SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— H. 591 



have no cultivation. They possess dogs and use them in hunting, which is their 

 only occupation. They hunt and eat practically all animals except the hyicna. They 

 are also fond of honey. They have nothing in the way of arts and crafts. They make 

 baskets, which form a medium of exchange with the Nandi, and with which they 

 buy their ironwork and tobacco. They make their own bows and arrow- and spear- 

 shafts. In dress they have adopted the Nandi style. Their social system is similar 

 to that of the Nandi. They have seven circumcision ages, with 10-year intervals, 

 forming a recurring cycle of 70 years. They have fewer clans than the Nandi, but the 

 same totems. Circumcision and clitoridectomy are practised. Free love exists, but 

 to a lesser degree than among the Nandi. They are polygamous when they can 

 support more than one wife. The price of a wife is paid in honey-wine and fur caps. 

 The dead are taken out for the hyaeuas. Such government as they have is in the 

 hands of a council of elders. Their religious ideas are not dissimilar from those of 

 the Nandi tribes. 



Miss M. A. Murray. — The Egyptian God of Death. 



The jackal-headed god, Anubis. The connection of Anubis with the horned viper. 

 The dying god and the god of death. 



Mr. H. Field. — The Field Museum Syrian Desert Expeditions, 1927-28. 



Afternoon. 

 Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie, F.R.S. — Southern Palestine. 



The survey of 1914 has opened up the seventy miles of ancient sites south of Gaza ; 

 among these forty cities are recorded, and half of them can be identified with the 

 modem names. For historical purposes and dating this region is the best, as haying 

 many links with the known history of Egypt. In the past two winters the British 

 School of Egypt has moved into this region to carry on the knowledge of Egyptian 

 products into Palestine archaeology. The first site searched was at Gerar, where an 

 acre was cleared — about a third of the remaining city — through six rebuildings from 

 Thothmes III to Artaxerxes. On an average the successive c;ty levels were five feet 

 apart, and thus quite distinct. The site was also nearly flat, and with only a slight 

 difference of level in various parts. Thus it was an ideal place for discrimination of 

 styles. Plans of each city recorded the level of every wall, and distinctive lettering 

 for every chamber. Every object found — about 1500 — was drawn and registered by 

 the plans. A complete record is in this way preserved and published, while all the 

 successive buildings are now cleared away. A scale of pottery, beads, and brick-sizes 

 is thus formed for the study of other sites. 



The historical results : Eleven granaries for the Persian army were found, holding 

 enough to feed 35,000 men for two months ; probably at least as many more have been 

 destroyed by denudation ; the latest date for these would be 457 B.C., and beneath 

 one was an Attic vase not earlier than 460 B.C. Before the fort of Psameticus the 

 influence was Assyrian, about 700 B.C. ; and Western about 800 B.C. At 970 B.C. 

 there was an occupation by Central Asian people, probably headed by Sheshenk of 

 Susa : this appears to be part of the same migration which entered Asia Minor, and 

 passed on as the Etruscan colonisation of Italy. Cremation marks both movements. 

 Much gold was found of 1140 B.C., the age of gold abundance in Midian. Iron 

 furnaces and great tools are of 1100 and 1175 B.C. Some iron was wrought by 1350. 

 The use of iron chariots and furniture by 1100 is thus affirmed. The Philistines are 

 found bringing Western pottery by 1300, long before their defeat by Ramcses III. 

 They were planted in the midst of the corn growing districts, probably to collect 

 grain for export to Crete. The second year's work was at Beth-phelet, the home of 

 David's guard of Pelethites. This is a key position, only accessible on one side, and 

 commanding the only open water on the Egyptian road. The city has been examined 

 back to 1500 B.C. but deeper parts are not yet searched. The cemeteries show that 

 the richest age was that of Solomon ; though this was the poor end of Judea, its 

 products are better than those of Egypt or Babylon at that time. The cause of this 

 wealth was the possession of trade routes between east and west, through Mesopotamia 

 and the Red Sea. 



