The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-24
EXPLORATIONS IN JERUSALEM.
What the ArchaeOIOgiSts Have
brought TO Light.

From the London Daily News.
It is now more than quarter Of a CEN
fury since Captain. now Major General,
Sir Charles Warren carried on his explo-
rations at Jerusalem for the Palestine
exploration fund, and which resulted in
such brilliant discoveries, revealing to us
what was then known as Underground
Jerusalem" That was the remains cf
the ancient city. now covered up with ta4
accumulated debris of ages. an accu-lJ-
lation that reached. in some places. 10
depth of more than seventy feet. Since
that time no systematic explorations have
been carried on in the Holy City. Herr
Baurath Won Schinck and other agents of
the Palestine exploration fund have
watched wherever any digging took place
for the foundation of new buildings or any
other purposes-and, If anything of i'm
pOrtance turned up, IL has been faithfully
reported in the Quarterly Statement. pub
lished by the fund, and which is now the
recognized journal of archaeology in Pal
estine.
For some years back the value of ground
at Jerusalem has been increasing, and
building, more particularly on the north
ana west, mas been gong on outside the
walls, and it became advisable to have
some excavations made before houses
were erected, which would make explora-
The necessary firman from the sultan
was procured and DR. f. ]. Bliss began
operations last year. The first task he
undertook was to trace the line of the
ancient wall on the southern side of Je-
rusalem. IL was known that the old
wall was about 500 feet to the south of
the present one, and that 1t skirted the
brow OF the slope which forms one side
of the Valley of Hinnom. Why the build
ers Of the new wall left this command
ing hight undefended is a question that
is not easily explained. 1t is certain
that the older engineers did not leave
this advantageous position for an enemy
0nRI1nW Traces nf ~ara
first come upon when leveling the ground
for the English cemetery.
In 1874 Maj. Gender, writing from Jeru-
salem, recommended that explorations
should be made at this point, and Mr..
Henry Maudslay, at that time, did suffi-
cient digging to show the existence of
ant school to the east end of the Gem
etery. Among other things he found that
the dining room of the school had its
walls standing on the square base of
one of the ancient towers, and that in
places the rock on which the wall stood
was scarped below to a depth of thirty
feet Mr.. Bliss took up the work at the
point where Mr.. Maudslay had left off and
followed the line of wall from the GEM
direction for about $50 feet. He also
found deep scarps in the rock, which
must have given great strength to the
defense, and made the battlements to
tower with an imposing appearance over
Hinnom Valley. The stones are of no
great size, that is, in comparison with
the walls, such as that of the Jews
Wailing-place and portions of the Haram
WanThey have the usual draught around
their borders, and the lower course is
bedded on the solid rock.
Water supply had not been forgotten
as numerous cisterns have been come
upon. The eXitence of a gateway was
discovered at this point, and 1t is here that
one interesting point in the present ex-
plorations presents itself. The main street
of Jerusalem runs from north to south in
almost a straight line-it begins at the
Damascus gate on the north and ends on
the south at the Sion gate, also known as
the Bah an Nabi Daud, or Gate of the
Prophet David. This is, no doubt, the
original line of a thoroughfare that has
existed from the earliest times, and it
is assumed that there must have been a
similar gate at the end of this main street
in the older wall. This was one of the
points Dr. Bliss was directed TO discover
The gate that has been found is not ex-
actly in the position where the expected
gate was supposed to exist; it is a little
too far to the west to be in a line with
the main street Still it ought to be borne
in mind that the present Sion gate is not
quite at the end of the street but a little
to the west of it; this may indicate that
some reason existed for the deviation in
both cases. Here, for the present, judg-
ment must be suspended, as the spade will
in time settle the matter.
The point would have been cleared up
Dy TINS time, but in tracing the wall east
ward difficulties arose with some of the
pfoprletors of the fields on the subject
OF remuneration, and DIR. Bliss, merely
as a strategical move in the negotiations
started his operations still further to the
east, where he picked up the line of the
wall again near the pool of Sloan.
Inere ne round the wall runs south of
the old pool, and turns up in a norther-
~ direction, and as the Hinnon valley
mere meets the Kedron valley, it is as
sumed that the wall will continue north
ward till 1t joins the portion of the Ophei
wall, which Warren came upon during
nus operations; that win then connect il
q af Naa 10 rrla11.
ure at the southeast corner. The Ophel
wall is mentioned in II Chronicles 27:3
where IT is said lothian built the high
gate of the house of the Lord, and the
wall oil Ophel he built much" 1t is also
referred to in Nehemiah, ill., 1921: More
over, the Nethinims dwelt in Ophel, I'M
10 the place over against the water gate
toward the east, and the tower that lieth
out. After them the Tekotes repaired
another piece, over against the great tow
Ophel" van u
Close to the corner, where the newly
discovered wall turns, northward another
gate has been found. AS four or five
courses of the draughted masonry still
exist the details of this gate can be well
made out It's date may be also deter
mined 10 within few years, for Jose
phus says that at his time Sloan was
outside the walls; but Antonius, a mar
tyr, who wrote about 70 A D., states thar
THE mountain of Siloa is at the present
day within the walls of the city, because
the Empress Eudoeia herself added these
EuAa9 - zig citS. inns makes II evident
that the portion of the wall with its gate
DR.. Bliss has brought to light at Sloan
was that built by. this empress, and its
erection may be dated as having taken
place with year or two after the middle
of the fifth century. The remains of the
older wall that existed in the time Of
Josephus are, no doubt. still under ground.
and Will require to be sought for In order
to make the exploration complete at this
locality.
HORROR OF BURIAL ALIVE.
Case of a Girl Who Returned to