Scientific American Supplement, No. 832, December 12, 1891Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 832, December 12, 1891
Various
Science -- Periodicals
The successive discoveries since the third of last January at nearly
the same place, and at a depth of from 3 to 6 meters beneath the
surface, of numerous _Inculi_ absolutely identical as to material and
structure with those of which we have just spoken, is therefore a
scientific event of high importance. Those discoveries, which were
purely accidental, were brought about by the work on the foundations
of the Maritime Arsenal now in course of construction at the gates of
Cadiz. Our Fig. 1 represents the unearthing of the _loculi_ on the
14th of April, and on the value of which there is no need to dwell. As
to the dimensions, it is easy to judge of these, since the laborer
standing to the left of the spectator holds in his hand a meter
measure serving as a scale. It will suffice to state that the depth of
each tomb is about two meters, and that upon the lower part of three
of the parallelopipeds there exist pavements of crucial appearance.
Finally, nothing denoted externally the existence of these sarcophagi
jealously hidden from investigation according to a usage that is
established especially by the imprecations graven upon the basaltic
casket now preserved in the Museum of the Louvre, and which contained
the ashes of Eshmanazar, King of Sidon.
[Illustration: ANTHROPOID SARCOPHAGUS DISCOVERED AT CADIZ.]
Space is wanting to furnish ampler information. Our object is simply
to call attention to a zone which is somewhat neglected from a
scientific point of view, and which, however, seems as if it ought to
offer a valuable field of investigation to students of things Semitic,
among whom, as well known, our compatriots hold a rank apart, since it
is to them that falls the laborious and very honorable duty of
collecting and editing the inscriptions in Semitic languages.
On another hand, although in the beginning the sepulchers were taken
to pieces and carried away (two of them imperfectly reconstructed may
be seen in the garden of the Cadizian Museum), there will be an
opportunity of making prevail the system of maintaining _in situ_ the
various monuments that may hereafter be discovered. Thus only could
one, at a given moment, obtain an accurate idea of what the Phenician
necropolis of Cadiz was, and allow the structures that compose it to
preserve their imposing stamp of rustic indestructibility.
The excavation is being carried on at this very moment, and a bronze
statuette of an oriental god and various trinkets of more or less
value have just enriched the municipal collection. Let us hope, then,
as was recently predicted by Mr. Clermont Ganneau, of the Institute,
that some day or another some Semitic inscription will throw a last
ray of light upon the past, which is at present so imperfectly known,
of Phenician Cadiz.--_L'Illustration._
* * * * *
PREHISTORIC HORSE IN AMERICA.
_To the Editor of the Scientific American_:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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