Abstract
AN interim report from Sir Flinders Petrie on his excavations at Tell-el-Ajjul in southern Palestine, in the Times of Feb. 24, dwells on the significance of the exploration of this area for the history of the Hyksos domination in Egypt and Palestine. “The south of Palestine”, it is said, “proves to be the best source for understanding this great catastrophe of ancient times.” The date of the city is now fixed by scarabs of Apepa I. and the names of other Hyksos kings. The work of this season has brought to light a new custom. It will be remembered that last year the remains of a horse were discovered in one of the large pit-graves on the plain below the tell. The horse was disposed in the centre, while the bodies of the members of the family lay on shelves around the pit. Now the remains of a horse have been discovered which had evidently been sacrificed and its body buried under the foundations of a large building. Near by an oven had been built for the purpose of cooking the thigh and shoulders of the victim for a feast, while another horse had been completely cut up and the bones left on the ground after it had been eaten. Sir Flinders Petrie adds the interesting comment that no other example of hippophagy has been found in the east, and in the west the practice is not known later than the stone age.
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Hippophagy in Ancient Palestine. Nature 129, 342 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129342a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129342a0