TEMPLE OF MOON GOD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 27, 3 February 1939, Page 2

TEMPLE OF MOON GOD

DISCOVERY BY WOMEN EXCAVATIONS IN ARABIA Three women explorers have returned from Arabia, where, after months of wandering in the Hadhramaut and digging in the eternal sands, they have discovered the Temple of the Moon God, Sin. They are Miss Gertrude Caton-Thompson, who has worked as an archaeologist in Egypt with Sir Flinders Petrie, Miss Freya Stark, who knows Southern Arabia like a book, and Miss Elinor Gardner. Telling the Royal Geographical Society about their travels, Miss CatonThompson described how they started work near the little town of Hureidha. They came across small rubble heaps, which proved to be traces of an old irrigation system. With a first reefuitment of six local men and four boys, soundings were made the following day and soon struck foundations of a large stone building. Thus was discovered the temple of the Moon God, Sin, the first of its kind recorded in Arabia, which provided the complete ground of a pagan , semetic sanctuary, over 50 dedicatory inscriptions and accessory details of baetyllis cult. The temple must have stood unprotected and conspicuous on a slight eminence overlooking in both directions the length of the level plain, then diligently watered and cultivated. Secular habitations on the plain around consisted of isolated farmsteads which now lie buried beneath the mounds. One was excavated by the three women and proved by the pottery to be contemporary with the temple. Two large tombs, hollowed out by hand in the sandstone, were also excavated, beads, trinkets, pots and a number of skulls being found there.