Archaeology Magazine - December 1957 - 57

tombs of the First Dynasty at Sakkara.
Selim Hassan of Cairo University reported on excavationsof the causeway
of Unas, and showed slides of reliefs
with extraordinarilylively battle scenes
in which Egyptians are seen in handto-hand fighting with Asiatics. In his
paper on the Sun sanctuary of Userkaf, Herbert Ricke of the Swiss Institute showed the most recent plans of
this interestingstructure. He also commented on the magnificenthead found
in the excavations, which he now
tends to regard as that of a goddess,
possibly Neith. A. Mekhitarian of
the University of Brussels suggested
that the same painter had decorated
the tombs of Horemheb and Nebamon
in the Theban necropolis. These two
tombs, both dated in the reign of
Thothmes IV, are strikingly similar
and differ from others of the period.
H. W. Müller reported on the progress
since 1954of the Corpus of Late Egyptian Sculpture. He also discussed the
significanceof the statues found in
the sanctuary of Isis at Benevento
(South Italy), which was erected in
A.D.88. Some of these were ordered in
Egypt specifically for the sanctuary
and therefore give a fixed date.
Jao Tsung-i of the University of
Hong Kong spoke on Ch'u t??u and
archaeology.This early work of literature (fifth-third centuries B.c.) derives from the great state centered
south of the Yangtze River near Tungt'ing Lake. Some believe it could not
have been written by the Ch'u people
because they were uncivilized; others
regard it as an imaginativecreation of
later times. ProfessorJao showed from
remains unearthed near Ch'angsha that
these points of view are unjustified.
Inscriptions,carvings, implements, etc.
confirmits historicity.
Li Chi of the Academia Sinica at
Taipei reported on the pottery and
bronze vesselsof the Yin-Shangperiod
(traditionally dated 1384-1111 B.c.),
from the site of Anyang. Five pottery
groups can be distinguished. Some
wares are traceable to Neolithic times,
while others are of new design. Bronze
vessels are of two types. The roundbodied seem to have a pottery origin,
those with angular bodieshave wooden
prototypes.Dr. Li indicated that woodcarving was then highly developed.
Jitsuzõ Tamura of Kyoto University discussed the civilization of the
Liao Empire (Khitay), A.D.916-1125,

illustrating with finds from the tombs
of emperors (a.D. 983 to 1101) located near Pai-t'a-tzu in eastern Mongolia. Their interiors were coveredwith
paintings. There were portraits of people dressed in Khitay or in Chinese
fashion, landscapes,flowers,birds*animals, angels and architectural details.
Sculptures include Bodhisattvas, musicians, angels and animals.
L. C. Goodrich of Columbia University spoke on recent discoveries at
Ch'uan-chou (Zaytan), where the city
walls were torn down in the face of
the Japanese invasion (1938) and many
inscribed objects revealed. Reviewing
Chuang Wei-chi's publication of explorations there, he said that among
the finds were an early seventh century
tomb, remains of the eleventh-thirteenth
century (coins, pottery, porcelain,stone
figures and cowries), foreign tombstones from the Mongol period (12801368), an inscription which records
the names of officials charged with
control of ships, and Brahmin and
Moslem remains of the 1300s. One
Chinese and Mongol inscription of
1313is especiallyinteresting as it deals
with administration of Manichaeans
and Christians in this area.
Several exhibitionswere held at the
time of the Congress. The Ethnographic Museum showed its fine Far
Eastern and Indian material, the paintings at the Pinakothek seemedto glow
more magnificentlythan ever, and an
exhibition of ancient minor arts at the
Prince Carl Palais was most rewarding.
Neither the résumé of these few
papers nor this partial list of exhibitions can convey the stimulating atmosphere of this Congress. Excursions
arranged for the members and private
hospitality on the part of German colleagues added a friendly touch.

tion, with appropriate commentaryand
interpretation.
The conferencewill include talks by
Prof. Eric Havelock of Harvard, Prof.
H. D. F. Kitto of the University of
Bristol, Prof. Otto Brendel of Columbia University, and others. At one session a reading of Sophocles'Antigone
will be followed by a performance of
Anouilh's version of the play.
The program has been designed to
be as concrete as possible, to proceed
by illustration, and to afford a maximum amount of contact with the documents themselves, accompaniedby a
minimum of verbalizing. It is hoped
that the whole approach will stimulate
new thinking concerningthe nature of
the Classicaltradition.
Unique Find in Palestine
The ancient coin pictured on this
page may seem more like a shapeless
lump of metal than a work of art, but
actually it is a most important and
interesting document.
Found at Shechem,the famous biblical site forty-one miles north of Jerusalem, where the joint expedition of
Drew University and McCormickTheological Seminary began excavating in
1956, this object is the earliest coin
ever found in Palestine. Dr. G. Ernest
Wright, director of the expedition,had

ACLS Conference
The annual conferenceof the American Council of Learned Societies, to
take place at Indiana University,January 23 and 24, 1958, will be devoted
to "The Present-day Vitality of the
Classical Tradition." The program
committee(Prof. Paul L. MacKendrick,
chairman) has decided to concentrate
upon the sense of tragedy developed
by the Greeks as the aspect of the
Classical tradition which best exhibits
its enduring vitality. Hence the meet- Greek coin foundat Shechem.Above:obings will take the form of demonstra- verse,below:reverse.Diameter2 cms.
285

Archaeology Magazine - December 1957

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - December 1957