THE DISPERSE!* 201 



proved by the monuments of the Egyptians and the 

 Hittites. 1 



Palestine thus presents a prehistoric past parallel 

 with the earlier years of Egypt. It has, however, a 

 still earlier period, for in Palestine, as stated in a 

 previous chapter, we have evidence of the existence 

 of man long before the dispersion of the sons of 

 Noah. To appreciate this evidence, we must go 

 back, as in the case of Egypt, to the pre-human 

 period. All along the coast of Palestine, from Jaffa 

 to the northern limit of old Phoenicia, the geological 

 traveller sees evidence of a recent submergence, in 

 the occurrence of sandstone, gravel, and limestone 

 with shells and other marine remains of species still 

 living in the Mediterranean. These are the relics of 

 that pleistocene submergence already referred to, in 

 which the Nile valley was an arm of the sea and 

 Africa was an island. No evidence has been found 

 of the residence of man in Palestine in this period, 

 when, as the sea washed the very bases of the hills, 

 and the plains were under water, it was certainly not 

 very well suited to his abode. The climate was also 

 probably more severe than at present, and the glaciers 

 of Lebanon must have extended nearly to the sea. 



1 Bliss, in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration 

 Fund for April 1892, figures many interesting objects, found in the 

 lower or Amorite stratum of the mound of Tell-el-Hesy (Lachish). 

 We have here a bronze battle-axe and heads of javelins that may have 

 been used against the soldiers of Joshua, and axes and pottery of 

 equally early date, along with multitudes of flint flakes, arrow-heads, 

 &c., used at this early time. It is to be hoped that the further 

 exploration of this site may yield yet more interesting results. 



