Palestine

Tell el Hesy.

The complex character of the archaeological problems that awaited the investigator was made evident by the first piece of scientific excavation undertaken in the country. This was organized in 5890 by the Palestine Exploration Fund, which had already accomplished the great task of mapping and survey ing the country. The site chosen under the political circumstances of the day, namely the city-mound of Tell el Hesy, lay well within the Egyptian sphere, being situated almost upon the high road from Gaza to Jerusalem, sixteen miles only from the former and half way to Beit-Jibrin. Flinders-Petrie, who in Egypt (see SEQUENCE DATING) had succeeded in grouping and classifying the Egyptian types by series corresponding to the historic epochs of that country, understood the task. He reported at the time, "A clear section of the town had been cut away by a torrent, so that any level could be worked at ease. In these circumstances a few weeks sufficed to obtain pottery of each age, from the Amorite to the Greek times." The specimens so obtained were classified according to their levels, and the recognition of Egyptian objects among them at certain depths enabled the outline of a chronolog ical scale to be established.

Further excavation of the mound upon these lines subsequently showed that the accumulation of 65ft. of debris represented the stratified remains of eleven successive cities. The time scale was indicated in the third city by the discovery of an inscribed tablet and Egyptian objects of the 14th century B.C., and in the fourth city by further Egyptian relations of the 19th dynasty. Above this level iron replaced bronze as the characteristic metal, and finally the appearance of Attic Greek and later wares in the 7th and 8th centuries displayed the further evolution of the site with certitude. The most conspicuous building of the earliest period was a stoutly built tower, the walls of which were nearly 'oft. thick; and it was attributed, together with the foundations of the site, to the 17th century B.C., a date to which other cities of the maritime plain, including Ascalon and Dora, are found to trace their origin. The name of the city, to be inferred from indications on the inscribed tablet, was Lachish, which Egyptian records show to have had some military importance in the 18th dynasty, agree ing with later Hebrew tradition relating to the period of Joshua. Fortified by Rehoboam, Lachish was later one of the strong cities of Judah captured by Sennacherib, incidents in its history which are represented by the stratifications exposed during the ex cavation. The city of the Assyrian period would be that in level VI., at which time its walls were io to I2ft. thick. The Assyrian

king made it his headquarters and a bas-relief in the British Museum shows him receiving there the submission of Jewish prisoners. Several other city-mounds in the neighbourhood of Beit Jibrin were examined; but there was still much to be learnt. The attainment of these encouraging first results had been f a voured by a rare combination of circumstances. The strata of Tell el Hesy were exceptionally uniform and free from interruption; but in general this is not the case. In cities of increasing prosper ity the larger buildings of each age were frequently given founda tions which descended to and through the lower levels, disturbing the normal stratification in the process, while sometimes it is found that stout buildings survived throughout several succeeding epochs. For such reasons intrusions in the strata are the rule rather than the exception, and excavators must be prepared for such problems and to explain their cause. Only one third of the mound of Tell el Hesy had been dug, and the examination of four mounds during the two following years was only cursory and incomplete. Nevertheless at Tell el Zakarieh a large amount of pottery fragments, together with scarabs, beads and articles of bronze, gave proof of close connection with Egypt, under the new empire. At Tell el Safi it was possible to follow the line of fortifications around the hill ; shafts sunk to the rock in a number of places showed the thickness of the debris to be over 4oft. and traced the origin of the city to the Bronze Age. At a depth of croft. there was found a series of monoliths, evidently the remains of a High Place; and at a higher level, pertaining to the early Iron age, there was a Jewish stratum containing jar handles with royal stamps assigned to the time of the kings of Judah. Higher still in the debris there were traces of the Crusaders, and near the surface sherds of modern Arab pottery. In the third mound also, Tell el Judeideh, a city wall was followed around the hill and four gateways were examined ; but the date of these fortifications remains doubtful, though there were indications pointing to the origin of the city in the late bronze age. At Tell Sandahanna, identified with Mareshah, an entire town of the Seleucidan era was excavated, with towers, walls, gates, streets and houses, of which a complete plan was made, and below this were found re mains of Jewish occupation. Tomb chambers of the third century B.C. discovered independently of the excavations were decorated with frescoes of hunting scenes, on which appear the lion and elephant and other fauna foreign to Palestine, together with funerary inscriptions of a Phoenician family from Sidon.