Plans for future archaeological excavations in Palestine in the next few years were made public by the American School of Oriental Research publishing a summary of the work accomplished and the finds unearthed during the past season.
The two enterprises of the Pennsylvania Museum and Chicago University, respectively, at Beth-shan and Megiddo, will be continued. The University of Chicago Hittite Expedition will continue its activities in Asia Minor under the direction of Mr. H. H. von der Osten and Dr. E. F. Schmidt.
Prof. Elihu Grant, Director of the Haverford Expedition at Bethshemesh in Palestine, is now preparing his volume upon his excavations in 1928. He expects to return to the field and resume work there in the latter part of the year.
The Yale University Expeditions at Doura (on the Upper Euphrates) and Jerash in Transjordan will be continued the coming year. Mr. Crowfoot, in conjunction with Dr. Fisher, expects to start work at Jerash in March. Dr. W. F. Albright, who has returned to the United States, will continue the excavations at Tell Beit Mirsim in the summer of 1930 and possibly 1931.
The most notable feature of the year’s work, according to the summary made by Dr. Albright, was the great impetus given to prehistoric research; interest in the Byzantine period has also become more active. Nearly all the archaeological undertakings of the year were under English, American, or joint Anglo-American auspices, while two American excavations were carried on by British directors. Of the more important expeditions, three devoted themselves to proto-archaeological research, seven to the Bronze and Early Iron Ages, and three to the Roman and Byzantine periods.
The work of the University of Chicago at Megiddo, launched by Professor Breasted in 1925, promises to become more and more important, under the efficient direction of Mr. P. L. O. Guv.
The excavations of the University of Pennsylvania Museum at Beisan, ancient biblical Beth-shan, Greek Scythopolis, continued actively during the last four months of 1928, under the direction of Mr. Alan Rowe, who has been in charge since 1925. The seventh campaign was no less successful than the sixth.
To the Palestinian archaeologist, the most important feature of the work at Beisan is the extraordinary precision in dating pottery which is possible, due to the numerous and exactly dated levels. The general results are in agreement with the views held by the authorities, but since doubt of the reliability of these views has frequently been expressed, the new Beisan material is consid- (Continued on Page 4)
ered exceedingly valuable. In the future there will be no excuse for disregard of the pottery evidence, as has been so common among archaeological investigators in Palestine, the report says.
From the beginning of April to the first of June the American School of Oriental Research, in cooperation with the Xenia Theological Seminary of St. Louis, conducted the second campaign at Tell Beit Mirsim, south-west of Hebron, probably biblical Kirjath-sepher. As in the spring of 1926, the work was under the supervision of President M. G. Kyle.
The most important discovery this year was that of part of the Late Bronze and Early Iron I necropolis, just under the city wall. Three cave cemeteries were found, belonging respectively to the end of the Middle Bronze, the Late Bronze, and to the end of the Late Bronze and the beginning of Early Iron I. From these grottoes several hundred pieces of pottery, many of remarkable beauty, as well as numerous bronze objects and articles of jewelry, were recovered. Mackenzie had discovered part of the Iron Age cemetery, but had missed the immensely richer Bronze Age necropolis.
Work on the site of the oldest Jerusalem, generally called ‘Ophel,” was resumed by Mr. Crowfoot, acting on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund, this past September, and continued until the latter part of December. Material of value for knowledge of the ancient fortifications of the city on the western side of the hill, before the end of the Maccabxan period, has been discovered, and some evidence for the location of the much disputed site of Millo and Acra. A very interesting Byzantine mosaic inscription was also found this season. The British School in Egypt continued its excavations in the extreme South of Palestine.
Palestine is certain to become the most important field of proto-archæological research in the world during the next few years, barring totally unexpected discoveries elsewhere, states the report.
In the late fall of the past year the attention of the Department of Antiquities was called to some prehistoric caves near ‘Athlit, in the Wadi elMugharah, which were in danger of being destroyed by the quarrymen engaged in securing stone for the Haifa harbor. Mr. Richmond, Director of the Antiquities, sent Mr. Lambert, of the Department, to the spot to make soundings. Mr. Lambert’s soundings proved unexpectedly productive; he discovered a well-preserved occupation belonging to the most obscure period in the history of Palestine. Besides the artifacts, were bone awls of the same type as those found at Shuqbah, and a figurine of a bull, carved out of bone. The figurine has a certain vague resemblance to pre-dynastic Egyptian work, but belongs to a distinct culture. Here, for the first time, was found a clear archæological document from the beginning of agricultural and cattle-raising life in Palestine.
Rapid progress is now being made by Palestinian archaeology. In 1929 excavations will be undertaken by three prehistoric expeditions, and will be continued at Megiddo, at Tell en-Nasbet, at Ain Shems, at Shiloh, and probably also at Ophel and Balatah.
Dr. Sukenik is to undertake the excavation of a synagogue just discovered at Beth Alpha by the expedition of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, west of Beisan. This synagogue appears to have remarkably well-preserved mosaic floors, containing representations of signs of the zodiac, like the mosaic of Ain ed-Duq near Jericho. Dr. Sukenik is the leading authority on the synagogue, and is expected to obtain important material bearing on the question of their chronology.
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