The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-02-14
USE AIRPLAME TO
SEEK old CITIES
Professor MaGLean of Rochester
University Finds Outline of
Anc ent Irrigation Canal.
IMPORTANT DISCOVERY MADE
British Pilot Finds Location of Two
Lost Cities of Opis and Sitace-
May Push Back History
Another Age.

New Haven. Conn.-Lost cities of
ancient civilizations. buried for thou
sands of years beneath the shifting
sands of Egypt, Mesopotamia and
Arabia. Will soon be located through
the use of a%irplanes, according to Prof
r. A. MacLean of Rochester univer
sity, late staff officer with the British
troops in Persia, who discussed this
problem before the Archaeological In
stitute of America.
The ar~cheOlogist. circling about
some 1000 feet in the air. with a clear
sweep of vision for 20 miles in all di-
rections. can make u certain continu-
Gus lines of depression. indicating an
cient irrigation channels, with mounds
strewn along these lines indicating
buried cities.
Ordinary surveys could v reveal
this because of the great distances
covered by them. Under the very
ground on which countless caravans
have passed for more than 5000 years
and where even scientific expeditions
may have pitched their camps for the
night. lie cities whose contents may
push back history another age. whose
wealth in gold, silver and precious
stones may far surpass anything I'M
earthed wen in Egypt.
May Find Lost Cities.
An important discovery has already
been made by a British pilot, involv-
ing possibly the definite location of
the lost cities of Ops and Sitace-
the famous centers of ancient culture
and wealth described by XenophoD
$500 years ago, but heard Of
since. The pilot operating last sum-
mer in Mesopotamia noticed while on
his numerous air "Reminiscences what
appeared to be a long natural delign-
ment covering many miles.
This depression branched off from
the Tigris river at Bagdad, ran south
a bit, and then curved gradually back
to the river, finally running into 1t
at Samarra. Along this depression
were many mounds-appearing from
above as mere discolOrations. Major
Beaseley, commanding the air post
there, and an enthusiastic a~rcheologist
himself, when told of this passed the
news on to Professor MacLean, and a
series of flights were at once ar
ranged.
On these air surveys, Professor Mac
Lean was astonished to find unmistak-
able signs of an old channel. which
parted from the present Tigris river
channel at Samarra and ran a south
erly course for a full 100 miles before
rejoining the present channel at Bag
dad. The importance of this discov-
cry was at once apparent to Professor
MacLean, for it was a graphic indica-
ton that the ancient Tigris had run
through a different channel some if
teen miles south of the present one
and that the sites of ancient cities,
so carefully marked out by scientists,
who based their calculations on the
present channel of the Tigris, were
actually 10 miles south Of where they
were supposed to be.
Ancient Chain of Cities.
In support of his discovery, Profess
sor MacLean points to the many
mounds strewn along the line of this
old channel, indicating the ancient
chain of cities once fiourishing on the
banks of the Tigris. Some of che
most important cities of ancient
times, including Ops. Sitace and
Eski, Bagdad, with many still more
primitive towns, have thus passed
unnoticed while scientists were busy
exploring the banks of the present
Tigris.
Another surprising discovery was
that of the ancient irrigation system,
noted in the ancient chronicles, but
never reconstructed. From the air
Professor MacLean and Major Bease-
ley have been able to chart out en-
tire systems of irrigation streams and
bitches by simply sketching the lines
of depression and d~iscoloration. The
results show a very unusual system
of irrigation, closely resembling the
skeleton of a bony fish, with the main
ditch as the spinal column, and the
local bitches as ribs and small bones