PALESTINE EXPLORATION — GRANT. 545 



before his mention at Askalon, commemorating the fact that at a 

 certain morning hour in April, 65 A. D., the group had heard Mem- 

 non salute the Dawn. (Hogarth, as reported in P. E. F. Q., July, 

 1921, p. 132.) 



The humblest and yet the surest aid to the historian so far has been 

 the study of the domestic pottery scattered over and through the heap. 

 Experience has taught explorers in Palestine that each successive 

 layer in a mound, representing a corresponding period of life in the 

 olden days, is best labelled by its most common brand of clay pottery 

 fragments. From the earliest population of a site to its latest in- 

 habitants, the quantity of rare, strange types of vases, cups, jars, 

 bowls, etc., used by housewives will be vastly outweighed by a char- 

 acteristic type of clay vessel most in vogue at any given cultural 

 period. Due to this fact it has been found possible to make a ladder 

 scale of pottery types from earliest times to the latest occupation. 

 Askalon has shown in unusual completeness the possibilities of such 

 a pottery scale, which stands as a test of the various layers of relics 

 turned up, whether these be walls, art objects, or implements. Mr. 

 Phythian-Adams has gone most carefully into the question of the 

 stratification of the debris at Askalon. Six trial sections were cut 

 into the old city. One of the sections proved to be what was sought, 

 an undisturbed succession of occupational strata. This cutting ran 

 through 10 meters of debris and affords a table of contents, more or 

 less, of 2,500 years of Askalon. The excavator has been able to put 

 his finger on the layer in the pile which actually belongs to the Philis- 

 tines. This measures about 2 meters and indicates successive Philis- 

 tine occupations, the variation of which from each other is illus- 

 trated by finding the remains of a house, latterly of brick, but stand- 

 ing on foundations of stone. 



Most of the surface at Askalon has been plotted in numbered fields 

 in anticipation of systematic excavation. There are nearly 200 of 

 these. In field 61 a statue of Fortune lay already exposed and 

 another statue, of Victory, was soon uncovered. The ruins of a 

 large marble building after the Corinthian order were cleared, and 

 another statue, called tentatively "Peace", holding a palm branch, 

 along with the lower half of a life-sized Apollo, came to view. 



The work, interrupted through the winter months, was resumed 

 early in April, 1921. Fifteen expert Egyptians and about 130 com- 

 mon workers were employed. In field 61 the so-called Tycheion, or 

 Temple of Fortune, was excavated. It had been progressively en- 

 larged until it had a breadth of 30 meters. An interesting theater 

 abuts on it in the area numbered 67. Beyond this have been found 

 the lines of a temenos. The foundations of the large building reach 

 down to the Philistine level. The peristyle alone has a length of 

 77 meters, besides the portico and an apse running southwards. At 



