Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/216

176 The Fund has done considerable work, first and last, at Jericho. First came Warren, who made cuttings in the various mounds, and then Conder with the survey party. My object in examining the mounds was to see whether any new light might be thrown on their age by the classification of pottery made by Petrie and myself at Tell el Hesy. The so-called Amorite pottery, found by us in the lowest layers of that mound, had never been seen by myself anywhere else, and I felt that its value for determination of age depended on whether it was a local type of the Philistine plains only or whether these distinct types extended over the country. Accordingly, I was greatly pleased on stopping for a half hour at the southern Tell of the pair called Tellûl Abu el 'Aleik, not far from the entrance of the pass, to recover in the lower levels of Warren's cuts, three distinct marks of this Amorite or pre-Israelitish pottery, namely, a "ledge-handle," the "palliened burnishing," and a peculiar moulding, the material of the ware also being similar. At Tell es Sultan, which is universally acknowledged to occupy the site of the pre-Israelitish Jericho, I also recovered similar types. Near the base of the mound, above the spring, a hollow has recently been scooped out for some reason or other, and there I found traces of a mud-brick wall in situ. With a small trowel I traced it a short distance in the same way we used to trace similar walls at Tell el Hesy. I confess this wall sent a thrill through me. If Tell es Sultan is a mass of debris caused by the ruin of several mud-brick towns over the first Jericho, then there is good reason to suppose that this wall, uncovered near the base of the mound, at its edge, is the very wall which fell before the eyes of the Captain Joshua.

Tell es Sultan is a long mound, over 1,200 feet in length from north to south, about 50 feet high, with four superimposed mounds (one of them a ridge) at the edges, the north-west or highest being some 90 feet above the fountain, which is at the east, but not more than 60 or 70 feet above the ground at the west, as the mound occurs where the land slopes down to the plain. In the cutting made by Warren at the north-west elevation, I recognised another mud-brick wall, very well preserved. Of course, since these cuttings were made much earth must have been washed down in them, but in any case I think they were hardly deep enough to have penetrated through the slope of fallen rubbish to the undisturbed stratification. From my work at Tell el Hesy I am pretty confident that a Tell will not yield its secrets unless a large portion is systematically cut away. The secret of Petrie's wonderful success during his short six weeks at Tell el Hesy (apart, of course, from his unquestioned skill in dealing with the indications furnished by mounds in general) lay in the fact that this outer slope of fallen debris had been washed away by the gradual undermining of the stream, leaving the stratification of the east face practically exposed. I am inclined to believe that extensive excavations on the platform (50 feet high) on which the four other mounds stand, would amply justify the cost which would be necessary. These superimposed mounds doubtless represent later fortifications. I believe that the main material of the Tell is mud-brick, although several signs of