768 REPORT— 1902. 



of which refer to the wooden instrument and 7iot to its documentary successor. 

 Even the word tally itself, which is derived from the French word ' to cut a notch,' 

 is now taken to mean ' to agree, or balance amounts.' 



To-day tallies are used in some of the hopfields of Kent and Worcestershire ; 

 very extensively hy the bakers of Normandy and some other parts of France ; in 

 the vineyards of the valley of the Gironde ; and here and there by farmers, game- 

 keepers, and wood-cutters in some of the rural districts of our own islands. 

 Naturally, too, they are found in various simple forms in use by the aborigines of 

 foreign countries, and the museums of the Continent contain many examples 

 from various deposits of prehistoric age. 



The specimens exhibited include : — Hop tally (and counters), Kent and Wor- 

 cester ; bakers', Normandy and Holland ; brewers'. Isle of Man and Berlin; snow, 

 Vienna ; fishing. Tain (N.B.) ; vineyard, Gironde (France) ; farmers' lamb, Wor- 

 cester ; gamekeepers' and faggot-makers', Norfolk ; curling, Scotland ; journey, 

 Blantyre (B.C. Africa) ; carters', Sussex and Worcester ; labour, Beauly (N.B.). 



5. Beijori on the Age of Stone, Circles. — See Reports, p. 455. 



6. Freliminary Note on a Prehistoric Cemetery -cave in Palestine. 

 By R. A. Stewart Macalister, M.A. 



In the excavation at present in progress on behalf of the Palestine Exploration 

 Fund at the site of the ancient city of Gezer an important discovery has just been 

 made. Overlaid by debris, which may tentatively be dated about 2000 B.C., the 

 mouth of a cave about 30 feet long was found. This cave proved to have been 

 artificially cut out to serve the purpose of a crematorium. The floor was strewn, in 

 some cases thickly covered, with the remains of human bodies, which had been 

 burnt where they lay. A chimney was cut in the rock to provide the draught 

 necessary for the fire. At a later time the cave was again used, this time for the 

 interment of unburnt bodies, many of which were scattered (in a contracted posi- 

 tion) over the floor, a few being deposited in enclosures separated by rude walls 

 from the rest of the cave. 



Large numbers of food-vessels, of early types, were found associated with both 

 etrata of remains. 



The bones were examined by Professor A. Macalister. They are so broken and 

 injured that satisfactory measurements of a few only could be made. However, 

 they are distinguished into two well-marked types. 



The burnt bones are those of people of slender build, and small but not dwarfish 

 stature — none over 5 feet 7 inches, most under 5 feet 4 inches. Limbs slender 

 but muscular ; no perforated humeri, a few slightly platycnemic tibiae, a few platy- 

 meric, but no pilastered femora. Cranial shape an elongated oval, fairly well 

 arched longitudinally, but rather flat-sided, with length-breadth index about 72 to 

 75. Skull bones thick and heavy. 



The unburnt bones belong to a taller race — average height 5 feet 6 inches 

 '(maximum 5 feet 11 inches) in males, 5 feet 4 inches in females. Limbs stronger 

 and larger-boned, platycnemic tibiae, pilastered femora. Squatting facets on leg 

 joints well developed. Skidls larger, of thinner bones, pentagonoid both when 

 viewed from above and from behind. Length-breadth index about 78. 



This is the first discovery yet made of bones belonging to the pre-Israelite 

 inhabitants of Palestine. The unburnt bones belong apparently to the earliest 

 Semite stock, their predecessors to a pre-Semite and possibly aboriginal race. 



A full account of this discovery, with illustrations, appears in the ' Quarterly 

 Statement ' of the Palestine Exploration Fund for October 1902. 



