THE BURIAL CUSTOMS OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
The Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt. By John Garstang, B.Litt. (A. Constable and Co. 31s. 6d. net.)—Professor Garstang adds to his title " as Illustrated by Tombs of the Middle Kingdom." This period is the chief subject of his volume, but he does not limit himself to it. The site explored, Beni-Hasan, offered opportunities for widely extended research. It is in Middle Egypt, about in a line with the southern extremity of the Sinaitic Peninsula. Some way to the north, on the eastern bank of the river, which is hero very near to the desert, are rock- tombs of the Third and Fourth Dynasties. Between these and Beni-Hasan is the great Necropolis of the Middle Empire, with rock-tombs of the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties, and close to the village another great Necropolis of the Twentieth to the Thirtieth Dynasties. This brings us down to the Ptolemaic period. The excavations were carried on during two winters, 1902-4, at the expense of a Committee which iucluded, with other members, Mr. Ralph Brocklebank, Sir J. T. Brunner, and Dr. A. J. Evans. They seem to have been very carefully conducted, and to have been rewarded by the fortunate dis- coveries of some tombs either intact, or where the pilferers for some reason or other, chiefly, doubtless, disappointment with the proceeds, had stopped short. The results are, of course, full of interest. Chap. 5 may be taken as a specimen, as there the tombs of "Antef, a Courtier," "Nefery, a Physician," " Nefwa, a Superintendent of the Treasury," and the double tomb of Klienem-hekhta and Noter-heklita are described. In the first of these were found the model of a granary, a rowing- boat, the model of a bull led by a man, and close to the body, which had not been mummified, a funeral mask and sandals. The granary was, so to speak, a working model ; one figure in it was filling baskets with grain, another was carrying them, a third, a clerk of the works, was taking notes of the work done. The boat, again, was filled with figures in the act of rowing. All this seems to suggest something like belief, though there must have been a tendency to stereotype. The volume will well repay study.
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