298 



At the Ras of Beyrout the bed of red sand contain^ 

 no stones or other foreign bodies, except near the surface, 

 where it seems to have been disturbed and re-deposited by 

 the action of the rain-water ; but on its surface it holds small 

 stones, fragments of coarse pottery, and even of glass, and 

 flint flakes and implements, which are partly covered with 

 blown sand (PI. II.). Among the stones I found fragments of 

 vesicular trap, which may have been imported for millstones, 

 and a small piece of Egyptian granite. All these bodies are 

 mixed together, without anything to determine their relative 

 ages, and they are most abundant at the surface of the red 

 sand, and immediately under the drifted sand, or where it has 

 been removed by the wind. The flint flakes are much 

 whitened by weathering, and evidently of great antiquity, and 

 with them are many large and irregular flakes, probably 

 rejected as useless. A few spear and arrow heads have been 

 found at this place. I found only one fi^agment of a lance or 

 spear, but this had evidently been worked with some skill by 

 pressure on the edges, in the manner now employed by the 

 American Indians (PL I., Fig. 1). A small flake of obsidian, 

 with a rounded indentation at the edge, as if intended for use 

 as a hollow scraper, was also found, and may indicate the 

 importation of this material for the manufacture of implements. 



The fact that these flint implements occur along with 

 pottery and other city refuse, probably implies that they 

 belong to the historic period ; and the reason of their occur- 

 rence here may be that the place was occupied by native 

 tribes who came to trade with or to attack the Phoeniciau 

 colony ; or that it was resorted to by such people, because of 

 the abundance of good flint in the limestone near this place. 

 The deposit might thus seem to connect the time of the 

 foundation of the early Phoenician colony with that of the 

 later flint folk. It is, however, possible that an older deposit 

 of flints may have subsequently been buried with city refuse, 

 Avhich is still being carted out to this place ; or, on the other 

 hand, that the citizens of Bei'ytus may have continued to use 

 flint flakes and arrows at the same time with pottery, and 

 when they were building edifices of stone. 



A curious instance of this connexion was mentioned to me by 

 Mr. Sarruf, of the Beyrout College. He had found in a grave 

 in the Lebanon, lance-heads of bronze and copper, along with 

 flint flakes, thus showing the continued use of the latter after 

 the natives had obtained weapons of bronze. On the other 

 hand. Dr. Jessup, of the American Mission, has found, near 

 Tyre, ancient tombs excavated in the bone-breccias of older 

 pi'ehistoric caverns. 



