18
January 1929
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
Archeological F ind ings at K irjath-Sepher B y D r . P aul G. C ulley
GREAT experience it has been to live in the thoughts of ancient days, and among people who are not far removed from ancient life and cus toms. We have lived for two months in southern Palestine, roughly equidistant from Hebron and Beersheba, and about six miles west of the high way between those cities. Although easily located on the map, our approach by automobile is more difficult, requir ing a drive of about sixty miles. No wonder they reported cities “walled up to heaven,” for the remains of ancient cities are always on a high hill,
Dr. Smith’s work remains the standard, although many identifications are faulty, according to Palestinian scholars of today. Once a thing is in print, however, and especially on the map, it is exceedingly difficult to change; another generation will doubtless pass before Kirjath-sepher, or Debir, is located correctly by cartographers. The damag ing failure of Daheriyeh as the correct site, is that there are no remains of civilizations earlier than Roman. Obviously our Canaanite and Jewish cities must have been elsewhere, for ruins do not disappear in the Orient. In prospecting about the country, Dr. Albright (Direc tor of the American School of Oriental Research, Jerusa lem) was always on watch for mounds of ancient cities.
a n d we ourselves fre quently awoke in early April to find light clouds about us. We are lo cated at the edge of the mountains a m o n g t h e lower hills, but still a good distance from the plain of a Philistia west and the great desert south. All supplies must be brought from Jerusalem. The peo ple of this country are semi-Bedouiu, and mostly troglodites, for they live in their village two or three winter months, and spend most of the year
Some years ago he discovered Tell Beit Mir- sim, and immediately suspected that either it or a similar mound, eight miles further south, was Kirjath-sepher. Gradually all the data began to indicate, beyond reasonable doubt, that this was the site, and as soon as excava tions revealed the nature of the stratification,
the identification was com plete. Dr. Kyle (Presi dent of Xenia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, and Chief of these operations) detailed the eleven fea- t u r e s of identification necessary to satisfy our only guide-book, in the complete r e p o r t of the first expedition (1926) given in the Bibliotheca Sacra, early in the follow ing year. The salient points are its location in
Mapping t h e ancient Jewish city. Chariot street on the left. House floors always lower than the street, for they swept out the houses, but didn't sweep out the streets. Probably a second story of wood or brick was destroyed in the fire.
This drawing shows the stela found in a house of the great Canaanite city, (about 1700 B. C.) . The worship of the serpent had evidently come into their cult.
near their fields and herds, taking domicile in the best of the countless caves. A few wealthy men may live in tents, instead of caves. A little further south, in the desert, everybody lives in tents, for there are no caves. The city which I want you to visit with me is ancient Kirjath-sepher (Joshua 15 and Judges 1). Our only guide-book is the Bible, and the place is of minor impor tance historically. But we have an unparalleled oppor tunity here to learn, with comparative ease, and in a short time, much about the life of ancient days. The hill on which this city stood, or rather the succession of six cities, has been waiting, untroubled for 2500 years, to tell us its history. It is truly an archeologist’s prize; there has been nothing deposited on the ruins left by Nebuchadnezzar, except enough soil to support a meager crop of wheat or lentils. The successive civilizations of Maccabean, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arabic, and Crusader times have not so much as disturbed a single wall, and only an occasional coin or broken vessel, perhaps dropped by plowman or reaper, gives any hint of the passage of two and a half millenniums. How did one know that this ruin was Kirjath-sepher? For many years the maps of ancient Palestine have showed Debir (Kirjath-sepher) at the site of the modern village of Daheriyeh. This has been in accordance with the iden tification by Professor George Adam Smith, and so pub lished in his Historical Geography. The fancied resem blance between the names Debir and Daheriyeh has not much to support it.
General view of the excavation. Stone vats In foreground are from dyeing house of lost Jewish city. The men are working deeper, in the .fourth city from the top. The great Canaanite city of 1700 B. C., contemporaneous with the Patriarchs.
■ the hill country of south ern Judah (the only point satisfied by Daheriyeh) ; its prominence for fortification; the water supply, “upper and nether springs” of Joshua 15:19 and Judges 1:15 (it is by the springs of Palestine that many identifications are possible; “changeable as water” is no adage h e re ); and, most important, the stratification showing civilizations of Israelite and Canaanite times, with successive destructions corresponding to the Biblical record. In 1926 Dr. Kyle and Dr. Albright directed the first campaign, and found their expectations surpassed in the opening up of the mound. The identification was com pleted, and some idea was gained of the life of the people. The engineering and building skill, especially of the Ca- naanites, was marked. A weaving and dyeing factory of Jewish times was found. A system of standard weights, found in the “tower of the gate,” gave insight into the advanced trade and established government of the times. The second campaign was planned with enthusiasm. On the staff, in addition to Drs. Kyle and Albright and myself, were Professor Robert Montgomery of Pitts burgh; Dr. Aage Schmidt, Danish archeologist, who has been investigating the site of Shiloh; and William Gad, an Egyptian Copt, who was surveyor and draftsman for the expedition. Two Egyptian foremen were imported, and
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