already been written by Prof. Maspero, but is rather intended as an
appendix or addendum to his work, briefly recapitulating and describing
the discoveries made since its appearance. On this account we
have followed a geographical rather than a chronological system of
arrangement, but at the same time the attempt has been made to suggest
to the mind of the reader the historical sequence of events.

At no period have excavations been pursued with more energy and
activity, both in Egypt and Western Asia, than at the present time, and
every season's work obliges us to modify former theories, and extends
our knowledge of periods of history which even ten years ago were
unknown to the historian. For instance, a whole chapter has been added
to Egyptian history by the discovery of the Neolithic culture of the
primitive Egyptians, while the recent excavations at Susa are revealing
a hitherto totally unsuspected epoch of proto-Elamite civilization.
Further than this, we have discovered the relics of the oldest
historical kings of Egypt, and we are now enabled to reconstitute from
material as yet unpublished the inter-relations of the early dynasties
of Babylon. Important discoveries have also been made with regard to
isolated points in the later historical periods. We have therefore
attempted to include the most important of these in our survey of recent
excavations and their results. We would again remind the reader that
Prof. Maspero's great work must be consulted for the complete history of
the period, the present volume being, not a connected history of Egypt
and Western Asia, but a description and discussion of the manner in
which recent discovery and research have added to and modified our
conceptions of ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilization.