American Expedition Reports Unique Findings in Palestine Excavations

(Jewish Daily Bulletin)

Continued excavations by the expedition of the American School of Oriental Research in the area of Kirjath-sepher, have unearthed relics dating back to the early bronze age 2,000 years before the Christian era and have afforded archaeologists a new insight into the times of the ancient Hebrews.

In a letter received here by Professor James A. Montgomery, president of the American School of Oriental Research, Professor M. G. Kyle, head of the expodition, reported that they have dug far into the area of the buried communities.

“I am sure you will be anxious to hear of our success,” Prof. Kyle writes. “I will say at the outset that it has been far beyond our general expectations at the beginning, and that after only two weeks’actual digging.

“We have the most desirable field, i.e., best preserved and most typical of old Canaanite and Israelite cities, and history now in our possession runs certainly from the Early Bronze Age, 2,000 or earlier, B.C., down to 300 B.C.

“It thus covers every Canaanite period, from the twelfth Egyptian Dynasty and the whole of Israelite history from the Conquest to the Exile.

“We have at the gateway clearly five periods of building and rebuilding–one Early Bronze, two Middle and Late Bronze, and two Israelite. The city was burned at least three ###, once about 1,700 by some unknown to us (at the invasion of the Hyksos into Egypt?), once by Othniel at the Conquest, and at last by Nebuchadnezzar about 600 B.C.

“There was a magnificent wall of Canaanite work, now topped by Israelite work, from 35 to 40 feet in height, about 30 feet of it revetment built against the precipitous side of the mountain, and the parapet, whose heights we cannot yet gage, as it is all thrown down to the foundation.

“The great quantity of sling bullets attest terrific fighting around the walls and at the Great Temple (?). This latter is a mystery yet. It is quite unique, seems to have been a series of shrines with Matssaboth, each shrine enclosed in a room and all united into one temple. But we are not yet sure about this temple. We must wait for further light.

“There is a unique plumbing system, not only for drainage at the gate, which is simple enough, but for a water tank in the great tower at the east gate. The tank is concrete or heavy plaster and a stone pipe, three-inch bore, leads to it. We are tracing this back with the hope that it will lead us to the secret source of water within the walls.”