JuLy 4, 1912] 
NATURE 
451 
PROF. GARSTANG’S EXCAVATIONS IN 
NORTHERN SYRIA AND IN THE SUDAN. 
i 
HE Hittite site of Sakje-Geuzi has already 
been described, both in this journal and in 
the Liverpool Annals of Archaeology for 1908. 
Some five or six large mounds are disposed in the 
form of a rough circle, and in the centre of these 
is a smaller one, which has proved to be the site 
of a royal residence. Work was begun in Sep- 
tember, 1911, on the largest of them, called Son- 
grus Eyuk. This, like others which have been 
examined, proved to be almost wholly artificial— 
the accumulation of ruined houses and débris. It 
rises to the height of 160 ft. above the plain, and 
is about 600 ft. by 500 ft. in greatest length and 
breadth, though the general appearance of its 
surface is more elongated than these figures 
suggest. 
In the surface of the mound there were found 
some well-built fortifications, presumably of Sel- 
eucid origin. It was not until a depth of about 
20 ft. was reached that traces of the Hittite occu- 
pation came to view. At 28 ft. the foundations of 
Hittite houses were laid bare, seemingly those of 
the latest Hittite period, being just previous to some 
dated objects of the twenty-sixth Egyptian dynasty. 
Hittite traces continued all the way down to a depth 
of 4o ft. A recognisable eighteenth dynasty object 
provided the much-wanted starting point for the 
dating of Hittite materials. It was not considered 
practicable to drive the sounding trenches to a 
deeper level; but around the slope of the mound 
examination disclosed the extensive fortification 
walls that had surrounded it at various periods, 
and three of these walls were of Hittite origin. 
That which corresponded to the eighteenth dynasty 
was double, like the main walls at the neighbouring 
royal site of Sinjerli. The entrance, at all times, 
seems to have been from the south, where the 
slope of the mound is less steep than elsewhere. 
Plans of the gate defences were obtained. Some 
instructive small objects were found in this ex- 
cavation, including several seals and numbers of 
Syro-Hittite vases, some of familiar character, and 
others decorated in Hittite style. A terra-cotta 
Attis-head in “Phrygian hat” was rather striking, 
but probably post-Hittite. 
The smaller mound, Jobba Eyuk, is also entirely 
artificial, but it rises only some 10 metres above 
the plain, and, unlike Songrus, it bore little trace 
of occupation in modern times. There were, how- 
ever, a number of early and late Roman buildings, 
which interfered with the complete recovery of the 
original Hittite plan. The main wall, which is 
presumed to date from the ninth or tenth century, 
B.C., was generally 3 metres in thickness, with 
characteristic external buttresses at frequent inter- 
vals projecting a further metre. The form of the 
enclosure was generally quadrangular, 130 metres 
by 1oo. There was apparently only one main 
entrance, in the middle of the south-western wall. 
Here the excavators found the original position 
of that fine scene representing a royal lion-hunt, 
NO. 2227, VOL. 89] 
the original of which was removed to Berlin some 
time ago. The royal palace was situated in the 
north-eastern portion of the enclosure, and, hap- 
pily, the excavators have been able completely to 
recover its plan, together with that of the adjoin- 
ing portion along the western side. 
The palace portico, with its finely sculptured 
lion corner-stones and procession headed by the 
king, is already well known. It is being recon- 
i Ta te 
Bottom of a cutting in Jobba Eyuk, north Syria, showing Neolithic houses 
and burial cists. 
stituted in facsimile in a new Hittite gallery in the 
Liverpool Public Museums. Passing beyond this, 
from the first hall there open out four doorways : 
that on the extreme right leads up, by a stairway 
of decorated stone slabs, to a room at a higher 
level; two doorways opposite give way to 
| chambers, which, in their turn, lead on to others 
| abutting on the outer wall. 
The fourth door to 
the left leads out of the main building to a cobble- 
