Page:Popular Mechanics 1928 01.pdf/30

 Canaanitish rampart. It is virtually the finest of all and is attributed to Hezekiah. It has been suggested that it was between these two walls that Zedekiah and his men escaped when the city was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar.



Interesting also is the work which has been carried out by the Jewish Palestine exploration society in uncovering the foundations of the third, or northern-most wall of Jerusalem, built by Agrippa I, grandson of Herod. The next task will be to discover a connection between the third wall and the line of the second wall, which inclosed the city in the days of Christ. If the course of the latter wall could be ascertained, it would at once settle the vexed question as to whether the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which marks the alleged site of the Crucifixion and Burial, lay outside the city or not.

Mention should also be made of the recent find in Solomon's Quarries, those huge subterranean caverns close to the Damascus gate, from which it is thought Solomon obtained his stone for the erection of the Temple. Here has been found a wall which experts believe was a hiding place used by the Jews during the siege of the city by Titus in 70 A.D. There are signs of places for self-defense, as if the refugees who were hiding had fortified themselves against the besiegers.

In actual field work the American universities are taking a leading part and are carrying out valuable excavations at Kirjath Sepher and Mizpeh, as well as at Bethshan.

Ever since the discoveries in Babylon and the Hittite country of clay tablets, hopes have been entertained that in Palestine similar finds may come to light. The site that especially attracted attention was Kirjath Sepher, for the name implies the "town of books," or library. It is referred to in Joshua in connection with the story of Caleb, one of the two spies who brought a good report of the land. But no one knew for certain where the ancient city stood. Dr. W. F. Albright, of the American school of archæology in Jerusalem, was successful in locating it some fifteen miles to the southwest of Hebron.

Here he has been toiling with most interesting results. He has laid bare a portion of the old city wall and two well-preserved gates, practically the first of the early Israelitic period yet found in Palestine. The sloping walls, which varied from ten to twelve feet thick, and probably towered thirty feet in height, not only date