Abstract
SIB FLINDEKS PETBIE briefly summarises the results obtained by the British School of Archæology hi Egypt at Tel Ajjul up to the close of the past season's excavations, in the Times of May 13. The results fully bear out his opinion that the early history of Palestine has been more fully explained on this site than on any other in the country. The evidence it has afforded extends from the rock-cut tombs of the Copper Age, c. 3400 B.C., in which copper daggers and pottery were found, to the age of Thothmes III., after whose day the site was abandoned until it was occupied again by Arab squatters in the Middle Ages. No less than five palaces were erected on the limestone hill, of which the limits were artificially extended to take the greater area covered by the later buildings. The first palace was erected by the people who introduced bronze from North Syria and whose invasion founded the Eighth Dynasty of Egypt. The second palace, Sir Flinders considers, was probably erected by the founders of the Twelfth Egyptian dynasty, while the third and fourth were the work of the Hyksos. The later Hyksos palace has afforded evidence of a foundation sacrifice in which the body of a horse was flung into a pit. Its shoulders and the bodies of two other horses afforded the material for a sacrificial meal. One of the most note-worthy finds was a gold torque, in form similar to the torque found at Troy and presumably of Irish origin. Lectures on the work of the season are being given at University College, London, on May 19 at 2.30 P.M. and May 21 at 3 P.M., entrance free, without ticket; and the usual exhibition will be open at the College on July 11-Aug. 6.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Excavation in Southern Palestine. Nature 129, 753–754 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129753d0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129753d0