An undisturbed tomb was found by accident in the Osiris temenos.  The soil was so wet that the bones were mostly dissolved; and only fragments of the skull, crushed under an inverted slate bowl, were preserved.  The head had been laid upon a sandstone corn-grinder.  Around the sides of the tomb were over two dozen jars of pottery, most of them large.  And near the body were sixteen stone vases and bowls.  Some of the forms, such as are shown in the illustration, Nos. 3, 7, 8, are new to us.  A strange three-sided pottery bowl was also found here, but since there is no museum in England where such a complete tomb can be placed, it was sent to Philadelphia, in order that the whole series should be arranged as originally found.

The sealings, the general description of which has been already given, have come to light in such considerable quantities during the past few years that their study became a special branch of Egyptology.  As to the earliest sealings, it was not until the time of Den that a broad uniformity of style was established.  The seals of the second dynasty are generally of a smaller style and more elaborately worked than those of the first dynasty.  It is reasonable, therefore, to conclude that the later seals were made in stone or metal rather than in wood.

[Illustration:  405.jpg THREE TYPES OF SEALINGS]

The illustration given of sealing No. 128, of the Egypt Exploration Fund collection, shows a very fair type of the figuring of men and animals at the time of the first dynasty as a survival of the prehistoric manner of engraving.  Here, then, at the very dawn of history, we find a spirited depiction of the human form, for, rude though it is, there can be no doubt but that it is a representation of the human figure, and stiff and ungainly though the action of the drawing be, there can be no doubt as to the progressive movement intended by the artist.  On a sealing, No. 116, is seen the leopard with the bent bars on his back.  The shrine upon the same seal is of the general form, and is like the early huts with reed sides, and an interwoven palm-rib roof.  This is a specimen of an intermediate manner of workmanship.  The most advanced stage of art in the sealings of the first dynasty, is No. 108.  This is the royal seal of King Zer, B.C. 4700, showing him seated and wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt.  By his side are the royal staff and his cartouches.  It was workmanship of this character which survived in Egypt almost as late as Roman times; that is to say, the same style engraving was current in the Valley of the Nile for forty-six centuries.

A particularly interesting sealing is a representation of two jars with the flat seals across their tops.

[Illustration:  406.jpg A SEALING SHOWING JARS]

These jars, moreover, are depicted as bound around with a network of rope in a manner which corresponds with some fragments of rope found around some jars of this character.