BIBLICAL DAYS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 62, 15 March 1933, Page 16

BIBLICAL DAYS

SEARCH FOR LIGHT

LACHISH EXCAVATIONS

WHERE JOSHUA FOUGHT

Biblical archaeologists arc taking , exceptional interest in excavations which have- just begun at Tell Duweir, 'in South Palestine. Thia is believed to i be the site of the great city of Lachish, one of the most strongly fortified in. I ancient Palestine, and one which played an outstanding part in the great : wars and campaigns of Bible times, says the London "Observer." If the identification is confirmed, a flood of new light will be thrown on a particularly interesting period of Biblical history and further evidence obtained to confirm the accuracy of the Bible as a historical narrative. The excavations are being carried out by the Wellcome Historical Museum Expedition and the Colt Archaeological Expedition. Mr. J. L. Starkey, who has worked in Palestine for several seasons With Sir Flinders Petrie, is director, and with him are Mr. H. Dunscombe Colt, Mr. Lankester Harding, and several specialists on different branches of archaeological study. The first report irom the expedition has just reached London, and Mr. Starkey expresses himself well pleased with the preliminary investigations. Owing to the isolated position of Tell Duweir and the threat that the Jerusalem and Hebron roads may become j impassable by floods it has been necessary to secure a means of escape by cutting a new road for several miles across j the desert to join up with the Beit Jibrin-Gaza road. The excavation of the Tell has now been begun in earnest and ancient cutj tings were found at once. The first was. ja. well, which is being cleared, and I slightly to the north a large rectangular j cutting was struck, which is apparently I a tomb chamber. TOMBS DISCOVERED. Five large tombs have also been found, the roofs of which have collapsed or been weathered away. As these have not been cleared yet, they cannot h" dated, but from tho evidence afforded Iby undisturbed, stratified remains in the soil covering them, for instance, the foundations of Byzantine dwellings— below which were found undisturbed pottery of middle Iron Age, they may well prove to be early. J The Tell is situated on a projectiug j limestone ridge; on. three sides it is steeply scarped, with ruins of stone revetments capping the upper levels. Traces of a sloping approach giving access to a stone gateway are to be seen near the south-west corner, flanked by a mount of stones, probably the ruins of a fortified tower. Several courses of fine masonry work mark the position of a large building at the highest point of the Tell. Surface pottery ranges in date from circa GoO B.C. to early Amorite, with abundance of early Iron. Age sherds. Tho basis of a great bastion to. the south of the west side of the city has been partially cleared, and Mr. Starkey considers that this undoubtedly held the constructions of the city gates. YEARS OF LABOUR. This is the first time Tell Duweir has been excavated, and several years will bo needed to complete the work. The site is extensive, the top covering some- eighteen acres and the base about thirty-nine acres. Laehish was one of the most importI ant cities of ancient Palestine and a great deal is known about it from historical records. It is mentioned many timeg in the Bible, in the Tell el Aniarna letters, and also in the Assyrian records of the campaigns of Sennacherib. Since 1878 several tentative suggestions have been made regarding the site, and it is only quite recently that authorities have come to any measure of agreement. In the Tell el Amarna letters Lachish is mentioned six times. These tablets date ' roughly between 1450 B.C. and 1375 B.C.—a period which covers the end of tho reign of Ameuophis 111 and that of Akhenaton. The tone of the correspondence is consistent throughout; it is clear enough that the governors of the king's towns in Palestine and Syria are hard put to it to pay their troops and keep order in restless communities which are sufficiently dissatisfied to join the Habiru, who are over-running the feebly-govern-ed Egyptian Empire. The cry for fresh supplies and troops and the news of conspiracy and revolt goes up to a heedless monarch from all his subjects; Lachish is obviously in the centre of the disaffected area. The city was also captured by Joshua, and the account of Joshua's campaigns in the Bible tells how, after the fall of Ai, five kings of the Amorites formed a league against. Joshua, bat were defeated by him and hanged at Makkedah, amongst them Japhia, King of Lac high. ORGANISED DEFENCE. . It is interesting to note that in contrast to the earlier (?) invasion of Habiru, the ruler of L,aehish is now described as king and not as prince as in the Amarna tablets. An organised local defence was attempted against Joshua, whereas when faced by the Habiru attack, Lachish thought only of outside help from Egypt. Joshua x, 32, contains a definite state-, ment that Joshua took Lachish on the second day. Most other cities were taken after one day's attack, and this gives the first glimpse of that strength of position for which Lachish was afterwards remarkable. Rehoboam is stated to have fortified Lachish. The text (II Chron. si, 9) reads that "ho built cities for defense in Judah," ajid these numbered fifteen in all. Only Lachish and Azekah, as well as Jerusalem, remained strong onough to . defy Nebuchadnezzar, 350 years later. The Book of Isaiah is dated 750-695 8.C., so that the account in it of Sennacherib's campaign, which ig accepted as occurring in 701 8.C., is. a contemporary one. There are further accounts in II Kings and II Chronicles. ' There is, however, no statement either in the Bible or in Josephus that the town was actually taken. ■ • From Assyrian records the account of Sennacherib's campaign in Palestine also testified to the great strength of Lachish. On the Taylor Prism in tho British Museum is Sennacherib's own official account of the campaign. Probably of even greater interest, however, are the great bas reliefs of Sennacherib's siege of Laehish, which were found in his Palace of Kouyinjik in 1850. They are now in the Assyrian Gallery of the British Museum.

The fortifications of the city are shown capping the flat top of a large mound with steep escarpments. The main ramparts follow a common line from the centre to the western extremity of the mound, where they step down and a second and. lower wall is shown. The walls are strengthened at intervals by towers, pierced in some cases by small barred windows. Erected on the overhanging parapet of each tower was a wooden balustrading.