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 back to the Canaanite period, but resemble those found at Jerusalem and Jericho. The buildings were evidently made of white, compact, sun-dried bricks, such as have not been met before. A couple of hundred pottery vessels of various shapes and sizes were found, as well as weavers' weights of clay, dyeing vessels, pestles, mortars and sling stones. A shaft sunk on the site, reaching down to the level of the base of the wall where it was laid bare, seems to indicate that there were five periods of occupation, each followed by the burning of the city. The third, fourth and fifth destructions were probably the work of Othniel, Caleb's nephew: Shishak, king of Egypt, in the time of Solomon; and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. So far, however, the search has failed to reveal the existence of any clay tablets. Some seven miles to the north of Jerusalem, not far from Ramallah, Dr. W. F. Bade, of the University of California, has been digging over the site of ancient Mizpeh. It is known from the sacred narrative that Mizpeh was a strongly fortified position, and it was here that Samuel judged Israel for twenty years. Quite early in the work a city wall was struck, so massive as to alter all preconceived notions of the strength of ancient fortified cities in Palestine. The wall averaged sixteen feet in thickness and this width is considerably increased at points where towers and citadels formed part of the ramparts. This defensive structure is undoubtedly of the Bronze Age and was erected long before the Hebrew occupation of Palestine. A number of silos, or grain bins, were also discovered as well as ancient cave tombs, from which many pieces of pottery were taken.



Excavations are to be resumed at Bethshan, or Beisan, in Galilee. In 1925, an American expedition dug over the site when the two temples of the Philistines mentioned in the First Book of Chronicles, in one of which the armor of Saul was placed and in the other his head, were found. The finds then made have now been examined and the report makes most interesting reading. Beisan and the surrounding districts are replete with Biblical associations. On one side of the fertile and picturesque valley in which the city reposed, rise the mountains of Gilboa, on which Saul took his life, and on the other side the lower slopes of Little Hermon. Near by is Jezreel, where Jezebel lived, and also Endor, where Saul consulted the witch. Along the roadway through the valley here the Philistines brought the headless body of Saul and his two sons, and here came the bloody chariot of Ahab bearing his lifeless body to Samaria. All that remains of Beisan today is a large mound, 200 feet in height, which covers the ruins of several cities. 