Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1944, Page 80
7°
LE NORD
pla' s in various parts of Cyprus were examined. The working
up of the huge material which thus came to light has not yet been
completely finished.
In 1938, A. W. Persson started a short expedition to Mylassa
in Asia Minor, which, however, had to be interrupted because
of the political tension prevailing before the outbreak of the
present war.
Also Egypt during these years has been the object of the
interest of Swedish archaeologists working in the field. At the
expense of the Egyptiska Museet in Stockholm the German H.
Junker in 1931—37 conducted excavations at the prehistoric
settlement near Merimde Beni Salame in the Nile delta. P. Lugn,
the then Curator of the museum, in 1932 started excavations at
the neighbouring Abu Ghálib, work which after Lugn’s death
in 1934 was continued by Hj. Larsen, who also conducted an
excavation at Maassara in the delta in 1937.
Finally the foundation of the Swedish Institute in Rome in
1925 opened the prospect of Swedish excavations in Italy. In
1930, A. Boethius, the first Director of the Institute, started his
excavations at Ardea, which were later continued during several
campaigns. His successor, E. Gjerstad, conducted excavations in
the Forum Romanum, and the present Director of the Institute,
E. Sjöqvist, has recently finished work in the field near Santa
Maria in Via Lata in Rome.
The Swedish Crown Prince during all these years with his
indefatigable interest and admirable energy, to the young ar-
chaeologists working in the field has stood out as the highest
leader and in general been protector of the activity. Among the
men working beside him Martin Nilsson should especially be men-
tioned, the grand old man of Swedish archaeology, who with
his great authority and experience has been an invaluable asset
in the planning and co-ordination of the various interests.
The high expenses which of course have been incurred by
these undertakings, to a great extent have been defrayed by
various patrons and scientific societies. But the Swedish govern-
ment has repeatedly given its support by contributing consider-
able amounts of money.
In what follows I shall briefly touch on the most important
results of the excavations mentioned above. Unfortunately space
forbids even a scanty discussion of the large number of problems
which through these excavations have come up for debate. In time
J