Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1903-02-05
DISCOVERIES IN PALESTINE.
result of Excayation for Vienna Acud-
emy of SCicmces.

Result of ExcavHtiou for Vienna Acud-
cmy of Sciences.
DIR. Sellin, professor at the evangeli-
al theological faculty in Vienna, has
dven an account of the results Of the
excavations which hc carried out in
Palestine for the Vienna Academy of
sciences. During previous visit to
he holy land he had noticed Il large
mound, or small hill, which he consid-
Ind might conceal the remains Of
tome ruined city. On his return he
Induced the Academy of Sciences to
provide him with necessary funds to
!xcavate the site. 1t lies near the vii
age of Tanaak one days journey from
Iaffa and three days from Jerusalem.
The permission of the Sultan having
)een obtained, Professor Scllin started
or Palestine again with the necessary
equipment, and after some little diff
eulty with the people of the locality
Jegan his excavations on March Q, en-
Dloying as many as 100 workmen
Under the mound no fewer than four
castles or fortresses were discovered.
In the middle were the ruins of an
Arabian castle; on the east a castle
IF the period of King Solomon; en- the
northwest one of q late Israelite pc
lod; while on the west was found the
earliest of them alone of pre- Israel
tie or Canaante date. All the castles
had been plundered before they were
destroyed. so that no valuablcs were
found, but objects of stone and clay
and weapons were discovered, which
assist in fixing the approximate date
Of the various buildings. The Canaan
lite castle is the oldest. built of un-
hewn blocks of stone, which show no
marks of the chisel. Inside lay frag-
ments of images such as are mention
ed in the Bible and also number of
small ornaments made of stone and
narthenware, mostly representing bee
ties, scarabs and other insects and
bearing inscriptions. There, too, were
some rude weapons and vessels The
professor puts the date of this castle
at about 1000 years before Christ and
suggests that it was destroyed by the
Israelites, perhaps under Solomon, who
proceeded to build their own fortress.
Though this second building has also
suffered considerably, enough remains
to show that it belongs to the so-called
Solomon castles. In both, curiously
enough, were found idols, vessels and
other objects belonging to religious
rites, such as a sacrifcial pillar OF
stone, with an opening for libations, a
stone altar and-the most important
find of allan earthenware altar in the
form of a throne, adorned with cheru.
bin and lions
This is the only existing representa-
ton of cherubim of that date. They
appear as human heads, with lions
body and wings.
| The late Israelite castle appears to
have been a fortress only. The Ara.
bian castle shows more architectural
skill than the others in its arches, etc
and recalls the style of the period OF
Haroun-al- Vessels and lamps
were found and inscriptions of a re-
ligious character. Beneath the ruins
of all the castles human remains were
found buried with vessels bearing in
scriptions, while close to the Solomon
castle cemetery for children seems &c
have existed. Professor Sellin, accord
ing to the London Standard. describe;
the excavation Of the Canaanite castle
as his chief feat, for, though remains
of such castles have been previously
discovered by Englishmen, none hayc
hitherto been completely laid bare He
is of opinion that he will now be abb,
to draw a complete picture of III,
civilization of the Israelites and Ca
NANTES in Palestine. Most of the oh
jects found have been sent to the mu
scum in Constantinople, but efforts
will be made to bring some of them t