PALESTINE EXPLORATION — GRANT. 547 



of pottery types. The Cypriote " wishbone " handle is there, belong- 

 ing to a bowl showing the ladder design with a brown decoration on 

 whitish-gray. "iEgean painted ware," " base-ring ware," and other 

 pottery from the Mediterranean and early Palestine are represented. 



By one of those curious twists or prejudices in historical usage 

 the word " Philistine " has come to mean " uncultured," though in 

 their own day the people named may have stood for the best in the 

 civilization of Canaan. So far as now known, they seem to have 

 been descendants of the Sea-raiders whom the Egyptians repulsed 

 by land and sea, scattering the remnants in Syria and Palestine. 

 This strain of westerners, Europeans of a sort, from the islands and 

 northern coasts of the Mediterranean, coming to the coasts of Syria- 

 Palestine possessed the skill of the sea and founded colonies on the 

 shore which never lost touch with the Cretan or iEgean pursuit of 

 seafaring. In the south, however, such folk would be driven inland 

 more surely, because of the inhospitable shore. In Palestine they 

 lived in a kind of Hanseatic League of trading cities in the sea plain. 

 Askalon was one of the few Palestine cities possessing a semblance of 

 a harbor. The line of Philistine cities extended from Beth Shean, 

 where Doctor Fisher is excavating, through the plain Esdraelon and 

 the maritime plain nearly to Egypt. 



The French, to whom Syria now pertains by mandate, have begun 

 work in Phenicia near Tyre. Work was undertaken at Tell Mashuk. 

 The site of ancient Dan will be available to American archeologists 

 as soon as they can procure the means to excavate there. To this 

 has been added as an American opportunity the site of old Dothan. 

 Capernaum has been undertaken by Pere Orfali. Thus it will be 

 seen that a systematic approach to the problems of history in Pales- 

 tine is under way, and none too soon, for projects of irrigation, 

 engineering, and modern improvement bid fair to disturb the records 

 of the soil before they can be properly interpreted. Plans for 

 draining Lake Huleh, the construction of reservoirs for irrigation, 

 light, and heating plants south of Galilee are already planned. 

 Human culture from the Stone Age to the time of the Crusades lies 

 in the palimpsest record of this wonderful land, which is in itself a 

 museum of human yearning and achievement. 



