Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/348

302 Mr. Davis (No. 232) is also, in its oldest form, the bull's head. The same sign occurs often on Hittite monuments.

The suggestion as to Gimel is novel, as is also that about Zain (supported by the peculiar form of the letter as appearing on the Siloam text). The sign for Yod, "the open hand," and that for Caph, "the closed hand," both resemble signs used in Hittite. The sign for Resh is also exactly like one of the most peculiar of the Hittite hieroglyphs. These comparisons have the advantage of accounting for the names of the letters, which have never been explained by the theory of Egyptian origin.



July Statement, 1894, contains very valuable papers, and shows continued vitality in the Society.

P. 171. The discoveries on Zion seem to confirm the conjecture that Hadrian's Wall on the south side of Jerusalem followed the old line. I do not think there is any evidence that the Phœnicians used drafted masonry before the Greek period. The "pock-marked" dressing occurs on the later Roman masonry in Palestine, and the stones with rude bosses usually belong to this period. The Jewish masonry of the second century, and of the Herodian period (at 'Arâk el Emîr 170  and at Jerusalem) has drafted stones with the faces carefully finished and flat. The "comb dressing" occurs at Jerusalem but not at 'Arâk el Emîr. There is nothing to surprise us in the discovery of Crusaders' work on Zion, as the great Church of Holy Zion was close by. Mr. Maudslay found a Crusaders' tombstone during the course of his excavations.

P. 172. I think that the pick-marks in the plaster indicate that a finer layer of cement once covered the picked surface. Such is at least often the case in the lining of cisterns, as I have had occasion to notice.

P. 175. if Dr. Bliss carries out excavations at Jericho I hope he will select the months of February and March. The autumn at Jericho is most deadly. There can to my mind be no doubt that the building at Kh. Mefjir is some kind of hospice or monastery. The apse, which now seems to be destroyed, appeared to me to be evidently Norman work of the twelfth century, and I should be inclined to ascribe the ornamentation to about 1130 A.D. Dr. Bliss may be able to compare it with that on the south door of the Cathedral of the Holy Sepulchre, and in the Church of St. Mary la Grande just opposite. The early Crusaders adopted a semi-Byzantine style, and their Gothic work belongs to the latter half of the twelfth century. The plans of the monasteries at Kasr Hajlah and Kasr el Yehûd may be compared with that of the building at Kh. Mefjir. The ruins at Er Rîha are naturally of twelfth century, since this was the 