and Sakkara; but King Unas (8.c. 2775-2745) was buried at Sakkara, as were also the kings of the succeeding dynasty, down to B.c. 2595. Then followed the first of Egypt’s two “dark ages,” and when the light returns, in B.c. 2280, we find the reigning house—the Eleventh Dynasty—living at Thebes, and burying its kings in the western desert op- posite that city, an area which was to become the famous Theban Necropolis. 'The Pharaoh Nebhapetra Menthu- hotep of this dynasty caused himself to be buried at Dér el-Bahri, in a pyramid surrounded by temple-like buildings, at the foot of the great cliffs which faced the city of Thebes; and not far away he caused a rock-cut tomb to be made for him as a second sepulchre. Other Pharaohs of this period erected brick pyramids for themselves in another part of this necropolis. King Amenemhet II (3.c. 2058-2023) of the Twelfth Dynasty was buried in a pyramid at Dahshir, near Sak- 40 TUTANKHAMEN kara; and his successor, Senusert II, chose to build his pyramid at Ilahiin, at the entrance of the Fayim. The great Senusert III (B.c, 2007-1969) had two tombs, the one a pyramid at Dahshir, and the other a rock-cut sepulchre, discovered by Professor Petrie and myself in the desert behind Abydos, not far from the tombs of the earliest kings. The site chosen for this latter tomb was a stretch of open desert near the foot of the western hills. A pit was excavated in the sand, and when bed-rock was reached a tunnel was made sloping down for some 650 feet into the rock. The sides of the internal cham- bers were cased with quartzite, sandstone, granite, and limestone; and there was a magnificent sarcophagus of red granite. It was the first of the great tunnel-tombs of the Pharaohs, and served as the prototype for the royal sepulchres of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Amenem- het III (3.c. 1969-1921) also had two burial-places, both pyramids, one at Dahshir, and the other at Hawara, near Illahtin. The second “dark age” followed, and when the story of the Pharaohs is able to be resumed the city of Thebes is once more the capital and the Pharaoh Ahmose I (B.c. 1580-1557) the founder of the EKighteenth Dynasty, is on the throne. Thebes, it should be mentioned, was situated on the east bank of the Nile, some 450 miles above Memphis and the later Cairo; and on the west bank stood the pyramids of some of the earlier Kings, grouped at the foot of the desert hills which here come forward in a magnificent range to within a mile or two of the river. Now, it was the Egyptian custom to bury a large amount of rich funeral-furniture and jewellery with their illustrious dead, in order that the spirit might have at hand those comforts and luxuries which the body had A GENERAL VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS i Ps-)4 YT of fnl'F ,< . VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF KINGS 41 enjoyed in life; and the mummies themselves were adorned with valuable necklaces and other personal or- naments, while the coffins were often decorated with gold. There was thus always a great temptation to rob these tombs, and in the chaotic period previous to the foundation of the Eighteenth Dynasty, some of the Pharaonic pyramids had been plundered and the objects of value stolen. It became necessary, therefore, for the kings to consider a new method of burial which would secure some measure of safety for their bodies in the years tocome. If the mummy and its resting-place were destroyed the spirit would be rendered homeless, and if the tomb-stone inscriptions were broken up the name of the dead monarch might be lost; and thus his ghost would have to wander about, untended and unsustained by the pious prayers of the priests of the necropolis. This fear led to much thought being given to the ques- tion; and we can easily understand that the method of burial in a conspicuous pyramid had to be abandoned as being almost an invitation to robbery. The trouble was, however, that if the Pharaoh’s body was to be hidden away in some remote spot in order to secure its safety, the ancient custom of placing funeral offerings a.id saying prayers at the tomb would have to be given up, for these offerings and ceremonies would reveal the position of the hiding-place. In the earliest times such offerings had been placed at the east side of the tomb, that being the side on which the spirit came out to greet the rising sun, and in the age of the pyra- mids this custom had led to the erection of a temple on the east side of each pyramid, where the mortuary serv- ices on behalf of the dead monarch were held. Here food and drink for his spirit were placed; and thus it had 42 TUTANKHAMEN not to make a ghostly journey of any distance in search of its material needs. In the case of the tomb of Senusert III at Abydos, the mortuary temple had been erected about half a mile to the east of the rock-cut sepulchre: the temple stood at the edge of the fields, but the tomb was up in the desert at the foot of the cliffs. There was, however, a little shrine under the cliffs where special services were per- haps conducted and offerings made. The concealed entrance of the royal sepulchre was surrounded by the conspicuous tombs of the chief nobles of that reign; and at the fall of the dynasty thieves had thus found their way in and had broken open the sarcophagus. Ahmose I saw the destruction which had been wrought, yet wished to be buried near his great pred- ecessor, more especially since Abydos was the burial place of the earliest Pharaohs, and was a city sacred to Osiris, the God of the Dead. He, therefore, laid his plans so that the tomb itself should be absolutely con- cealed and yet that the offerings to his spirit might be made close to it. He carried out his scheme in the following manner. In the open desert, less than a mile south of the tomb of Senusert III, he caused a long tunnel to be excavated in the rock which underlies the sand of the surface. From a small and rough entrance this tunnel wound its way down to a large eighteen-pillared hall, and thence passed on to a rough chamber deep in the bowels of the earth, wherein he was to be buried. ‘The mouth of the tomb was insignificant, and could easily be hidden and lost under the sand of this open plain; nor did he allow any of his nobles to be buried near him, lest this might give a clue to his whereabouts. Close to it, at the foot of the VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF KINGS 43 cliffs, he erected a terraced temple wherein his spirit could receive its food and drink. Then, to deceive pos- sible robbers, he carried all the chippings from the tunnel down to the edge of the fields, the best part of a mile away, and enclosed them in a dummy-pyramid which would, of course, be mistaken for the actual tomb. Whether he was ever buried here is not known. His mummy was found in a hiding-place at Thebes, whither it had been carried several hundred years later by pious hands; but whether it was taken there from Abydos or elsewhere cannot at present be decided. This tomb at Abydos contained several fragmentary pieces of gold, when it was discovered some years ago by Mr. C. T. Currelly; but, on the other hand, there was no trace of a stone sarcophagus. The place had been entirely plun- dered, for its secret location had become known by a circumstance which the King had left out of his calcula- tions: the roof of the underground hall had fallen in, thereby leaving a gaping pit in the sandy plain above. The successor of Ahmose I was Amenhotep I, and to this Pharaoh occurred the novel idea of hiding his body away on the top of the cliffs of Thebes when he should come to die. He chose for the site of his tomb, therefore, a dip or shallow ravine in the undulating sur- face of the summit, just behind that part of the necropo- lis now known as Dér el-Medineh. The entrance, cut in the slope of the hill, was a rough pit in which was a steep flight of steps leading down to a tunnel in the hillside, which brought one first to a small chamber and thence to a fair sized burial-hall and a further chamber. On the edge of the fields, rather over a mile due south of the tomb, he erected his mortuary temple, at a place now called Medinet Habu. This was a long way for 44, TUTANKHAMEN his spirit to go to receive its offerings of food and drink; but this disadvantage was evidently considered worth enduring in order that the secret of the position of his tomb might be kept and his body might thus obtain im- munity from pillage. Amenhotep I appears to have constructed a tomb for his mother, Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, and this has recently been found by Mr. Carter in Dra Abu’l Negga, a part of the necropolis farther to the north. The tomb was situated on the top of the hills, and was entered by a pit from which a passage led to a well or shaft some 30 feet deep. This well served both to deceive and balk possible robbers, and also to carry off any rain- water which might percolate through the filling of the entrance pit. Beyond it the passage continued, leading to a burial-hall, the ceiling of which was originally sup- ported by one pillar. In this tomb Mr. Carter found numerous fragments of vases, three of which had the cartouches of Ahmose I on them, eight had the name of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, that monarch’s wife, and nine were inscribed with the name of Amenhotep I. Another fragment bore the name of King Ausserra Apepi of the Seventeenth Dynasty and his daughter Herath, which may perhaps indicate that the tomb had been usurped by Amenhotep I from this earlier king. It is not likely that Amenhotep I was buried with his mother: he was far more probably buried in the tomb on the top of the cliffs; but he did not thus escape the robbers, for the place was plundered in ancient times, and now it lies open, and is generally called simply No. 39, being re- garded as the tomb of an unknown person. My reasons for identifying it as that of Amenhotep I are rather interesting, and may be mentioned here. It VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF KINGS 465 is certainly a royal tomb, judging by its size and shape; and the absence of a well or shaft in it, as will presently be seen, dates it to some period before the reign of Thut- mose III. In the Abbott Papyrus an account is given of the inspection of certain royal tombs in the time of Rameses X, which had been said to be plundered. The first tomb on the list is that of Amenhotep I, the refer- ence reading as follows:—‘“The Tomb of King Amenho- tep I, which lies 120 cubits down from the buildings (7?) belonging to it which are called “The Height,’ north of the temple of ‘Amenhotep of the Garden.’ ” Now the temple of “Amenhotep of the Garden” may well be the later name of the King’s mortuary temple at Medinet Habu, which is known to have had a garden, the site of which, with its artificial lake, can still be seen. If we take a line due north of this, as the inscription tells us, we come to the well-known pathway leading over the hills behind Dér el-Medineh; and at the highest point of this track there are the ruins of a number of ancient huts, once occupied by watchmen, which may have been appropriately called “The Height.” From this emi- nence one commands a striking view of the King’stemple at Medinet Habu; and if we measure 120 average cubits of 20.63 inches, which is the regular cubit of the period, down the hill westward from the near side of this group of buildings, we find that the tape brings us exactly to the mouth of this tomb No. 89. Mr. Carter thought that the tomb which he found at Dra Abu’l Negga as mentioned above, was the sepulchre referred to in the Abbott Papyrus, but the 120 cubit measurement can- not be made to tally with it, except by means of some very improbable calculations, nor do the other directions agree. 46 TUTANKHAMEN The next Pharaoh was Thutmose I; and he decided to make a tomb for himself close to that of his father.* Going a few yards westward from No. 89, that is to say into the desert, away from Thebes, one drops down into the southern corner of the great valley which is now famous as the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, but which was at that time a remote and desolate ravine. It is a magnificent amphitheatre surrounded by preci- pices or steep hillsides, dominated to the south by a mountain which rises up like a pyramid into the sky. This valley passes behind the great barrier-wall of the cliffs which face Thebes, and, with many twists and turns, comes out at last amongst the low hills at the ex- treme north end of the necropolis. It had been created by some long-forgotten prehistoric torrent which had here rushed down from the heights of the Sahara; and in the time of Thutmose I its whole length was strewn with water-worn boulders and stones, nor was there any pathway along it. There was not a blade of grass nor a trace of scrub in this deserted valley. The sun beat down on its life- less rocks all through the morning, and in the afternoon it lay in deep shadow, utterly silent except for the sigh- ing of the wind and the occasional cry of a jackal. Although shut off from the necropolis and the Nile val- ley by no more than a single wall of cliffs, it seemed to be infinitely remote and unearthly: a sterile, echoing re- gion like a hollow in the hills of the Underworld. Here, in the cul-de-sac at its south end, close to, and below, the tomb of Amenhotep I, the Pharaoh Thut- mose I caused his tomb to be excavated in the cliff face at * Its proximity to No. 39 is a further indication that the latter is the tomb of Amenhotep I. VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF KINGS 47 the foot of a precipice. The idea of cutting the tunnel straight into the face of a cliff was new, for in the case of the tombs of Senusert III and Ahmose I, described above, a pit in the level ground had led down to the en- trance; but the tomb of Amenhotep I (i.e. No. 39) gives the link between the old and the new type, for, as has been said, it is cut into the sloping side of a gully. This tomb of Thutmose I had, for the sake of secrecy, an entrance which was small and roughly hewn—a mere hole, just high enough to admit a man standing upright. A flight of steps led down to a square room cut out of the rock, and thence a second flight led on to the burial- hall, the roof of which was supported by one central column, as in the tomb of his grandmother, Ahmose- Nefertari described above. The walls of this hall were smoothed over with plaster, and a small sarcophagus of quartzite sandstone was dragged down and placed here for the reception of the King’s coffin. This tomb was made for the Pharaoh under the di- rection of a great noble named Anena, who was Over- seer of the Granary of Amon, Superintendent of the workmen in the Treasury of Karnak, and Superinten- dent of the Royal Buildings; and in the mortuary chapel of this personage an inscription was found in which occur these significant words: “I arranged for the hew- ing of a rock tomb for his majesty, alone, no one seeing, no one hearing.” ‘Thus we are able to realise that the burial of the Pharaohs of this period was conducted in absolute secrecy, so that their bodies might escape the attentions of the robbers. When Thutmose I was buried here in B.c. 1501, the funeral must have been conducted in the greatest possible privacy, the workmen and priests being sworn to silence by the most terrible oaths. The 48 TUTANKHAMEN mouth of the tomb was filled in with stones, and boulders were probably placed over the surface so that the site might have a natural and undisturbed appearance. The chippings from the interior were dumped at some dis- tance, and were likewise covered with rocks and gravel. The mortuary services for the King’s spirit were con- ducted in the temple erected by Amenhotep I at Medinet Habu, that building being enlarged and newly deco- rated for the purpose. It must have been thought, how- ever, that the spirit’s daily journey down to the temple to receive its food and drink imposed considerable inconvenience upon it; and thus we find at about this period the custom of placing embalmed joints of meat in the tomb, each joint being enclosed in a separate box. Food had been placed in earlier tombs in small quanti- ties, but originally the main supplies of this kind had been left outside the sepulchre, and, as we have seen, in more recent ages they have been deposited in the mor- tuary temples. The next Pharaoh, Thutmose II, had a tomb made for him close to that of Thutmose I, at the bottom of the cliffs.* A rough flight of steps led down to the entrance of the tunnel, which sloped downwards to a small chamber and thence to a curious oval hall, the ceiling of which was supported by two pillars. The walls of this hall were plastered and tinted a sort of drab-colour to represent papyrus; and at the far end was a plain sarcophagus of quartzite sandstone, which, *Tomb No. 42. It has no inscription and is therefore generally re- garded as an unidentified tomb; but the following facts show pretty certainly that it was made for Thutmose II:—It is close to the tombs of Thutmose I and Thutmose III, and is similar in style to the latter, which is the only other tomb having an oval burial-hall. Like the tombs of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut, it has no well, but those of Thutmose III and his successors all have wells, so that it seems to be earlier than Thut- mose III. It is evidently a king’s tomb, by its size and shape. SES THE SECOND MUMMY OF RAME THE VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF KINGS 49 like the sarcophagus of Senusert ITI and other early kings, was uninscribed. Thutmose II added his name to the inscriptions on the wall of the temple of Amen- hotep I and Thutmose I at Medinet Habu, and did not erect a new building as his mortuary temple. So far only these two tombs, those of Thutmose I and II, were situated in the afterwards famous valley, and there was thus no thought as yet of this place being a regular royal necropolis. It was simply a hiding- place for the bodies of these two Pharaohs, just as the summit of the cliff above had been the hiding-place of the mummy of Amenhotep I; and we are to picture the valley, therefore, as still being a wild and desolate spot, apparently untrodden by the foot of man. All this part of the desert was dedicated to the goddess Hathor, who was visualised as a spotted cow living somewhere inside these western hills; and in order to discourage persons from entering this particular valley it was probably said to be an area sacred to the goddess, upon which no man must on any account trespass. In some such manner, at any rate, the hiding-place must have been kept inviolate. Thutmose IT was still alive when the power passed into the hands of Queen Hatshepsut; and she, knowing that she had many enemies in her own family, and fear- ing both them and the robbers of some future date, decided to hide her tomb in a far more remote part of the desert. A distant valley, deep in the hills to the west, was selected as the site; and here she caused her sepulchre to be hewn out of the rock high up in the pre- cipitous face of a cliff, over 200 feet above the bed of the valley below, and some 137 feet down from the top. A. flight of steps and a long tunnel led down to the 50 TUTANKHAMEN burial-chamber, and here a fine sarcophagus of quartzite sandstone was, with infinite labour, hauled and dragged into position. It is the most astonishing tomb in Kgypt; and its clearance a few years ago was due to the skill and daring of Mr. Carter. Meanwhile, however, the Queen was erecting for herself the magnificent mortuary temple which is now known as Dér el-Bahri. It was set against the eastern face of the cliffs overlooking the Theban necropolis and the city of Thebes on the opposite bank of the river; and it was, in its original conception, a development of the idea which Ahmose I had carried into execution near his tomb at Abydos, as recorded above, that is to say it was a terrace-temple wherein the mortuary services for the royal spirit might be conducted. But when the Queen began to feel her position more secure, perhaps after the death or deposition of Thutmose II, she decided to make another tunnel-tomb for herself which should run in under this temple, in somewhat the manner in which the tomb of Ahmose I had penetrated underground towards his terrace-temple. Now, the silent and untrodden valley at the far end of which the tombs of Thutmose I and II were situated, passed just behind or on the west side of the cliffs which formed the background of her temple; and she therefore decided to cut a tunnel from this valley, which should run right under these cliffs and should end in a hall deep in the rock underneath her temple. In this hall she would be buried; and thus the mortuary services for the benefit of her spirit would be held directly above her mummy as it lay in its secret tomb beneath. Her spirit would rise up each day through the solid rock to greet the sunrise on the terraces of her temple; and the VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF KINGS 51 entrance to the tunnel would be so well hidden in the valley behind that her mummy would lie secure from robbery. The actual tunnel which was made was some 700 feet in length and over 300 feet in depth, but it curved off to the right, either owing to the workmen having lost their sense of direction as they laboured in the dim light of their lamps, or owing to the poor quality of the rock, which obliged them to swerve aside. In the burial-hall, the rough walls of which were lined with limestone blocks inscribed with religious texts, the Queen placed a fine quartzite sandstone sarcophagus for herself and another for her father, Thutmose I. Part of the floor of the hall was sunk somewhat lower than the rest, this being an innovation afterwards copied in later tombs. It is not known whether the Queen actually disinterred Thutmose I from his own tomb and re-buried him here; but it is pretty certain that she herself was laid to rest in this extraordinary sepulchre; for when it was exca- vated some years ago by Mr. Carter, after it had been plundered by ancient thieves, many fragments of the funeral-paraphernalia were found. Meanwhile, Thutmose III, Hatshepsut’s brother, who had reigned by her side, was making for himself a sepulchre close to that of ‘Thutmose II. It was cut into the rock in an almost inaccessible chimney in the cliffs, high above the tomb of Thutmose II, and not far below the tomb of Amenhotep I, that is to say right in the south corner of the valley. Hatshepsut had modelled her tomb on that of Ahmose I at Abydos, but Thutmose III copied and elaborated the plan of the tomb of Thutmose II. A flight of steps led down through a small rough entrance, easily able to be concealed. to a 52 TUTANKHAMEN sloping passage and another staircase. Then came a deep shaft or well, like that in the tomb of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, hewn out of the rock, completely cutting off the interior chambers. Its purpose, as in this earlier instance, was two-fold. Firstly, it served to carry off any rainwater which might penetrate through the filling of the entrance, since the place chosen for the tomb, in this rocky chimney, was very liable to become the bed of a torrent upon the rare occasions of a downpour. Secondly, it was a deterrent to robbers, for the entrance to the further chambers and passages on the opposite side of the well was blocked up and covered with plaster, so that only a blank wall was visible. The robbers, if they were without tackle, would thus abandon their godless work here; or, if they had ropes, would descend the shaft and, finding it empty, would think that the tomb had never been used. Beyond the well there was a pillared hall, upon the walls of which a long list of nearly 750 gods and demi- gods was inscribed. In the floor there was a flight of steps leading down to a magnificent oval-shaped burial- hall, like that in the tomb of Thutmose II; but this stair- case was planned so that it could be filled up to the top and thus concealed. In the burial-hall stood the stone sarcophagus, and on the walls were texts and illustra- tions from the “Book of That Which is in the Under- world,” painted in outline like an enlargement of a roll of papyrus. It will be remembered that the walls of the oval hall in the tomb of Thutmose II were also painted to represent papyrus, but the religious inscrip- tions had never been written, probably owing to the tomb having been left unfinished. Thus, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, Hatshepsut, and VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF KINGS = 53 Thutmose III, were all buried in this one valley; and though the exact location of each tomb was a profound secret, this desert ravine must now have been pretty gen- erally known to be the royal burial-ground, and was no doubt talked about as such in awed whispers. Thutmose III had built his mortuary temple on the other side of the barrier of cliffs, near the edge of the fields, far away from his hidden tomb; and thus all possible precautions had been taken to secure secrecy and to avoid robbery. Besides these four royal sepulchres, there were also in this valley a few small tombs, each consisting of a single shaft, from the bottom of which the burial-cham- ber led out. These were the burial-places of the Vizirs or other great men of the land, who had been allowed to rest near their royal masters. Most of the great men of the period were buried at the bottom of somewhat similar shafts in a hill now known as Shekh abd’el- Gurneh in the main Theban necropolis; and above these shafts there were two or three rock-cut chambers which served as their mortuary chapels. But in certain in- stances these upper chambers are found to have no burial-pits belonging to them; and I think that where this is the case we may suppose the owner to have been buried in the royal valley, near his sovereign. It is not always certain where the queens, princes, and princesses were interred at this period; but in certain cases they were undoubtedly laid to rest in the tomb of the Pharaoh of their day, for some of their bodies have been found in the royal sepulchres. The next king was Amenhotep IT (38.c.1447-1420) ; and he followed the family custom, and excavated his tomb in the valley, choosing a place for it in the western side of the south end, about a hundred yards from the 54 TUTANKHAMEN tomb of Thutmose I, and cutting it into the base of the precipice as that Pharaoh had also done. The entrance was small and rough, as in the case of the earlier tombs of this dynasty; and a flight of steps brought one to a sloping passage which descended to a second staircase, leading to a well, copied from the tomb of Thutmose III. There was some decoration on the walls of this well, in order to suggest the false idea that it was the burial-place. Beyond this, concealed behind a blocked doorway in the opposite wall, was a two-pillared hall, through the floor of which, again as in the tomb of Thut- mose III, a hidden stairway descended into the six- pillared burial-hall. The walls of this hall were painted, as before, like papyrus, and were inscribed with texts and scenes from the “Book of That Which is in the Underworld.” Upon the pillars the King was shown in the presence of various gods, drawn in outline. At the far end of this hall, the floor of which is here at a deeper level, as in the tomb of Hatshepsut, the quartzite sandstone sarcophagus was placed. This King’s mor- tuary temple was erected on the edge of the fields just to the south of that of Thutmose IIT. The succeeding Pharaoh was Thutmose IV (B.c. 1420-1411), who chose for his sepulchre a site close to that of Hatshepsut, and for his mortuary temple a site some distance to the south of the temple of Amenhotep II. The tomb followed much the same plan as that of Amenhotep IT, but the quartzite sandstone sarcophagus was larger, and the painting on the walls of the burial- hall and well were more elaborate, the figures being no longer shown in outline, but being completely painted. A young boy, perhaps one of the king’s sons who had VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF KINGS _ 55 died during his father’s lifetime, was buried with the Pharaoh in this tomb. Amenhotep IIT (3.c. 1411-1375) was the next king; but it seems that he regarded this valley as being now too obviously a royal necropolis to be safe from robbery. There were at this time five royal sepulchres in it: those of Thutmose I, II, and III, Hatshepsut, and Amen- hotep IT, as well as a number of small tombs wherein the vizirs and other great personages were buried; and the new king therefore decided to make his own tomb else- where. Immediately behind this valley there was another ravine, and here, in virgin ground, he caused his tomb to be excavated, amidst the boulders which lay heaped about the base of a precipice. The entrance was larger and more carefully hewn than those of his pred- ecessors, but the chambers, passages and well in this sepulchre followed pretty closely the plan of the tombs of ‘Thutmose IV and Amenhotep II; and the sarcopha- gus was placed at the far end of the pillared hall in a depression in the floor similar to that first introduced by Hatshepsut. The walls of this hall and of the well were painted with the figures of the King and the gods, and were inscribed with religious texts as before, all these being more elaborately executed than had previ- ously been the case. His mortuary temple was erected on the edge of the fields to the south of the temple of his predecessor, and two great seated figures of the King were erected in front of its main entrance. These fig- ures, now known as “The Colossi,” still at the present day sit facing the city of Thebes, though the temple behind them has almost entirely disappeared. During this Pharaoh’s lifetime the death occurred of his parents-in-law, Yuaa and Tuau, the father and 56 TUTANKHAMEN mother of Queen Tiy; and since the valley where his ancestors lay had now been abandoned by him, he was not unwilling to allow them to be buried init. He there- fore caused a new type of tomb to be made for them, which should be larger than those of the vizirs and smaller than those of the kings. A flight of steps led down to the entrance, and then a short subterranean passage sloped down to a single undecorated chamber, some 80 feet long and 11 feet broad, in which the two mummies were laid to rest, surrounded by a mass of funeral-furniture. An almost similar tomb was made for Queen Tiy during her lifetime, a short distance from this sepulchre of her parents. One descended by a flight of steps to a passage which sloped down to a single chamber, rather smaller than that of Yuaa and Tuau, since it had to accommodate only one mummy. ‘The walls were un- decorated, but were more carefully smoothed and shaped than those in her parents’ tomb. Akhnaton (B.c. 13875-1358) was the next king, but, for religious reasons, he removed his residence from Thebes to Tell-el-Amarna in Middle Egypt, where he was ultimately buried in a sepulchre amongst the desert hills some seven miles to the east of his city.