Mr. Lythgoe's Last Lecture

Mr. A. M. Lythgoe, instructor in Egpytology, last night gave the last of his series of lectures in the Fogg Lecture Room on the work of the Hearst Egyptian Expedition. The subject of the lecture, which was illustrated with stereopticon views, was "The Mastaba-Tombs of the Pyramid-Field of Gizeh."

Mr. Lythgoe briefly outlined the development of the mastaba-tomb--so called from its resemblance to the mastaba or typical seat of the Arab house. In prehistoric times the most elementary form of the mastaba served alike as a protection to the corpse and as an altar for ancestral offerings. The grave was brick-lined, and roofed over with wooden logs or slabs of white limestone. Later on was erected around the grave a low wall of dried red brick, which contrasted vividly with the yellow sand of the desert. In its final form the mastaba consisted of a great rectangular stone structure with sloping sides. In its centre was a deep shaft into which was lowered the corpse, and then the hole was filled in with sand and debris. A second chamber, isolated in the wall of the mastaba, contained statues of the decreased, and here was supposed to well the spirit of the dead. In front of this room was executed another chamber, where earthen bowls and offerings were deposited.