IN PALESTINE IN RELATION TO THE BIBLE. 237 



thereof at tlie cost of (the life of) Segub his youngest 

 (I Kings xvi, 34). 



Mention must also be made of the two curious altars found 

 at TcCanuk. The first was a rock-cut altar for libations going 

 back to about 2000 B.C., found at the bottom of the earliest 

 stratum. The other is an extraordinary terra-cotta altar of 

 incense found in fragments in the topmost stratum. It must 

 date about 700 B.C. The altar has one " horn " surviving on the 

 right side, and up its side alternately three animals witli human 

 heads and two lions ; the paws of the lions rest on the heads 

 below. The human heads are of a type analogous to very early 

 Greek, and the altar is evidently a product of Hellenic influence 

 if not an actual importation. 



(h) The liglit throiiii hi/ the excavations on the condition of 

 culture in Palestine in Old Testament times. 



The excavations at Gezer show that that city had at least 

 three independent walls at different periods. Of these the 

 earliest was a rampart of earth faced inside and outside with 

 stones ; it was founded upon the original rock surface of the 

 hill, the whole summit of whicli it enclosed. So primitive a 

 work must have belonged to the earliest inhabitants ; it 

 represents a very low state of civilisation. AVith a good deal of 

 confidence this structure may be assigned to a date earlier than 

 3000 B.C. 



Inside this is a well-built wall enclosing the whole hill. It 

 is much ruined, and in many places has been used as a quarry by 

 later builders, but its original thickness must have been about 

 14 feet ; it appears to have had long narrow towers of short 

 projection at intervals of 90 feet on its course ; the masonry, 

 where unruined, is very good. At one point on the south side 

 a massive brick gateway with a passage entrance 9 feet wide 

 and 42 feet long was found. Two massive towers, about 28 feet 

 long and standing still to the height of 16 feet, flanked the 

 entrance. The passage way was pa^'ed with stones and a step 

 at the inner end is still polished by the tread of feet. At the 

 X.W. corner the remains of another gate — now much destroyed 

 — were found. The southern gate affords important indi- 

 cations for dating this second wall. The great brick gate- 

 way after falling into ruins became covered with houses, and the 

 new wall of the succeeding age was constructed further out. 

 Xow the stratum of city ahove the ruined gate can be certainly 

 dated, because every datable object goes back to Amenhotep III. 



