Chapter 1761

[←1752]

“In making soundings in the slimy soil of the Nile Valley, two baked bricks were discovered, one at the depth of 20, the other at 24 yards. If we estimate the thickness of the annual deposit formed by the river at 8 inches a century [more careful calculations have shown no more than from three to five per century], we must assign to the first of these bricks an age of 12,000 years, and to the second that of 14,000 years. By means of analogous calculations, Burmeister supposes 72,000 years to have elapsed since the first appearance of man upon the soil of Egypt, and Draper attributes to the European man who witnessed the last glacial epoch, an antiquity of more than 250,000 years.” (Man before Metals, p. 183.) Egyptian Zodiacs show more than 75,000 years of observation! Note well also that Burmeister speaks only of the Delta population.