The New York herald., 1922-05-07


is a battle story which is consid-
cred to be one of the most thrilling
in all literature 1t is the story, told in the
simple language of the Scriptures, which
is the most difficult of all writing, of how
King Saul and his sons went out at the
head of the Israelites to do battle with the
Philistnes on the Mount of Gilboa, in
Palestine
1t describes how Saul and his sons
were killed, and how, when the Israelites
had fled in disorder, the Philistines cut
off the heads of the King and his sons and
carried them to the nearby city of Beth
Shan. There they were nailed to the walls
of the citadel
American archaeologists have now sue
ceeded in penetrating through the dust,
the rubbish and the rebuilding of more
than three centuries to the very founda-
tions of these famous fortress walls. In a
few years they will have barred everything
that was left intact of the great structures
that stood in Beth-Shan in the days Of
Saul. If, as seems almost certain, the vic
inscription their account of the battle that
is known to history now only through the
Bible. the explorers will find and decipher
it, for every shovel of earth in hill now
sixty feet high is to be screened and
searched for relics.
This hill is outwardly all that remains
to-day of Beth-Shan. 1t rises above plain
surrounded by rolling hills in the valley
of Megiddo From its height may be
scanned the whole length of Mount Gilboa
and of the larger valley at it's foot, the most
famous battle ground in the world-the
field of Armageddon. Here more battles
have been fought than on any other spot
on earth. But the remarkable fact about
these battles is that most of them decided
wars some of which changed the course
of history.
The hill was the site of the citadel of
the city of Beth-Shan for known period
of three thousand years. One of the dis
coveries made by the American investiga-
tors is that 1t has held this place for
nearly four thousand years. Far down in
it's depths have been found proofs that the
place was occupied by large numbers of
people prior to 1900 B. C. Even at that
early date it was a large city--one of the
most important in Palestine. The tronch
which has reached this far into the secrets
of history has not yet struck the virgin
soil.
Dr. Clarence S. Fisher, curator of the
Egyptian section of the University Of Penn
sylvania Museum, is the archaeologist in
charge of this work. Throughout the world
he is noted for his discovery in Egypt of
the Palace of Merneptah and for his finds
in the tombs of Gizeh and Dendereh. He
was the first explorer to begin work in
Palestine after the successful termination
of the world war made that possible The
expedition which he had headed for eleven
years in Egypt was transferred to the site
of Beth-Shan, and excavations were started
in June of 1920
The official report of what was done dur
ing the five months in which it is possible
to work In that climate has just reached
this country, with photographs showing the
progress of the excavations Beth-Shan is
well below sea level. It's hot season starts
in late October, and then work by white
men s virtually impossible. Accordingly
the work of excavation there was discon-
tinued and resumed at Memphis, in Egypt.
IL will be taken up again in Palestine next
June.
When work was started on this famous
hill the explorers knew roughly that Beth
Shan had been occupied for longer con-
tinuous period than any other place in the
world. II was generally believed that 1t