404 HITTITES IN AFRICA. 



lar in appearance to small grotesque bronze figures which are 

 found in Syria and Asia Minor, and are believed to be of Hittite 

 origin. 



In connection with the resemblance of a circular soapstont 

 object decorated with rings of knobs which was found at Zim 

 babwe, to a similar object found at Paphos in Cyprus, it should 

 be noticed that Cyprus was not occupied by the Phoenicians unti' 

 a comparatively late date, and that so little were the earlie" 

 peoples of Cyprus under the influence of the Phoenicians^ tha; 

 they did not use the Phoenician alphabet, but invented a system 

 of writing of their own, based on the cuneiform characters of ths 

 Assyrians. 



The ruins of Rhodesia and the objects found there can be 

 paralleled by similar ruins and objects found throughout Syria, 

 Asia Minor and the islands and countries bordering on the Medi- 

 terranean, and it seems probable that it is in one of these countries 

 that we must seek the original home of the miners of ancient 

 times in South Africa. When we come to consider to which cf 

 these countries we must turn, we have the important fact that 

 the Hittites were the miners of ancient times, and supplied the 

 ancient world with most of the metals it required. They wer."; 

 the peoplfe who, learning perhaps that gold could be obtained Gn 

 the coasts of a certain country, would be likely to think of pene- 

 trating and exploring the country, with a view to discovering an6 

 exploiting the veins from which the gold was derived. Th"y 

 also, alone among all the peoples to whom they were related by 

 a common culture, had a powerful military organization, which 

 would enable them to occupy and hold a country so extensive is 

 was evidently at one time being exploited in South-East Africa, 

 and they alone, among the peoples of their time, seem likely co 

 have been able to send to the country experienced miners, suffi- 

 cient in numbers to carry on mining operations so extensive. 



In their own country the Hittites had trade routes guarded 

 by lines of posts through Syria and Asia Minor ; the great road 

 from the Euphrates to the ^gean Sea can be traced to this da^ in 

 some places where it passed over rock, by the two ruts made by 

 the chariots wheels in the solid rock, and dominating as they did 

 the tribes around them, had experience of the military occupation 

 of great stretches of country. 



The extent of the connection of the Hittites with the sea is 

 uncertain. There is a tradition that Lydia was at one time the 

 centre of a great maritime empire, and wild theories have been 

 put forward on the subject. But in any case, the Hittites gener- 

 ally dominated or were in alliance with the maritime peoples of 

 Syria and Asia Minor, and they also generally controlled or were 

 in alliance with the Amorites and other Semitic tribes of Southern 

 Palestine. It is possible that if they came to South-East Africa, 

 they came in Phoenician ships, in the same way as we find in 

 later times, the Phoenician navy at the command of the Persian 

 King. 



As it has been so frequently suggested that the mining in 

 ancient times in South Africa was the work of Phoenicians. 1 

 ought perhaps to explain why it is that I think that the activities 



