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Affective Computing Focus on Emotion Expression
Synthesis and Recognition Jimmy Or (Editor) Digital
Instant Download
Author(s): Jimmy Or (Editor)
ISBN(s): 9783902613233, 3902613238
Edition: color illustrated
File Details: PDF, 13.55 MB
Year: 2008
Language: english
Affective Computing
Focus on Emotion Expression,
Synthesis and Recognition
 Affective Computing
Focus on Emotion Expression,
Synthesis and Recognition

Edited by
Jimmy Or

I-TECH Education and Publishing

Published by the I-Tech Education and Publishing, Vienna, Austria

Abstracting and non-profit use of the material is permitted with credit to the source. Statements and
opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of
the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the
published articles. Publisher assumes no responsibility liability for any damage or injury to persons or
property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained inside. After
this work has been published by the Advanced Robotic Systems International, authors have the right to
republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are an author or editor, and the make
other personal use of the work.

© 2008 I-Tech Education and Publishing

www.i-techonline.com
Additional copies can be obtained from:
[email protected]

First published May 2008

Printed in Croatia

A catalogue record for this book is available from the Austrian Library.
Affective Computing, Emotion Expression, Synthesis and Recognition, Edited by Jimmy Or
p. cm.
ISBN 978-3-902613-23-3
1. Affective Computing. 2. Or, Jimmy.
 Preface

Affective Computing is a branch of artificial intelligence that deals with the design
of systems and devices that can recognize, interpret, and process emotions. Since
the introduction of the term “affective computing” by Rosalind Pichard at MIT in
1997, the research community in this field has grown rapidly. Affective Computing
is an important field because computer systems have become part of our daily
lives. As we nowadays live in the Age of Information Overload, and computer sys-
tems are becoming more complex, there is need for more natural user interfaces for
the overwhelmed computer users. Given that humans communicate with each
other by using not only speech but also implicitly their facial expressions and body
postures, machines that can understand human emotions and display affects
through these multimodal channels could be beneficial. If virtual agents and robots
are able to recognize and express their emotions through these channels, the result
of that will be more natural human-machine communication. This will allow hu-
man users to focus more on their tasks at hand.
This volume provides an overview of state of the art research in Affective Comput-
ing. It presents new ideas, original results and practical experiences in this increas-
ingly important research field. The book consists of 23 chapters categorized into
four sections. Since one of the most important means of human communication is
facial expression, the first section of this book (Chapters 1 to 7) presents a research
on synthesis and recognition of facial expressions. Given that we not only use the
face but also body movements to express ourselves, in the second section (Chap-
ters 8 to 11) we present a research on perception and generation of emotional ex-
pressions by using full-body motions. The third section of the book (Chapters 12 to
16) presents computational models on emotion, as well as findings from neurosci-
ence research. In the last section of the book (Chapters 17 to 22) we present applica-
tions related to affective computing.
A brief introduction to the book chapters is:
Chapter 1 presents a probabilistic neural network classifier for 3D analysis of facial
expressions. By using 11 facial features and taking symmetry of the human face
into consideration, the 3D distance vectors based recognition system can achieve a
high recognition rate of over 90%. Chapter 2 provides a set of deterministic and
stochastic techniques that allow efficient recognition of facial expression from a se-
ries of video imaging showing head motions. Chapter 3 reviews recent findings of
human-human interaction and demonstrates that the tangential aspects of an emo-
VI

tional signal (such as gaze and the type of face that shows the expression) can af-
fect the perceived meaning of the expression. Findings displayed in this chapter
could contribute to the design of avatars and agents used in the human computer
interface. Chapter 4 presents an approach to using genetic algorithm and neural
network for the recognition of emotion from the face. In particular, it focuses on
the eye and lip regions for the study of emotions. Chapter 5 proposes a system that
analyzes facial expressions based on topographic shape structure (eyebrow, eye,
nose and mouth) and the active texture.
Chapter 6 proposes a model of layered fuzzy facial expression generation (LFFEG)
to create expressive facial expressions for an agent in the affective human com-
puter interface. In this model, social, emotional and physiological layers contribute
to the generation of facial expression. Fuzzy theory is used to produce rich facial
expressions and personality for the virtual character. Based on recent findings that
the dynamics of facial expressions (such as timing, duration and intensity) play an
important role in the interpretation of facial expressions, Chapter 7 exams the
analysis of facial expressions based on computer vision and behavioral science
point of view. A technique that allows synthesis of photo-realistic expression of
various intensities is described.
In recent years, humanoid robots and simulated avatars have gained popularity.
Researchers try to develop both real and simulated humanoids that can behave
and communicate with humans more naturally. It is believed that a real humanoid
robot situated in the real world could better interact with humans. Given that we
also use whole body movements to express emotions, the next generation human-
oid robots should have a flexible spine and be able to express themselves by using
full body movements. Chapter 8 points out some of the challenges in developing
flexible spine humanoid robots for emotional expressions. Then, the chapter pre-
sents the development of emotional flexible spine humanoid robots based on find-
ings from a research on belly dance. Results of psychological experiments on the
effect of a full-body spine robot on human perceptions are presented.
Chapter 9 provides a review of the cues that we use in the perception of the affect
from body movements. Based on findings from psychology and neuroscience, the
authors raise the issue of whether giving a machine the ability to experience emo-
tions might help to accomplish reliable and efficient emotion recognition. Given
that human communications are multimodal, Chapter 10 reviews recent research
on systems that are capable of multiple input modalities and the use of alternative
channels to perceive affects. This is followed by a presentation of systems that are
capable of analyzing spontaneous input data in real world environments. Chapter
11 draws on findings from art theory to the synthesis of emotional expressions for
virtual humans. Lights, shadows, composition and filters are used as part of the
expression of emotions. In addition, the chapter proposes the use of genetic algo-
rithms to map affective states to multimodal expressions.
Since the modeling of emotion has become important in affective computing,
Chapter 12 presents a computational model of emotion. The model is capable of in-
 VII

tegrating emotion, personality and motivation to allow the simulated characters to

have the ability of self-control in the virtual environment. Chapter 13 provides an-
other model for simulating emotions. This model, called SIMPLEX, operates in
three interconnected layers, namely personality, mood-states and emotions. Ex-
perimental results show that the simulated agents whose emotions were generated
by the model were able to exhibit emergent behavior. Chapter 14 proposes the use
of psychological emotion models to construct a new generation of user interfaces
that are capable of automatic emotional recognition by sensing and responding to
the user’s affective feedback. A Multidimensional Emotional Appraisal Semantic
Space (MEAS) semantic model is introduced. Chapter 15 reviews findings from
Neuroscience on the involvement of amygdala in emotion. This chapter explains a
general framework of how this area of the brain processes information on emotion.
Chapter 16 presents a study that shows that is possible for a computer to automati-
cally recognize emotions of its users based on physiological signals such as PPG,
GSR and SKT gathered through a specially designed mouse. Depending on the
state of the user’s emotion, the computer can adapt its actions correspondingly.
Chapter 17 presents the iFace facial expression training system. The system can be
used for rehabilitation, improvement of business skills and daily communications.
Chapter 18 introduces an automated real time virtual character based interface.
The 3D agents are able to interact with the user through multimodal and emotional
interaction. Depending on the emotional state the agents detect from the user’s fa-
cial expression during conversation, the agents are able to modify their emotional
states accordingly. The system allows more natural and interactive communica-
tions between computers and users. Chapter 19 proposes the design of an intelli-
gent tutoring system based on hand movements around the face of the user. Chap-
ter 20 presents a framework for affective-sensitive human-machine interaction.
Based on physiological signals from children users with ASD, an affect-sensitive
robot adapts its behavior to the affect of its users accordingly in real time. The sys-
tem could be used for interactive autism intervention. Chapter 21 discusses the de-
velopment of a plug-in interface for the storytelling authoring tools Inscape and
Tetrix. Using the plug-in, the authors are able to easily create interactive stories
that explore the emotional dimension of characters in the virtual world. The inter-
esting point is that the actions of the virtual characters can be influenced by their
own personal experience. Finally, Chapter 22 reviews computer therapy systems
that have been used in recent years to treat emotional disorders such as phobias.
These systems propose that by presenting anxiety, and provoking stimuli in a con-
trolled virtual environment, different social and emotional disorders can be
treated. A model that supports computer assisted regulation and voluntary control
of emotion is presented.

Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the support of my colleagues and
friends. I own a great debt to Atsuo Takanishi of Waseda University. He gave me
VIII

freedom and support to pursuit my research on flexible spine humanoid robotics

during my stay in his lab. I also would like to thank Robin Cohen, Lenhart Schu-
bert, Shun-ichi Amari, Michael Arbib, Auke Ijspeert, David Willshaw, Xie Ming,
Eugene Fink, Charles Sanders, Hyun Wook Park, Jungmin Han and many others
for their support over the years. Many thanks to Lorna Gow for introducing me to
the wonderful world of belly dance. Special thanks to KAIST President Nam Pyo
Suh and Dean of Engineering Yong Hoon Lee for their support during my stay at
KAIST. Many thanks to the authors of the book chapters for their contributions. Fi-
nally, I would like to express my thanks to Dr. Vedran Kordic and the staff at I-
Tech Education and Publishing for their help in making the production of this
book possible.

Jimmy Or
May 2008
Center for High-Performance Integrated Systems
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Daejeon, Republic of Korea
 Contents

Preface ........................................................................................................................................V

1. Facial Expression Recognition Using 3D Facial Feature Distances .........................001

Hamit Soyel and Hasan Demirel

2. Facial Expression Recognition in the Presence of Head Motion ..............................013

Fadi Dornaika and Franck Davoine

3. The Devil is in the Details - the Meanings of

Faces and How They Influence the Meanings of Facial Expressions...........................045
Ursula Hess, Reginald B. Adams, Jr. and Robert E. Kleck

4. Genetic Algorithm and Neural Network for Face Emotion Recognition...................057

M. Karthigayan, M. Rizon, R. Nagarajan and Sazali Yaacob

5. Classifying Facial Expressions Based on Topo-Feature Representation ...............069

Xiaozhou Wei, Johnny Loi and Lijun Yin

6. Layered Fuzzy Facial Expression Generation:

Social, Emotional and Physiological ..................................................................................083
Xia Mao, Yuli Xue, Zheng Li and Haiyan Bao

7. Modelling, Classification and Synthesis of Facial Expressions ................................107

Jane Reilly, John Ghent and John McDonald

8. The Development of Emotional Flexible Spine Humanoid Robots ...........................133

Jimmy Or

9. The Perception of Bodily Expressions

of Emotion and the Implications for Computing...............................................................157
Winand H. Dittrich and Anthony P. Atkinson

10. From the Lab to the Real World:

Affect Recognition Using Multiple Cues and Modalities.................................................185
Hatice Gunes, Massimo Piccardi and Maja Pantic
X

11. The Art of Expressing Emotions in Virtual Humans ..................................................219

Celso de Melo and Ana Paiva

12. Computational Emotion Model for Virtual Characters ..............................................235

Zhen Liu

13. SIMPLEX - Simulation of Personal Emotion Experience ..........................................255

Henrik Kessler, Alexander Festini,
Harald C. Traue, Suzanne Filipic, Michael Weber and Holger Hoffmann

14. From Signals to Emotions:

Applying Emotion Models to HM Affective Interactions .................................................271
Rita Ciceri and Stefania Balzarotti

15. The Information Processing Role of the Amygdala in Emotion...............................297

Wataru Sato

16. A Physiological Approach to Affective Computing ...................................................309

Mincheol Whang and Joasang Lim

17. iFace: Facial Expression Training System ..................................................................319

Kyoko Ito, Hiroyuki Kurose, Ai Takami and Shogo Nishida

18. Affective Embodied Conversational Agents for Natural Interaction.......................329

Eva Cerezo, Sandra Baldassarri, Isabelle Hupont and Francisco J. Seron

19. Exploring Un-Intentional Body Gestures for Affective System Design..................355

Abdul Rehman Abbasi, Nitin V. Afzulpurkar and Takeaki Uno

20. Towards Affect-sensitive Assistive

Intervention Technologies for Children with Autism .......................................................365
Karla Conn, Changchun Liu, Nilanjan Sarkar, Wendy Stone and Zachary Warren

21. Authoring Emotion ..........................................................................................................391

Nelson Zagalo, Rui Prada, Isabel Machado Alexandre and Ana Torres

22. Computer-Assisted Regulation of Emotional and Social Processes .....................405

Toni Vanhala and Veikko Surakka

23. Generating Facial Expressions with Deep Belief Nets .............................................421

Joshua M. Susskind, Geoffrey E. Hinton, Javier R. Movellan and Adam K. Anderson
 1

Facial Expression Recognition Using

3D Facial Feature Distances
Hamit Soyel and Hasan Demirel
Eastern Mediterranean University
Northern Cyprus

1. Introduction
Face plays an important role in human communication. Facial expressions and gestures
incorporate nonverbal information which contributes to human communication. By
recognizing the facial expressions from facial images, a number of applications in the field of
human computer interaction can be facilitated. Last two decades, the developments, as well
as the prospects in the field of multimedia signal processing have attracted the attention of
many computer vision researchers to concentrate in the problems of the facial expression
recognition. The pioneering studies of Ekman in late 70s have given evidence to the
classification of the basic facial expressions. According to these studies, the basic facial
expressions are those representing happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust and
neutral. Facial Action Coding System (FACS) was developed by Ekman and Friesen to code
facial expressions in which the movements on the face are described by action units. This
work inspired many researchers to analyze facial expressions in 2D by means of image and
video processing, where by tracking of facial features and measuring the amount of facial
movements, they attempt to classify different facial expressions. Recent work on facial
expression analysis and recognition has used these seven basic expressions as their basis for
the introduced systems.
Almost all of the methods developed use 2D distribution of facial features as inputs into a
classification system, and the outcome is one of the facial expression classes. They differ
mainly in the facial features selected and the classifiers used to distinguish among the
different facial expressions. Information extracted from 3D face models are rarely used in
the analysis of the facial expression recognition. This chapter considers the techniques using
the information extracted from 3D space for the analysis of facial images for the recognition
of facial expressions.
The first part of the chapter introduces the methods of extracting information from 3D
models for facial expression recognition. The 3D distributions of the facial feature points
and the estimation of characteristic distances in order to represent the facial expressions are
explained by using a rich collection of illustrations including graphs, charts and face images.
The second part of the chapter introduces 3D distance-vector based facial expression
recognition. The architecture of the system is explained by the block diagrams and
flowcharts. Finally 3D distance-vector based facial expression recognition is compared with
the conventional methods available in the literature.
2 Affective Computing, Focus on Emotion Expression, Synthesis and Recognition

2. Information extracted from 3D models for facial expression recognition

Conventional methods for analyzing expressions of facial images use limited information
such as gray levels of pixels and positions of feature points in a face [Donato et al.,1999],
[Fasel & Luttin, (2003)], [Pantic & Rothkrantz ,2004]. Their results depend on the
information used. If the information cannot be precisely extracted from the facial images,
then we may obtain unexpected results. In order to increase the reliability of the results of
facial expression recognition, the selection of the relevant feature points is important.
In this section we are primarily concerned with gathering the relevant data from the facial
animation sequences for expression recognition. The section is organised as follows. In
section 2.1 we will present the description of the primary facial expressions while section 2.2
shows the muscle actions involved in the primary facial expressions and in section 2.3 we
will present the optimization of the facial feature points.

2.1 Primary facial expressions

In the past, facial expression analysis was essentially a research topic for psychologists.
However, recent progresses in image processing and pattern recognition have motivated
significant research activities on automatic facial expression recognition [Braathen et
al.,2002]. Basic facial expressions, shown in Figure 1, typically recognized by psychologists
are neutral, anger, sadness, surprise, happiness, disgust and fear [P. Ekman & W.
Friesen,1976]. The expressions are textually defined in Table 1.

Fig.1. Emotion-specified facial expression [Yin et al., 2006]: 1-Neutral, 2-Anger, 3-Sadness, 4-
Surprise, 5- Happiness, 6- Disgust, 7- Fear.

Expression Textual Description

All face muscles are relaxed. Eyelids are tangent to the iris. The mouth is
Neutral
closed and lips are in contact.
The inner eyebrows are pulled downward and together. The eyes are wide
Anger
open. The lips are pressed against each other or opened to expose the teeth.
The inner eyebrows are bent upward. The eyes are slightly closed. The
Sadness
mouth is relaxed.
The eyebrows are raised. The upper eyelids are wide open, he lower
Surprise
relaxed. The jaw is opened.
The eyebrows are relaxed. The mouth is open and the mouth corners pulled
Happiness
back toward the ears.
The eyebrows and eyelids are relaxed. The upper lip is raised and curled,
Disgust
often asymmetrically.
The eyebrows are raised and pulled together. The inner eyebrows are bent
Fear
upward. The eyes are tense and alert.
Table 1. Basic Facial Expressions [Pandzic & Forchheimer, 2002]
Facial Expression Recognition Using 3D Facial Feature Distances 3

Fig. 2. The 3D orientation of the facial feature points [Pandzic & Forchheimer, 2002].

2.2 Muscle actions involved in the primary facial expressions

The Facial Definition Parameter set (FDP) and the Facial Animation Parameter set (FAP)
were designed in the MPEG-4 framework to allow the definition of a facial shape and
texture, as well as animation of faces reproducing expressions, emotions and speech
pronunciation. The FAPs [Pandzic & Forchheimer, 2002] are based on the study of minimal
facial actions and are closely related to muscle activation, in the sense that they represent a
complete set of atomic facial actions; therefore they allow the representation of even the
most detailed natural facial expressions, even those that cannot be categorized as particular
ones. All the parameters involving translational movement are expressed in terms of the
Facial Animation Parameter Units (FAPU). These units are defined with respect to specific
distances in a neutral pose in order to allow interpretation of the FAPs on any facial model
4 Affective Computing, Focus on Emotion Expression, Synthesis and Recognition

in a consistent way. As a result, description schemes that utilize FAPs produce reasonable
results in terms of expression and speech related postures.

Expression Muscle Actions

squeeze_l_eyebrow (+) squeeze_r_eyebrow (+)

lower_t_midlip (-) raise_b_midlip (+)
Anger raise_l_i_eyebrow (+) raise_r_i_eyebrow (+)
close_t_r_eyelid (-) close_t_l_eyelid (-)
close_b_r_eyelid (-) close_b_l_eyelid (-)

raise_l_i_eyebrow (+) raise_r_i_eyebrow (+)

close_t_l_eyelid (+) close_t_r_eyelid (+)
Sadness raise_l_m_eyebrow (-) raise_r_m_eyebrow (-)
raise_l_o_eyebrow (-) raise_r_o_eyebrow (-)
close_b_l_eyelid (+) close_b_r_eyelid (+)

raise_l_o_eyebrow (+) raise_r_o_eyebrow (+)

raise_l_i_eyebrow (+) raise_r_i_eyebrow (+)
Surprise raise_l_m_eyebrow (+) raise_r_m_eyebrow (+)
squeeze_l_eyebrow (-) squeeze_r_eyebrow (-)
open_jaw (+)

close_t_l_eyelid (+) close_t_r_eyelid (+)

close_b_l_eyelid (+) close_b_r_eyelid (+)
stretch_l_cornerlip (+) stretch_r_cornerlip (+)
Joy raise_l_m_eyebrow (+) raise_r_m_eyebrow (+)
lift_r_cheek (+) lift_l_cheek (+)
lower_t_midlip (-) raise_b_midlip (-)
OR open_jaw (+)

close_t_l_eyelid (+) close_b_l_eyelid (+)

close_t_r_eyelid (+) close_b_r_eyelid (+)
Disgust lower_t_midlip (-) open_jaw (+)
squeeze_l_cornerlip (+) AND / OR
{squeeze_r_cornerlip (+)}

raise_l_o_eyebrow (+) raise_r_o_eyebrow (+)

raise_l_m_eyebrow(+) raise_r_m_eyebrow (+)
raise_l_i_eyebrow (+) raise_r_I_eyebrow (+)
Fear squeeze_l_eyebrow (+) squeeze_r_eyebrow (+)
open_jaw (+)
OR{ close_t_l_eyelid (-), OR {close_t_r_eyelid (-),
lower_t_midlip (-)} lower_t_midlip (+)}

Table 2. Muscle Actions involved in the six basic expressions [Karpouzis et al.,2000].
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of the wine jars bear the cartouches of the king, and they were most likely
knocked off and thrown aside within a few years of being sealed. One room
seemed to have belonged to the royal butler, for dozens of plaster sealings
of Psamtik were found together there. A jar had been fraudulently opened
by boring through the plaster, and the pottery stopper below it, and then
stopping the hole with fresh plaster. The prudent butler had struck off the
whole neck of the jar, so as to preserve the proofs of the theft entire. The
particularity of the sealing is remarkable; first the pottery bung was tied
down, and the string sealed on clay by six inspectors; then a plaster cap was
put over all that, and marked with the royal cartouche in several places.
The ruin of all this community came suddenly. Apries trusted to the
Greek mercenaries, and defied the old Egyptian party (if indeed he was king
at all according to Egyptian law); and Amasis, who had married the royal
princess (and who was therefore a legal ruler), took the national side, and
ousted his brother-in-law. Civil war was the consequence, and the Greeks—
though straining all their power—were completely crushed by Amasis. He
then carried out the protective policy of Egypt, and depopulated Daphnae,
and all other Greek settlements excepting Naukratis, which latter thus
became the only treaty-port open to Greek merchants. Hence, as we can
date the founding of Defenneh almost to a year, about 665 B.C., when
Psamtik established his mercenary camps, so we can also date its fall to a
year in 564 B.C. when Amasis struck down the Greek trade. And this just
accords with what we find, as there is a sudden cessation of Greek pottery
at a stage someway before the introduction of red figured ware, which took
place about 490 B.C.
It appears likely that as Naukratis was the home of the scarab trade to
Greece, so Daphnae was the home of the jewellery trade, and the source of
the semi-Egyptian jewellery so often found in Greek tombs. Much evidence
of the goldsmith’s work was discovered; pieces of gold ornaments, pieces
partly wrought, globules and scraps of gold, and a profusion of minute
weights, such as would only be of use for precious metals.
 46. Daphniote Gold Work.

We see then that Daphnae is the complement of Naukratis: they were

twin cities, and teach us even more by their contrasts than their
resemblances. We again reach back, as at Naukratis, through the pre-
Alexandrine period to the foundation of Greek power in Egypt. We again
find the interaction of Greek and Egyptian civilization. We again see the
rise of a local school of pottery, and have the great advantage of its being
confined to just a century, of which we know the exact limits. On the
Jewish side of the history the arrangement of ‘the king’s house in
Tahpanhes’ exactly explains the narrative; the very name of the place
echoes the sojourn of the fugitive heiresses of Judah; and a valuable light is
thrown on the early contact of the Hebrew race with the language and
thought of the Greeks with whom they here dwelt.

47. Silver Shrine, and Gold Figure of

Ra.
48. Granite Shrine of Temple.
 CHAPTER V.
NEBESHEH.
1886.

While living at Tanis I heard of a great stone, and a cemetery, some

miles to the south of that place, and took an opportunity of visiting it. The
site, Tell Nebesheh, is a very out-of-the-way spot; marshes and canals cut it
off from the rest of the delta; and the only path to it from the cultivated
region is across a wide wet plain, on the other side of which is a winding
bank hidden among the reeds of the bogs, and only to be found by a native.
After leaving Naukratis I went to this place, to try to clear up its history;
and Mr. Griffith finished the work here, after I had moved on to fresh
discoveries. The great stone was seen to be a monolith shrine, and therefore
probably a temple lay around it. As I walked over the mounds, I saw that
the tufts of reedy grass came to an end along a straight line, the other side of
which was bare earth. This pointed out the line of the enclosing wall of the
temple, which I soon tracked round on all sides. In the middle of one side
the mound dipped down, and a few limestone chips lay about. Here I dug
for the entrance pylon, and before long we found the lower stones of it left
in position; on clearing it out a statue of Ramessu II, larger than life, was
found, and fragments of its fellow; also a sphinx, likewise in black granite,
which had been so often reappropriated by various kings, that the original
maker could hardly be traced. Probably of the twelfth dynasty to begin
with, it had received a long inscription around the base from an official (the
importance of which we shall see presently), and later on six other
claimants seized it in succession. Outside of the pylon there had been an
approach, of which one ornament remained; this is an entirely fresh design,
being a column without any capital, but supporting a large hawk
overshadowing the king Merenptah, who kneels before it. The sides of the
column are inscribed.
The ground all around the monolith shrine was dug over by us. Directly
beneath the shrine the granite pavement and its substructure remains entire;
but over the rest of the area only the bed of the foundation can be traced, all
the stone having been removed. Near the place of the entrance lay the
throne of a statue of Usertesen III, probably one of a pair by the door, and
showing that a temple had existed as far back as the twelfth dynasty. The
foundation deposits in the corners I had to get out from beneath the water;
they were plaques of metals and stones, with the name of Aahmes Si-nit,
and pottery, showing that the temple had been built in the twenty-sixth
dynasty. Among the ruins was found part of the black granite statue of the
goddess Uati, which had doubtless stood in the monolith shrine as the great
image of the temple.

49. Foundation Deposit. 1: 2.

At the back of the shrine lay a black granite altar of Usertesen III, which,
like the sphinx, had received an inscription by an official at a later time.
These added inscriptions are of value, although they have been nearly
effaced by subsequent kings; they show that in the dark times before the
eighteenth dynasty (for by their rudeness they fall in that age), certain royal
chancellors could venture to usurp the monuments of previous kings. This
could hardly have been possible if the king of that period cared for the
monuments; and we probably see in these chancellors the native viziers of
the Hyksos kings, who were also apparently reckoned by the Egyptians as
their rulers, and entered with ephemeral reigns of a year or two in the lists
of the fourteenth dynasty. It was this vice-royalty that was conferred on
Joseph, when the royal signet was given to him, and he had the honour of
the second chariot.
But it was evident that some temple had existed here before Aahmes, as
the monuments were of earlier ages; and on looking at the plan it is seen
that his temple is not in the middle of the enclosure, nor is it in the line of
the axis, but at right angles to it. I therefore searched for the first temple
about the midst of the area, but for a long time nothing appeared besides
chips. At last a mass of sand was found with a vertical face, and this I at
once recognised as the sand bed laid in the earth, on which the walls of the
temple had been founded. It was covered with about twelve feet of dust and
chips, but by sinking pits at intervals it was traced all round the whole
extent of the former temple. The foundation deposits were unattainable, as
they were too deep beneath the water level, and the great sand bed collects
the water so readily that it could not be kept down more than three feet by
baling.

50. Sanctuary and Temples.

51. Lykaonian Spearheads and Vases.

The cemetery was the other object at this place. It proved to be of

tolerable extent, about half a mile long; but the earliest tomb found was of
Ramesside age. Most of the burials were of the twenty-sixth to the thirtieth
dynasties, and the rarity of earlier interments was explained by the
condition of those which remain. The tomb chambers were all subterranean,
yet most of them were found roofless, though level with the ground; of
some, only a few bricks remained at the sides; very few were still complete
with a brick vault. In fact they were in every stage of removal, owing to the
denudation of the sand ground in which they were placed. The inference is
only too evident, that the earlier tombs have simply been denuded wholly
away, below the last brick of the walls. Many of the chambers were
excavated, but only in a few of them were any ushabti figures found. Some
of them were sumptuous buildings of limestone; but mostly they were of
the mud bricks, both in the walls and the arched roofing. The most
interesting class were those of Lykaonian mercenaries; most likely from an
outpost of the Daphnae camp, stationed here. In those tombs there were no
ushabtis; the bodies lay north and south, instead of east and west, as in the
Egyptian tombs; there were bronze and sometimes iron spear-heads, and
curious forked spear-heads, like that on a funeral stele at Iconium; and
moreover, Cypriote pottery, generally pilgrim bottles.
While working in the cemetery we found one unrifled tomb, containing
four mummies, with their sets of amulets intact. These I carefully took off
the bodies, noting the position of every object, so that I could afterwards
rearrange them in their original order exactly as found. But the greatest
discovery here in point of size was a great tomb formed by a brick-walled
yard or enclosure sunk in the ground. Within this were two limestone
sarcophagi inscribed, and a splendid basalt sarcophagus, highly wrought,
and with a long inscription; this was encased in a huge block of limestone
for protection, and it required much work to break this away when Count
D’Hulst removed it to London. These sarcophagi were for a family who
held offices in the Egyptian town of Am; another sarcophagus found near
these also named Am, and a piece of a statuette from the temple gave the
same name. From these many different sources it appears that Am was the
name of Tell Nebesheh; especially as Uati was the goddess of Am, and hers
was the statue of the great shrine and temple here. This gives a fresh point
in the geography of ancient Egypt, and explains what Herodotos means by
the Arabian Buto, in contrast to the other Buto (or ‘Temple of Uati’) in the
western half of the delta.
52. Ushabti Figures, Twentieth Dynasty. 1: 8.

53. A Nile Morning.

 CHAPTER VI.
UP THE NILE.
1887.

When in the end of 1886 I went to Egypt, I had no excavations in

prospect, having bid good-bye to the Fund; but I had promised to take
photographs for the British Association, and I had much wished to see
Upper Egypt in a more thorough way than during a hurried dahabiyeh trip
to Thebes in 1882. To this end my friend Mr. Griffith joined me. We hired a
small boat with a cabin at Minia, and took six weeks wandering up to
Assuan, walking most of the way in and out of the line of cliffs. Thus we
saw much that is outside of the usual course, and spent afterwards ten days
at Assuan, and three weeks at Thebes, in tents. On coming down the Nile I
walked along the eastern shore from Wasta to Memphis, but found it a
fruitless region. Lastly, I lived several weeks at Dahshur, for surveying the
pyramids there.
Assuan proved a most interesting district, teeming with early inscriptions
cut on the rocks; and to copy all of these was a long affair. Every day we
went out with rope-ladder, bucket, and squeeze-paper, as early as we could,
and returned in the dusk; so at last some two hundred inscriptions were
secured, many of which were of importance, and quite unnoticed before.
These carvings are some of them notices of royal affairs, but mostly
funereal lists of offerings for the benefit of various deceased persons. They
abound most in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth dynasties, though some
of them are later; and one records queen Amenardus, and another Psamtik
II, of the twenty-sixth dynasty. Their main interest is in the great number of
personal names which they preserve, and the relationships stated. We see
that the father is often not named at all, and the father’s family is scarcely
ever noticed; while on the mother’s side the relations extend even to second
cousins. To decipher these records is sometimes a hard matter, when they
are very rudely chipped—or rather bruised—on the rough granite rocks;
and continually we used to consult and dispute about some sign for long
enough to copy all the rest of the inscription. Some of them are, however,
beautifully engraved, and quite monumental in style. The most striking,
perhaps, is a rock on the island of Elephantine, which had never been
noticed before, although in the pathway. It was a sort of royal album begun
by Ra-kha-nefer (fifth dynasty); followed by Unas (fifth), who carved a
handsome tablet. Then Ra-meri Pepi (sixth) appropriated Ra-kha-nefer’s
inscription; Ra-nefer-ka Pepi next carved a tablet; in later times, of the
eleventh dynasty, Antef-aa II followed with another tablet; and lastly
Amenemhat I (twelfth dynasty) placed the sixth inscription here.

54. Tablets of Kings, Fifth to Twelfth Dynasties. 1: 40.

Not only were there these granite inscriptions to be copied, but also a
great number of graffiti and travellers’ names on the sandstone rocks,
principally at Gebel Silsileh. Among these was a Phoenician inscription,
one of the very few known in Egypt; and some curious quarry records of
Roman age. The main inscription of this region is, however, one very
seldom seen, even by antiquaries as it is in a valley
 55. An Inscribed Rock At Silsileh.

56. Tablet of Antef and Mentuhotep III.

where no one stops. It portrays Antef V and his vizier Khati worshipping
Mentuhotep IV and his wife. Near it is another, smaller, tablet with the
worship of the same king; and up the valley we discovered a tablet with the
worship of Sankh-ka-ra, all of the eleventh dynasty. All over this district are
many rude figures of animals, marked on the rocks by hammering: they are
of various ages, some perhaps modern, but the earlier ones certainly before
the eighteenth dynasty; and, to judge by the weathering of the rock, it seems
probable that they were begun here long before any of the monuments of
Egypt that we know. The usual figures are of men, horses, and boats, but
there are also camels, ostriches and elephants to be seen.

57. Animal Figures at Silsileh.

On the desert hills behind Esneh I found what is—so far—the oldest
thing known from Egypt. In prehistoric days the Nile used to fill the whole
breadth of the valley, to a depth of a couple of hundred feet, fed with the
heavy rainfall that carved back the valleys all along the river by great
waterfalls, the precipices of which now stand stark and arid in the bleaching
sun. Many parts of the valley are above the present river, and are now
desert, so that at Esneh the hills are several miles from the Nile, and on a
spur of one—where probably no man sets foot for

58. Oldest Tool in Egypt. 1:2.

 59. People of Pun, S. Arabia.

centuries at a time—I found lying a palaeolithic wrought flint. It was about

a couple of hundred feet above the Nile, and being clearly a river-worn
object, it had been left there in the old time of the Great Nile. The flints
found by General Pitt-Rivers at Thebes belong to a later age, when the Nile
had fallen to almost its present level. But those are far older than any
monuments known to us. We see then two stages before the beginning of
what we can call history.
 60. Hanebu, Early Greek.

At Thebes my main work was in obtaining casts and photographs of all

the types of foreign races on the monuments. For making ethnographical
comparisons we were, until then, dependent on drawings, which were often
incorrect. Now we have nearly two hundred photographs, all with the same
size of head, giving several examples of each race that was represented by
the Egyptians.
 61. Entrance of South Pyramid. Casing destroyed below it.

In most cases it would have been difficult to photograph the sculptures

directly, owing to the difficulties of placing the camera, and the exact time
of the day required for the oblique sunlight. Paper squeezes were therefore
taken in preference, and a box of these, weighing a few pounds, served as
moulds for producing in England a set of plaster casts which weighed a
hundred times as much. By waxing the paper several successive casts can
be made from one mould, and from a set of the casts I took photographs,
which can be printed interminably, and which are far more clear and distinct
than if they were made directly from the stained and darkened sculptures.
The paintings were of course photographed directly; where near the outer
air enough light was obtained by reflectors of tinned plate; but in distant
interiors, such as the tombs of the kings, an explosion of the proper amount
of magnesium powder, mixed with chlorate of potash, gave excellent results
for light.
 62. North Pyramid, and Southern in Distance.

Having finished the Theban work, I then went to Dahshur, and there
made a survey around the two large pyramids; but unfortunately I could not
obtain the permission to uncover the bases of the pyramids in time to
measure more than the southern one. This pyramid is interesting, as it
retains the original casing over most of it, and gives us some idea of what
the other pyramids looked like before the plundering by Arabs, and perhaps
older thieves. The outside is peculiar, as being of a steeper angle below than
above, and hence it is often called the ‘blunted pyramid.’ The results of the
survey were that it was all designed in even numbers of cubits. The base
was 360 cubits, the height 200, divided into 90 cubits steep, and 110 cubits
of flatter slope. The space walled in around it was 100 cubits wide. Another
small pyramid on the south of it was 100 cubits square.
While at Dahshur I also found an interesting point about the ancient
roads. The road from Sakkara to the oasis of Ammon was marked out by
banks of gravel swept up on either side, leaving a clear space 50 cubits
wide. The other road from Sakkara to the Fayum was marked out by
milestones all along, there being a larger tablet at each schoenus, or 4 miles,
while at each 1000 cubits, or third of a mile, was a lesser pillar on a stone
socket.
63. Way-marks on Fayum Road.

64. Pyramid of Hawara.

 CHAPTER VII.
HAWARA.
1888.

When considering the places favourable for future excavations I had

named Hawara and Illahun, amongst other sites, to M. Grébaut; and he
proposed to me that I should work in the Fayum province in general. The
exploration of the pyramids of this district was my main object, as their
arrangement, their date, and their builders were quite unknown. Hawara
was not a convenient place to work at, as the village was two miles from the
pyramid, and a canal lay between; I therefore determined to form a camp of
workmen to live on the spot, as at Daphnae. For this purpose I needed to
recruit a party from a little distance, and began my work therefore at the
ancient Arsinoe or Crocodilopolis, close to Medinet el Fayum. Here I
cleared the pylon of the temple, of which a few disturbed blocks remain,
and found a second mention of Amenemhat II beside that already known;
but his work had all been altered and rebuilt, probably by Ramessu II. Four
or five different levels of building and reconstruction could be traced, and
the depth of rubbish over the approach to the temple in the shallowest part
of the mounds was twenty-four feet. Within the great enclosure of mud-
brick wall, the site of the temple could be traced by following the bed of
sand, on which the foundations had been laid; but scarcely a single stone
was left. One re-used block had a figure of a king of the nineteenth dynasty,
probably Ramessu II; and this leads us to date as late as Ptolemy II the
temple which we can trace here. He doubtless built a large temple, as the
place received much attention in his time, and was dedicated to his sister-
wife Arsinoe; she was specially worshipped along with the great gods, as
we know from the stele of Pithom. The only early objects found here were
flint knives in the soil of the temple; these belong to the twelfth dynasty, as
we know from later discoveries.
A short work of a few days at Biahmu resolved the questions about the
so-called pyramids there. So soon as we began to turn over the soil we
found chips of sandstone colossi; the second day the gigantic nose of a
 colossus was found, as broad as a man’s body; then pieces
of carved thrones, and a fragment

65. Flint
Knife.

66. Pedestals of Biahmu.

 67. Wall of Court.

of inscription of Amenemhat III. It was evident that the two great piles of
stone had been the pedestals of colossal seated monolithic statues, carved in
hard quartzite sandstone, and brilliantly polished. These statues faced
northward, and around each was a court-yard wall with sloping outer face,
and red granite gateway in the north front. The total height of the colossi
was about sixty feet from the ground. The limestone pedestal rose twenty-
one feet, then the sandstone colossus had a base of four feet, on which the
figure, seated on its throne, rose to a height of thirty-five feet more. Thus
the whole statue and part of its pedestal would be visible above the
enclosing court-yard wall, and it would appear from a distance as if it were
placed on a truncated pyramid. The description of Herodotos, therefore, is
fully accounted for; and it shows that he actually saw the figures, though
from a distance, as any person who visited them closely would not have
described them in such a manner.
 68. Section of Court, with Statue.

Having by this time formed and organised a good body of workmen, I

moved over to Hawara, with as many men as I wanted; and the only
difficulty was to restrain the numbers who wished to work. The pyramid
had never been entered in modern times, and its arrangement was wholly
unknown; explorers had fruitlessly destroyed much of the brickwork on the
north side, but yet the entrance was undiscovered. In Roman times the stone
casing had been removed, and as the body of the structure was of mud
bricks, it had crumbled away somewhat; each side was therefore
encumbered with chips and mud. After vainly searching the ground on the
north side for any entrance, I then cleared the middle of the east side, but
yet no trace of any door could be found. As it was evident then that the plan
was entirely different to that of any known pyramid, and it would be a
hopeless task to clear all the ground around it, I therefore settled to tunnel to
the midst. This work was very troublesome, as the large bricks were laid in
sand, and rather widely spaced; hence as soon as any were removed, the
sand was liable to pour out of the joints, and to loosen all the surrounding
parts. The removal of each brick was therefore done as quietly as possible,
and I had to go in three times a day and insert more roofing boards, a matter
which needed far more skill and care than a native workman would use.
After many weeks’ work (for there was only room for one man), I found
that we were halfway through, but all in brick. On one side of the tunnel,
however, I saw signs of a built wall, and guessing that it had stood around
the pit made for the chamber during the building, I examined the rock-floor,
and found that it sloped down slightly, away from the wall. We turned then
to the west, and tunnelling onwards, we reached the great roofing beams of
the chamber in a few days. No masons of the district, however, could cut
through them, and I had to leave the work till the next season. Then, after a
further search on all the four sides for the entrance, the masons attacked the
sloping stone roof, and in two or three weeks’ time a hole beneath them was
reported; anxiously I watched them enlarge it until I could squeeze through,
and then I entered the chamber above the sepulchre; at one side I saw a
lower hole, and going down I found a broken way into the sandstone
sepulchre, but too narrow for my shoulders. After sounding the water inside
it, a boy was put down with a rope-ladder; and at last, on looking through
the hole, I could see by the light of his candle the two sarcophagi, standing
rifled and empty. In a day or two we cleared away the rubbish from the
original entrance passage to the chamber, and so went out into the passages,
which turned and wandered up and down. These were so nearly choked
with mud, that in many parts the only way along them was by lying flat, and
sliding along the mud, pushed by fingers and toes. In this way, sliding,
crawling, and wading, I reached as near to the outer mouth of the passage as
possible; and then by measuring back to the chamber, the position of the
mouth on the outside of the pyramid was pretty nearly found. But so deep
was it under the rubbish, and so much encumbered with large blocks of
stone, that it took about a fortnight to reach it from the outside.
The pyramid had been elaborately arranged so as to deceive and weary
the spoiler, and it had apparently occupied a great amount of labour to force
an entrance. The mouth was on the ground level, on the south side,
 69. Plan of Pyramid.

a quarter of the length from the south-west corner. The original explorers
descended a passage with steps to a chamber, from which apparently there
was no exit. The roof consisted of a sliding trap-door, however, and
breaking through this another chamber was reached at a higher level. Then
a passage opened to the east, closed with a wooden door, and leading to
another chamber with a trap-door roof. But in front of the explorer was a
passage carefully plugged up solid with stone; this they thought would lead
to the prize, and so all the stones were mined through, only to lead to
nothing. From the second trap-door chamber a passage led northward to the
third such chamber. From that a passage led west to a chamber with two
wells, which seemed as if they led to the tomb, but both were false. This
chamber also was almost filled with masonry, which all concealed nothing,
but had given plenty of occupation to the spoilers who removed it in vain. A
filled-up trench in the floor of the chamber really led to the sepulchre; but
arriving there no door was to be found, as the entrance had been by the roof,
an enormous block of which had been let down into place to close the
chamber. So at last the way had been forced by breaking away a hole in the
edge of the glassy-hard sandstone roofing block, and thus reaching the
chamber and its sarcophagi. By a little widening of the spoilers’ hole I
succeeded in getting through it into the chamber. The water was up to the
middle of my body, and so exploration was difficult; but the floor was
covered with rubbish and chips, which might contain parts of the funereal
vessels, and therefore needed searching. The rubbish in the sarcophagi I
cleared out myself; and then I set some lads to gather up the scraps from the
floor on the flat blade of a hoe (as it was out of arms’ reach under water),
and after searching them they threw them into the sarcophagi. Thus we
anxiously worked on for any inscribed fragments; my anxiety being for the
cartouche of the king, the boys’ anxiety for the big bakhshish promised, at
per hieroglyph found, extra value given for cartouches. The system worked,
for in the first day I got the coveted

70. Inscription of
Amenemhat III.
 71. Altar of Neferu-ptah.

prize, a piece of an alabaster vessel with the name of Amenemhat III,

proving finally to whom the pyramid belonged; and other parts of inscribed
vessels were found. Still there was a puzzle as to the second sarcophagus,
which had been built up between the great central one and the chamber
side. On clearing in the chamber which led to the sepulchre, however, they
found a beautiful altar of offerings in alabaster, covered with figures of the
offerings all named, over a hundred in all, and dedicated for the king’s
daughter, Neferu-ptah; near it were parts of several bowls in the form of
half a trussed duck, also bearing her name: so doubtless the second
interment was hers; and she must have died during her father’s life, and
before the closing of the pyramid. Of the actual bodies I found a few scraps
of charred bones, besides bits of charcoal and grains of burnt diorite in the
sarcophagi; also a beard of lazuli for inlaying was found in the chamber.
The wooden inner coffins, inlaid with hard stone carving, had therefore
been burnt. The chamber itself is a marvellous work; nearly the whole
height of it is carved out of a single block of hard quartzite sandstone,
forming a huge tank, in which the sarcophagus was placed. In the inside it
is twenty-two feet long and nearly eight feet wide, while the sides are about
three feet thick. The surface is polished, and the corners so sharply cut that I
mistook it for masonry, until I searched in vain for the joints. Of course it
was above water level originally; but all this region has been saturated by a
high level canal of Arab times. Afterwards I had all the earth removed from
the pyramid passages as far as practicable, but nothing further was found
there. No trace of inscription exists on either the walls or sarcophagi; and
but for the funereal furniture, even the very name would not have been
recovered.
Though the pyramid was the main object at Hawara, it was but a lesser
part of my work there. On the south of the pyramid lay a wide mass of chips
and fragments of building, which had long been generally identified with
the celebrated labyrinth. Doubts, however, existed, mainly owing to Lepsius
having considered the brick buildings on the site to have been part of the
labyrinth. When I began to excavate the result was soon plain, that the brick
chambers were built on the top of the ruins of a great stone structure; and
hence they were only the houses of a village, as they had at first appeared to
me to be. But beneath them, and far away over a vast area, the layers of
stone chips were found; and so great was the mass that it was difficult to
persuade visitors that the stratum was artificial, and not a natural formation.
Beneath all these fragments was a uniform smooth bed of beton or plaster,
on which the pavement of the building had been laid: while on the south
side, where the canal had cut across the site, it could be seen how the chip
stratum, about six feet thick, suddenly ceased, at what had been the limits of
the building. No trace of architectural arrangement could be found, to help
in identifying this great structure with the labyrinth: but the mere extent of
it proved that it was far larger than any temple known in Egypt. All the
temples of Karnak, of Luxor, and a few on the western side of Thebes,
might be placed together within the vast space of these buildings at Hawara.
We know from Pliny and others, how for centuries the labyrinth had been a
great quarry for the whole district; and its destruction occupied such a body
of masons, that a small town existed there. All this information, and the
recorded position of it, agrees so closely with what we can trace, that no
doubt can now remain regarding the position of one of the wonders of
Egypt.
The cemetery of Hawara was a great resource for discoveries, and it
proved to be one of the richest fields that I have found, although it was
entirely an unexpected prize. The oldest tombs, of the pyramid time, had all
been ruined ages ago, and the pits re-used for the nineteenth dynasty, the
Ptolemaic times, and crocodile burial of the Roman age. But some slabs
from the stone chapels on the surface had fallen down the tomb shafts, and
were thus preserved.
 The oldest unravaged tomb was of about the end of the twenty-sixth
dynasty; and that was a treasury of amulets, being the funeral vault of the
family of a great noble, Horuta. It was half inundated, the water being thigh
deep, and though all woodwork and stucco was spoilt, yet the amulets of
stone, and some of pottery, were uninjured. The great interment was that of
Horuta himself. In a side chamber, branching from the large chamber, a
huge sarcophagus of hard and tough limestone had been placed, containing
three successive coffins of wood. This was built in solidly with masonry all
around it, filling up the whole chamber, so that its very existence was hardly
to be suspected by any one in the large chamber. To clear this out in such a
position was hard work; a party of good hands were steadily labouring at it,
mainly by contract, for two or three months. Down a well, forty feet deep,
and in a pitch-black chamber, splashing about in bitter water, and toiling by
candle-light, all the work had to be done; and dragging out large blocks of
masonry in a very confined space in such circumstances is slow and
tedious. While thus mining the way to the expected burial, we lit on a hole
in the masonry filled with large ushabtis standing in rows, two hundred in
all, of the finest workmanship; and, before long, on the other side of the
sarcophagus, two hundred more were found in a similar recess. But the
sarcophagus itself was most difficult to open. The lid block was nearly two
feet thick, and almost under water. It was far too heavy for us to move
entire, so some weeks were spent in cutting it in two. One piece was then
raised, but it proved to be the foot end; and though I spent a day struggling
with the inner coffins, sitting in the sarcophagus up to my nose in water, I
yet could not draw them out from under the rest of the stone lid. So after
some days the men raised that, enough to get one’s head in between the
under side of it and the water; and then I spent another gruesome day,
sitting astride of the inner coffin, unable to turn my head under the lid
without tasting the bitter brine in which I sat. But though I got out the first
coffin lid, the inner one was firmly fastened down to its coffin; and though I
tried every way of loosening the coffin, it was so firmly set in a bed of sand
that crowbars and mining with the feet were useless, and it was so low in
the water as to be out of arms’ reach. The need of doing everything by
feeling, and the impossibility of seeing what was done under the black
water, made it a slow business. A third day I then attacked it, with a helpful
friend, Mr. Fraser. We drilled holes in the coffin, as it was uninscribed, and
fixed in stout iron bolts. Then, with ropes tied to them, all our party hauled
again and again at the coffin; it yielded: and up came an immense black
mass to the surface of the water. With great difficulty we drew it out, as it
was very heavy, and we had barely room for it beneath the low ceiling.
Anxiously opening it, we found a slight inner coffin, and then the body of
Horuta himself, wrapped in a network of beads of lazuli, beryl, and silver,
the last all decomposed. Tenderly we towed him out to the bottom of the
entrance pit, handling him with the same loving care as Izaak his worms.
And then came the last, and longed-for scene, for which our months of toil
had whetted our appetites,—the unwrapping of Horuta. Bit by bit the layers
of pitch and cloth were loosened, and row after row of magnificent amulets
were disclosed, just as they were laid on in the distant past. The gold ring
on the finger which bore his name and titles, the exquisitely inlaid gold
birds, the chased gold figures, the lazuli statuettes delicately wrought, the
polished lazuli and beryl and carnelian amulets finely engraved, all the
wealth of talismanic armoury, rewarded our eyes with a sight which has
never been surpassed to archaeological gaze. No such complete and rich a
series of amulets has been seen intact before; and as one by one they were
removed all their positions were recorded, and they may now be seen lying
in their original order in the Ghizeh Museum. The rest of the family of
Horuta lay in the large chamber, some in stone sarcophagi, some only in
wooden coffins. They also had their due funereal wealth; and a dozen other
sets of amulets rewarded our search, some of them as fine a series as any
known before, but not to compare for a moment with those of the walled-in
patriarch.
Of rather later age, perhaps Ptolemaic, was a large wooden coffin that
we found; the body and the lid were two equal parts, plainly rectangular;
and they lay where some old spoiler had left them, separated, and
afterwards buried under a heap of stuff thrown out in digging later tombs.
The whole surface of this sarcophagus was stuccoed, inside and outside, top
and bottom, and every part of it finely painted and inscribed. The top of the
lid had the deities of the district, the hawk, the Osiris-crocodile, and the
bennu, with inscriptions; the lower part inside bore other animals, the
vulture, the cow, and white hippopotamus; the inside of the lid had the two
crocodile-headed Sebeks and the ape; and underneath the lower part, or
body, was a long inscription, partly biographical. I had a terrifying
experience with this coffin; when I found it much of the stucco was loose,
and any amount of trouble was worth while to preserve so beautiful and
important an object. I observed in copying it
that parts had been waxed, to heighten the
colour, and this suggested to me to fasten
down the stucco by wax. I tried melting it
on with a plate of hot iron, but could
scarcely do it without blackening it with
smoke. In course of this I poured a layer of
wax over the surface; but what was my
horror to see as the wax cooled that it
contracted into saucer-formed patches,
lifting up with it the stucco, and leaving bare
wood beneath! To touch these wax patches
must irrevocably ruin all hopes of replacing
the stucco; so I covered it with sheets of
paper, and thought on it for some days, a
spectre of dismal failure. I tried in vain to
buy a brazier at Medinet; so at last, making
a grating of wire, I filled it with red-hot
charcoal, and supported it over part of the
unlucky coffin. As I watched it, the wax 72. Vulture and Cow, from
softened, flattened, and dropped exactly into Coffin Lid.
place again; patch after patch settled down,
the wax melted and ran in under the stucco; and at last I saw the whole
surface completely relaid, and fixed so firmly that even the fearful rattle of
an Egyptian railway wagon, in the long journey to Bulak, did not injure it.
But perhaps the greatest success at Hawara was in the direction least
expected. So soon as I went there I observed a cemetery on the north of the
pyramid; on digging in it I soon saw that it was all Roman, the remains of
brick tomb-chambers; and I was going to give it up as not worth working,
when one day a mummy was found, with a painted portrait on a wooden
panel placed over its face. This was a beautifully drawn head of a girl, in
soft grey tints, entirely classical in its style and mode, without any Egyptian
influence. More men were put on to this region, and in two days another
portrait-mummy was found; in two days more a third, and then for nine
days not one; an anxious waiting, suddenly rewarded by finding three.
Generally three or four were found every week, and I have even rejoiced
over five in one day. Altogether sixty were found in clearing this cemetery,
some much decayed and worthless, others as fresh as the day they were
painted.
Not only were these portraits found thus on the mummies, but also the
various stages of decoration that led up to the portrait. First, the old-
fashioned stucco cartonnage coverings, purely Egyptian, of the Ptolemies.
Next, the same made more solidly, and with distinct individual differences,
in fact, modelled masks of the deceased persons. Then arms modelled in
one with the bust, the rest of the body being covered with a canvas wrapper
painted with mythologic scenes, all purely Egyptian. Probably under
Hadrian the first portraits are found, painted on a canvas wrapper, but of
Greek work. Soon the canvas was abandoned,
 73. Four Stages of Mummy Decoration.

and a wooden panel used instead; and then the regular series of panel
portraits extends until the decline in the third century. All this custom of
decorating the mummies arose from their being kept above ground for
many years in rooms, probably connected with the house. Various signs of
this usage can be seen on the mummies, and in the careless way in which
they were at last buried, after such elaborate decoration.
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