The articles submitted to me for examination consist of limestone similar to strata which I have seen along the Valley of the Nile in various parts of Egypt. I am quite sure that the articles which I saw are not made of artificial material.
Some of the facts which I needed in estimating the age of these sculptures are unfortunately not available. It is not definitely known just where they were found, - whether they were ever exposed on the surface of the desert, whether they had lain undisturbed in one of the ancient tombs or whether they had been buried under accumulations of wind-blown sand or the Nile river silt. The effects of weathering in these situations would have been very different.
If they were found in the Cairo region I feel sure that they had not been exposed for many years on the surface of the desert plateau, nor were they buried for a long time in a situation affected by the annual floods of the Nile. If these objects were found in one of the rock tombs, along the upper slopes of the Nile valley or in a situation where they could have been buried under windblown sand, they might have suffered but little chemical " weathering " on their surface.
I do not find the report of Mr. Young convincing. For many of his assertions he has supplied no satisfactory evidence.
On the whole, I am inclined to agree with the opinion of Mr. Compton and Mr. Lucas that these sculptures are probably of ancient Egyptian origin.
Eliot Blackwelder,
Professor of Geology, Emeritus.
Stanford University
Stanford, California.
February 6,1959