pre-Israelitish Palestine. As soon as the material
gathered is large enough to be thoroughly classified and critically
examined, a true history of early Palestine will be within measurable
distance. At present, there are five places whence the new evidence has
been obtained: 1. Tell-el-Hasy, generally identified with the Lachish of
the Old Testament. Excavations were made here in 1890-1892 by Flinders
Petrie and Bliss. 2. Gezer, plausibly identified with the Gezer of I
Kings ix. 16. Here R.A.S. Macalister began excavating in 1902. 3.
Tell-es-Safy, possibly the Gath of the Old Testament, 6 m. from
Eleutheropolis. Here F.J. Bliss and R.A.S. Macalister made some
discoveries in 1899-1900. A complete examination of the site, however,
was impossible. 4. Tell-el-Mutasellim, near Lejjun (Megiddo-Legio).
Schumacher began working here in 1903 for the German Palestine Society.
5. Taannek, on the south of the plain of Esdraelon. Here Prof. Ernst
Sellin of Vienna was able to do much in a short time (1902-1904). It may
be mentioned here that on the first of these sites a cuneiform tablet
belonging to the Amarna series was discovered; at Gezer, a deed of sale;
at Tell-el-Hasy the remains of a Babylonian stele, three seals, and
three cylinders with Babylonian mythological representations; at
Tell-el-Mutasellim, a seal bearing a Babylonian legend, and at Taannek,
twelve tablets and fragments of tablets were found near the fragments of
the terracotta box in which they were stored. It is a remarkable fact
that the kings or chiefs of the neighbourhood should have used
Babylonian cuneiform in their own official correspondence. But much
beside tablets has been found on these sites; primitive sanctuaries, for
instance. The splendid alignment of monoliths at Gezer is described in
detail in _P.E.F. Quart. Statement_, January 1903, p. 23, and July 1903,
p. 219. There is reason, as Macalister thinks, to believe that it is the
result of a gradual development, beginning with two small pillars, and
gradually enlarging by later additions. There is a smaller one at
Tell-es-Safy. The Semitic cult of sacred standing stones is thus proved
to be of great antiquity; Sellin's discoveries at Taannek and those of
Bliss at Tell-es-Safy fully confirm this. Rock-hewn altars have also
been found, illustrating the prohibition in Ex. xx. 25, 26, and numerous
jars with the skeletons of infants. We cannot doubt that the sacrificing
of children was practised on a large