Evening star., 1932-03-27

encountered the usual difficulties Of explorers
with the natives. First there was the question
Of land rights, which were settled by the Ameri-
can leasing the entire area from the owners
for a period of years. Then there was the
question of health, which was finally solved
by establishing permanent camp at some
altitude after the whole expedition was laid
low by malaria.
tale of 26 centuries of mankind in one
spot was to be unraveled. and it was no dig
and-run stunt, but an operation which would
take years. Labor gangs were formed, Egyp-
tian foremen imported and machinery installed.
couple of complete light railways were
purchased and laid to carry away the debris
which had to be moved shovelful by shovelful
from the entire mound that has a summit
area Of $4,000 square meters or approximately
Is acres, and is close to 200 feet high.
Nobody knows all that it contains. so
experts undertook the job with infinite care in
order that irreplaceable evidences and treasures
sought were not destroyed and thus lost in the
finding.
THE hill was built up layer by layer through
the ages" DR. Fisher said "It should be
obvious that the logical method Of determin-
ing the extent OF the respective remains of
each separate town level and obtaining as
complete record as possible of its character
is to reverse the process and strip of layer after
layer, beginning with the topmost or latest in
date.
THE task Is complicated by the fact that
instead of being nicely and evenly differen-
tiated like the layers of cake, the strata
rarely horizontal and never parallel Only
the first habitations clustered on the perhaps
nearly level original summit of the hill. Success
sive towns expanded over the edges, either
following the natural slopes or built on
artificial terraces Narrow vertical cutting
would never indicate the intricaces of such
constructives. The ideal way was to lay bare
the entire extent of each building period"
DR.. Fisher described how the whole mound
was laid out in squares, each carefully
numbered so that anything found In that
square would bear a corresponding tag and
how the records Of each discovery were kept
in document and photograph for posterity.
There never will be another mound of
Armageddon for man to dig. at least not in
the next 1000 years, for it takes that long to
make one. When this one is razed, the whole
area leveled of and prepared for cultivation
will be turned back to the natives to work.
for it was wonderfully fertile plain for many
centuries before and after Christ trod that
ground.
When we began actual digging squares
were assigned by lot to the work gangs" Dr.
Fisher said This was to prevent jealousy so
that if one gang got a square particularly rich
from the workman's point of view and full Of
antiques there would be ill feeling among
them no notion that a good square had been
picked out for a favorite gang Some Of these
workers believe we know exactly what each
square contains"
Not a single stone, bit of pottery, bone or
ash discovered by the diggers which might by
any conceivable possibility throw any light on
the past Is disturbed by the laborers until
experts are present. Mining for knowledge is
different from mining for gold There is al
ways more gold somewhere, but things might
be lost digging around Armaged6on that moth
ing and nobody can ever replace
That such care Is rewarded Is made clear by
DIR. Breasted in recitng how the famed stella
of Pharaoh Shishak. monument, was found