Such penury as this distressed savants and even put them into
pretty bad humor with the Cadiz archaeologists.
To-day, it seems that the ancient Semitic civilization, which has
remained mute for so long in the Iberic territory, is finally willing
to yield up her secret, as is proved by the engravings which we
present to our readers from photographs taken _in situ_. It is
necessary for us to enter into some details.
In 1887 there were met with at the gates of Cadiz, at about five
meters beneath the surface of the earth, three rude tombs of shelly
limestone, in which were found some skeletons, a few small bronze
instruments and some trinkets--the latter of undoubted oriental
manufacture.
In one of these tombs was also inclosed a monolithic sarcophagus of
white marble of the form called anthropoid and measuring 2.15 m. in
length by 0.67 in width. This sarcophagus is now preserved in the
local museum, whose director is the active, intelligent and
disinterested Father Vera. Although this is not the place to furnish
technical or scientific explanations, it will be permitted us to point
out the fact that although it is of essentially oriental manufacture,
our anthropoid has undoubtedly undergone the Hellenistic influence,
which implies an epoch posterior to that of Pericles, who died in 429
B.
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