440 ANNUAL REPORT! SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1919. 
Bostra and Jerash, across the Jordan, which tell the same story. 
And these lands have yielded a great wealth of inscriptions, Greek 
and Latin, and also Semitic, Nabataean, Palmyrene, and early Arabic. 
In the line of actual excavation a goodly number of sites has al- 
ready been broached in Palestine itself. The most extensive of these 
excavations is that of the British at Gezer, an ancient site on the 
border between Judah and Philistia. In the same region Lachish has 
been partly excavated, and some work done at such points as the bib- 
lical Gath and Beth-Shemesh. The very ancient city of Jericho has 
been in large part excavated by a German expedition. In the north, 
on the border of the Plain of Jezreel, or Esdraelon, the Austrians 
and Germans have accomplished good results at the biblical Megiddo 
and Taanach. The Germans were also beginning to excavate the 
ancient Shechem just before the war. The American excavations 
at Samaria have already been named. Thus a good deal has been 
accomplished, but the archeologist can regard these results only as 
first fruits, which stimulate his relish for more. Palestine is covered 
with the mounds of ancient cities, many of them identifiable as im- 
portant in biblical history, which only await the spade to bring in 
a vast enlargement and rectification of biblical and oriental history. 
The present would seem to be particularly the opportunity for 
American interest in biblical and oriental archeology to step in and 
preempt this rich field. Europe appears to be exhausted asa result 
of the Great War, but it is not out of the spirit of taking advantage 
of our neighbors’ plight that we should take up this cause. Rather, 
it is because we should realize that the duty which has been mostly 
shouldered by the Europeans should be accepted by us as our duty. 
For since, in any case, we share in the benefits of the work, we should 
take our part in doing it. 
There is an American institution which is prepared to act in this 
field if properly supported by American enterprise. This is the 
American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem. It was estab- 
lished 20 years ago, and has had an honorable and useful history in 
its life so far. It has served primarily as a school for American 
scholars and students, giving them an opportunity for studying Pal- 
estine on the spot and under scientific direction. Each year some 
American scholar has gone out as director, accompanied by a small 
band of younger students, and by their experience and studies they 
have greatly vivified biblical and oriental learning at home. The 
school has not possessed the funds for intensive exploration, still 
less for the very expensive job of excavation, so it has not been able 
to make appeal through any spectacular results. But it is counting, 
especially now, upon a much larger support from America, so that 
it can be the center and exchange for American archeological enter- 
