Dead Men Tell Tales

by Harry Rimmer

The Sheltered Wife

Strangely, in view of the consistent demands of the evolutionary school, we find no evidence of human evolution in the land of Egypt. More than this, the doctrine that man began with a brutish intellect and gradually developed his high and peculiar culture, is refuted by the evidences from this country. In fact, the contrary is strikingly the case. Instead of proving a process of evolution, the history of man as found in the archeology of Egypt is a consistent record of degeneration.

The eminent Sayce, one of the ablest archeologists in the whole history of that great science, expressed his wonder and amazement at the high stage of culture met with in the very earliest records of the Egyptian people. Other authorities, such as Baikie, have written voluminously upon this subject. It had been hoped that when excavators finally reached undisturbed tombs of the first dynasty, they would find themselves in the dawn of Egyptian culture. It was our fortunate privilege to be at Sakkara a year ago when the first complete and unmolested tombs of the first dynasty were uncovered. It was our privilege to keep a close check and watch upon all that was done at that time, and the conclusions and postulations of hopeful theorists were utterly shattered in such discoveries as were made.

Indeed, we can no longer start Egyptian culture with the beginning of the dynastic ages. Through the first tombs, we peer back into an older preceding culture that dazzles and amazes the human understanding. Instead of finding the dawn of a developing humanity, we see mankind already in the high noon of cultural accomplishments. Instead of nomadic dwellers in shaggy tents, we look upon works of enduring stone. Instead of brutish, Egyptian ancestral artifacts, we find a pottery culture that is really superb. It almost seems that the farther back we go into Egyptian antiquity, the more perfect was their culture and learning. The art of writing was the common possession of the Egyptian in the pre-dynastic period.

It is true that there was a so-called stone age in Egypt, which preceded the first dynasty. We are showing here, however, a photograph of one of the most ancient open burials ever discovered in Egypt. This is accompanied by various heads of mummies, to show the state of preservation. (See [Plate 5].) Before the art of embalming was invented and the dead were mummified, they were buried by intrusion in the dry sands. You will note the perfection of the culture of this people as depicted by the pottery undisturbed in this grave. In contrast to this type of burial, the mummies shown in this same plate are no better preserved than the earlier burial. Indeed, there is no evidence to show that these cultures were consecutive rather than contemporary. In various sections of Egypt it is quite probable that different burial customs prevailed simultaneously, and it is a pure speculation to say that the more primitive type of burial is ages older than the advanced style.

There are many anomalies and mysteries in this so-called stone age in Egypt. In the museum at Cairo there will be found some of the most remarkable specimens of stone flaking to be seen on the face of this earth. Others may be seen in the British Museum, in the various exhibits of Egyptian culture. One of these knives is equipped with two points, and all of them are equally sharpened on both edges. In the author’s own gatherings from the various stone cultures of mankind, there are something over 25,000 artifacts. We have seen every important collection of stone implements in the present world, but these specimens from ancient Egypt are unquestionably the most magnificent types of stone culture we have ever been privileged to observe.

The significant and startling fact is that these stone knives have handles of beaten gold. At once we are impressed with the anomalous fact that the stone age was thus synonymous with an age of metal. Furthermore, it was an artistic age. The golden handles on these stone weapons are engraved with scenes common to the life of the people. On one side of the stone dagger with the double points, there is a sailing vessel typical of the pleasure craft that were common to all ages of Egyptian life. On the raised deck of this boat, dancing maidens were entertaining the circle of spectators. This work was not crude and brutish, but showed a high development of the engraver’s art. The reverse side of the handle was even more interesting in that it contained, in beautifully incised characters, the cult sign of the owner.

Here is, indeed, a weird super-imposition of ages and cultures. The body of the weapon is of a stone age; the handle of the weapon is of an age of metal; the engravings upon that metal show an age of art and the possession of written characters. There is no comfort for the evolutionary hypothesis in the antiquity of Egypt. The contrary rather is the case. There is a strange tide sweeping through the record, portraying an ebb and flow of culture that is fascinating to observe.

The culture of Egypt starts on a magnificently high level and is later reduced to a tremendous degree by a consistent record of degeneration. It might be said that by the end of the fourth dynasty, the people had reached the high peak of Egyptian art and learning. But after the sixth dynasty had well begun, a definite decline and retrogression had set in. We find ourselves then groping in a dark age wherein were no arts and no written history. No great monuments come from that period, and no great buildings were begun, repaired, or finished. Writing became extremely scarce and in many sections of the land the art seems to have been completely forgotten. As in the dark ages of medieval Europe, learning was in eclipse and the mental life of man degenerated. Just when the renaissance began, it is impossible to say, but in the eleventh dynasty we are suddenly back into the light again.