Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/354

This page needs to be proofread.

~'0S NOTICES OF AKCH-EOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. tu have been inhabited by tnl)es Uke the Kskimaux. 'I'liesc comprise the horu and bone implements and those of mammotli ivory, made at a period when the nse of metal was nnknown. The ontlines and carvings of these tools exhibit the mannnoth, the reindeer and the hoi-se, dmwn with a sj>irit and fidelity hardly to be reconciled with the i)rimitive tools then in nse (No. 10). Of the neolithic or polished stone period, arc many interesting si>ccimens from all (piartei*s uf t lie world, from Jlugland to Japan, comprising bone and stone instrnments from the pile dwellings discovered in the Swiss lakes (No. l'.'?), and others from the (ienista caves at (Mbraltar (No. '2i); while the bronze j)eriod has the principal monn- ments of that class, the imperfectly baked terra cotta urns, celts, taUlrons, trumpets, ;ind bronze helmet from Saxony (No. 3!)). lOxeellent illustrations of these i)rehistoric I'cmains are given in the threshing machine set with flint flakes from Alcpi)0, and another with lava from Tencrille, sliowing one of the uses of the numerous flint flakes found with momiments of the jieriod. The ethnogra])hical section, one of the most important for the study of prehistoric iirt, is well illustrated by the photographs taken from the valuable collection formed i)y the late Mr. (."hristy, and deposited in Victoria Street. It is richest in specimens from Oceania, for China and India are represented in the collections of the India OHice, more than by those of the I'ritish Museum, which contains only a nucleus of the civilization i>f the Eastern hemisphere. The stone coloni of Easter Island, called lloa-haka-nana-Ia, and Tau-ta-re-gna, are the most remarkable, as they ofl'er attempts at sculpture by a race whose arts were inferior to those of the primitive races of Europe ; which race, however, never eflccted any sculpture more colossal than the monolitliic beam of a crondech. The ( 'hristy Collection is exceedingly ricii in American antiquities, and amongst the most remarkable photographs are the Mexican skull covered with mosaic of obsidian, tunpioise, pyrites ; the flat dagger with mosaic handle (No. ItO) ; the Mexican sacriflcial collar (No. *J(i), the stone seat from Moja, Ecuador (No. 131); the bronze buckler from Ijiijaiia, in the same state (No. I'i'J). The Egyptian collection has been extensively selected, and is illustrated by general views of the galleries. Objects of all ages have been ])hotographed. In the sculpture, the red granite head of Thothmes III. (.o. 203), that of Amenoi.his 111. (No. 21(1), and the remarkably flnc and cliaracteristic lion of Ameni'iiliis 111., from Mount IJarkal in Nubia (No. 201), may be jiarticularly cited, while amongst the Kiiialler <ibjccts the in.scrilicd board hung up in a school ami giving directions in rhetoric and grannnar (.No. 2.S0), and the gla.ss vase with the name of Thothmes III. (No. 2.H3), the oldest dated sjtccimen of the Hcmi-opaipie material often foiuid in the Isles of (Jrcece, and the sepulchre of Etrurin, is a remarkable specimen. There arc also photogra|ihH of a papyrus (No.s. 201 — 271), celelimtc(l as the best ])reservcd in Europe ; the ritual <^f the superintendent of the cattle of Scti I., of the llKh dyuiisty, about n.c. l."i.">0, u very Kucccssfid application of the art to the cliws of I'Igj'ptian anti<piities and most acceptablo to lLryplologists. Not less interesting than the Egyptian HpecinieiiH, are the pliotiigniphs of the I'abylonian and Clialdican antiipiities of the Museum, also accompanied by general views of the gallei-icH. Amongst tlicni are the bricks which HupplitMl the aliKcncc of stone in the alluvial plains of ( 'hahhea for ]iublic Ijuildings, and arc inscribed with the numcH of the monarchs in whoso rcigiw they were mado (No. oG5«), the slabs of the palace of Assur baui-