The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1902-11-16
ANCIENT CANAAN.
- civ Of oezer unsarthed BY
V p' Scientists.

n .,s GLOBE Democrat
b Loui' November 1.-The quarterly
lonaoA, ~ the Palestine exploration iunu
stenen' - nv prof. MacAllister which
4 pup+ new departure In Palestine
~ It describes excavations a.
ls 'ss-sr, on the right OF the roaa Ion
4euep y jerusalem. The site was i ,,'S
Nc " the Canaanite city, the KING ana
II osAe which we're slain by Joshua.
Iope r.tion revealed four series OF an
Ine a. "a. ND fonr layers Of strait when,
4ent w., "a the buildings Of later Date
tptilps s,te Of the city as occupied by
8afk W sets Of inhabitants. The first
fuf I'D layers we're three unhewn mon
~ s'. snrteen feet high, with smaller
a tns .,saen and under an adjoining pave
lars containing the charred bones
,a,.nts. which would seem to lndicate
!, was a place of sacfince' wnere
"A nn,en passed through the nre 10 some
PREDECESSOR Of Moloeh' o. s..,u
49, caves we're discovered. one, dating
80 erst or second city, was 10 by
and was covered with layer some
foot deep of human ashes ana
4 which often had been imperfectly
sa.umed. Prof MacAllister believes that
"A cave Itself was crematory, ana thal
a ,..or race probably that Of the third city,
a n for the lnhumation of bodies which
4 =. aonosited In a crouching posture all
no aoor The other cave, which was
y i, shaned. has been used as cyst by the
4 aoonts of the fourth and latest city, but
"A snn,o,ned nix skeletons. Five persons
"A 4 ham hurled. The sixth was the upper
4 I'm Of girl who had been cut In two with
Il saw. Indicating that she had been hu'
m sacrifice. This idea was confirmed by
IN dpdng Of the decapitated heads of two
IL ~ about the same age at the mouth
4. the cave.
q Tho homes and the pottery relies discoy-
M make it possible TO assign historical
a osltiops TO the successive occupants OF the
'kty. The older race was slender ana snort,
Il one exceeding sixty inches. and
,ost of them only sixty-four inches In
81 eiaht The skulls we're thick and heavy,
IN resemble those of the earliest occu-
&apts Of Europe IN the Heollthic age. They
a ere certainly pre- Semitic race. The
tueremated remains OF the inhabitants
4, the third and perhaps the fourth city
.,how that they were taller, the average
kelght being sixty.six inches. while some
~ ,lem reached seyenty-one They were
slso more strongly built, their faces were
|loDger. their noses more prominent and
4helr skulls more circular. They probably
4elonqed TO the earliest wave of Semitic
immigration. that it, the primitive Amor
He's,
"A The pottery Of the earlier race was coarse
tpd rude. but that of the later was better
|3haped. Neither conforms to the Egyptian
~ Phoenclan designs The Jars were Of
brought stone, and clipped 1int tools were
Hound The presemitic people who burned
|.heir dead were not acquainted with metal.
Those who came later and who buried their
Mead had good weapons Of copper and
bronze. This is remarkable, as cremation
ID Western Europe came in with bronze
fhe site of Gezer was therefore first in
fablted by an aboriginal of Palestine, Neo-
%lthic people. who cremated their dead, and
heXt by q primitive Semitic race in the
hopper age, both practlcing human sacr-
ices. Then there were two later Semitic
Occupations by the Scarabs the indications
being that <lhe former of them was not less
Wan 700 years B. c,
4 Other relics proved that there was com.
puncation with Egypt, and one clay cylln-
eer indicates there was direct or indirect
Fade with Babylon.