NOTES ON ARCHAEOLOGY HOW THE SPADE IS BEARING OUT THE SCRIPTURES
cause we knew so little about him . It is these unexpected revelations of the greatness of h ith erto little known periods and people of th e ancient world th a t make th e archeologist so slow to join in th e popular chorus of adulation of “modern progress.” Here we will aw ait fu rth e r light. Gigantic Obelisk The Egyptian A ntiquities Depart ment, acting on the au tho rity of King Fuad, has unearthed an obelisk which has been lying a t Assouan, Upper Egypt, for centuries, half covered w ith debris. The resu lt is startling , as it reveals a mammoth block of granite 133 ft. long, 14 ft. wide a t th e base, and 8 ft. at the most slender end. It would have weighed 1,168 tons. It was not, however, removed, because the block contains flaws, and th e re is the possibility of th e mass snapping w ithout warning. The problem is how th e ancient Egyptians arrang ed to re move such an obelisk from its bed, tran sp o rt it over-land, and then down the river, and finally erect it. It would be a ta sk taxing the resources of the most advanced engineers of to-day w ith all th e ir equipment, bu t it is cer tain th a t th e Egyptian ancients were able to do it. Deluge Inscription The Jew ish Chronicle reports th a t Prof. Clay, of Yale, has found in the P ierpont Morgan L ibrary a cuneiform tab let of extraordinary in terest. Hav ing Hebrew (not Assyrian) as its lin guistic base, it comes from th e tim e of Abraham , and bears a date correspond ing w ith the year 1966 B. C. It is a copy, made by an Amorite, of a much older inscription, and though only por tions of th e eight columns have been recovered and in terp reted , it clearly
The Luxor F ind Newspapers have had much to say about the Luxor find in Egypt, th e tomb of King Tutankhamon. Fabulous es tim ates have been given of th e worth of th e find. Dr. Melvin G. Kyle, noted archeologist, says: The tim e has no t yet come to es tim ate th e scientific value of th is find, to say nothing of its value to Bible students. If th e repo rt th a t a g rea t archive of papyri has been found in the tomb be correct, th a t may prove of incalculable value, surpassing all the jewels of the throne, for it may enable us to understand the strang e theolog ical controversy of th e time, a con troversy in old Egypt which has been th e subject of much discussion and is yet bu t little understood. On th e o th er hand, the archive may be only another copy of th e well-known Book of th e Dead. The outlook, however, is hopeful th a t th is archive contains much th a t will throw light on the strang e religion of th e “ h e re tic ' king,” Akhenaten, th e most in teresting per sonage in all th e religious history of Egypt. Two things are already revealed by th is wonderful discovery; it gives an unexampled insight into th e w ealth of Egypt to find .these funeral trappings so marvelous in richness, even though but an obscure king. W hat then must have been the luxury and indulgence of th e g reat monarchs of th a t land of the unexpected? The other th ing th a t arrests atten tion is th a t th is discovery reveals how little we know of some of th e im po rtan t periods of Egyptian his tory. Is it any wonder then th a t we know from Egypt so little concerning th e Israelites in the land of bondage? A fter all, why has Tutankham on been though t an obscure king? Simply be
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