SECTIONS NEAR BURY ST. EDMUNDS SHOWING POSITION IN WHICH PALEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS AND FRAGMENT OF HUMAN SKULL WERE FOUND. Fig. 2. Section of the pit No. 2 in fig. 1. section exposed in the workings in A indicates the November, 1882, and shows the position of the human skull in the red bed. Fig. 3. Section of the pit No. 3 in fig. 1, and of an adjacent pit; indicates the position of the flint implement, Plate IV, fig. 2. MARCH 25TH, 1884. Professor W. H. FLOWER, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. The Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed. The following presents were announced, and thanks voted to the respective donors. FOR THE LIBRARY. From the AUTHOR.-Abstract of an Account of Recent Archæological Excursions in Wisconsin and Ohio. By Frederick W. Putnam. Cimetière Gaulois de Mareuil-le-port. J. de Baye. By M. le Baron From the ACADEMY.-Actas de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias en Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei. Transunti, Vol. VIII, From the SOCIETY.-Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Proceedings of the Royal Society, No. 229. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, From the EDITOR.-The American Antiquarian, Vol. VI, No. 2. Nos. 1, 2, 1884. Matériaux pour l'Histoire de l'Homme. March, 1884. “Nature.” ́ Nos. 750, 751. Panjab Notes and Queries. No. 5. Revue Politique et Litteraire. Tom. XXXIII, Nos. 11, 12. Lord WHARNCLIFFE exhibited a very fine stone implement recently found on his estate in the North Riding of Yorkshire, upon which Lieutenant-Colonel GODWIN-AUSTEN offered some remarks. Mr. G. M. ATKINSON exhibited some flint flakes from Southend, upon which Mr. HILTON PRICE made some observations. Mr. LAISHLEY exhibited and described a large collection of Maori heads carved in Cowrie gum. The PRESIDENT and Professor THANE joined in the discussion which this exhibition raised. The following paper was read by the author: NOTES upon some ANCIENT EGYPTIAN IMPLEMENTS. By F. G. HILTON PRICE, F.S.A., F.G.S., Treasurer Anthrop. Inst. [WITH PLATE VII.] IT is not my intention to read a paper this evening upon. Egyptian implements generally, but merely to describe a small number in my possession. To discuss the subject at length would occupy more time than I have at present at my disposal, and would perhaps be beyond the limits of our "Journal." Until lately no implements of stone had been discovered in Egypt, but during the last few years records of important finds have been laid before our Institute by Sir Richard Owen, Captain Burton,' Sir John Lubbock, Mr. Jukes-Browne, General Pitt Rivers,* &c. It seems, therefore, most probable that Egypt at a remote period passed, like many other countries, through its stone age; but we have no information as to how long it lasted, or when it was superseded in that country by bronze and iron. I do not intend to imply that Egypt had ever been through such a stone age as had Denmark, but there is no doubt stone was used during the bronze period, and probably for many purposes during that of iron. There is no record, on the monuments, of the ancient Egyptians making use of stone implements. Still, they had once used stone for ordinary purposes, and we find a survival of it for certain ceremonies lingering into the historic period. For instance, upon the authority of Herodotus and Diodorus, we learn that the embalmer used a knife made of the Ethiopic stone, which is described as being of exceeding hardness, and capable of taking a keen edge; and the man who made the first incision in the side of the corpse, for the purpose of extracting the intestines, had to run away with all speed even from his colleagues, as it was the custom for them to 1 "Flint Flakes from Egypt," by Captain Burton (“Journ. Anthrop. Inst.," vol. vii, p. 323). 2 "Notes on the Discovery of Flint Implements in Egypt," by Sir John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S. ("Journ. Anthrop. Inst.," vol. iv, p. 215). 3 "On some Flint Implements from Egypt," by A. J. Jukes-Browne, F.G.S. ("Journ. Anthrop. Inst.," vol. vii, p. 396). 4 "On Discovery of Chert Implements in Stratified Gravel in the Nile Valley near Thebes," by Major-General Pitt Rivers, F.R.S. ("Journ. Anthrop. Inst.,' vol. ii, p. 382). M. throw stones at him and to load him with curses. Passalacqua discovered in a tomb close to a mummy a small box, which contained nine flint implements, presumably used for making incisions into the flanks of the dead. Yet, notwithstanding they used flint for this purpose, at the same time they employed bronze, in the form of a long rod, with a hook at the end for extracting the brain, which was done by passing this instrument through the nostrils. Then, again, another survival of the use of flint is shown by the knives for circumcision, which were employed for that purpose in Egypt as well as in Syria, being made of that material. They likewise used flints as points to their arrows for fowling purposes, and it has been supposed that they even used flint spears in warfare, though none have hitherto been found; and it is likewise probable that they made use of flint scrapers for preparing skins and dressing cloth. Flints were also used in some agricultural processes in ancient times: although I am unaware of the habit at the present day in Egypt, yet in many parts of the East they are still fixed into large wooden machines, which serve the purpose of the harrow. I have frequently seen in Egyptian collections specimens of large flat and broad instruments of green basalt, usually being in the form of an animal (there is one of these in the British Museum), but for what particular purpose these weapons were used I am quite unable to say. There is a good woodcut of flint knives in "The Ancient Egyptians," by Sir. G. Wilkinson, Vol. II, p. 261; the originals are in the Berlin Museum. One of them has a handle of flint, and is a well-finished implement. On the same page are the following remarks upon stone weapons by Dr. Birch, which I think worth adding, as he is our greatest authority upon anything relating to Ancient Egypt:-"A beautiful little stone saw was found by Prof. Hayter Lewis at the Pyramid of Zowet-el-Arrian, built under one of the first six dynasties. "The various stone knives in the museums of Europe are of pyromachous silex, of a light-brown, not dark, colour; and they were often deposited in baskets near the mummies, and fragments or slices of flint have been discovered in the tombs. Arrow-heads, resembling those of the stone period, have also been discovered in a tomb of the twenty-second dynasty, or the ninth century B.C., and other leaf-shaped pieces, apparently for the same use. Great quantities of flint instruments have also been found in the neighbourhood of Egyptian temples and stations in the peninsula of Sinai, in Arabia-amongst them stone hammers; knives of dark |