480 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
It is indisputable that the presence of Phoenician masons’ marks at 
the foot of the great wall is proof of the antiquity of the structure ; 
but there are good reasons for doubting whether Solomon’s Temple 
enclosure can have extended so far south, while it is certain that 
similar characters would have been employed by native masons in 
the time of Herod the Great. 
The masonry of the east wall of the Sanctuary towards the north is, 
moreover, of a somewhat different character and material from that 
of the south-east angle, and is attributed by Colonel Warren to a later 
epoch ; yet, on this masonry also, red paint letters similar to those pre- 
viously mentioned were found on the foundation stones of the wall. 
There is, moreover, an indication of great value as to the date of the 
masonry yet to be noticed. The dressing of the stones is distinctive, 
and has not as yet been found elsewhere in Syria. An eight-toothed 
chisel was driven along the draft, and again used at right angles to 
its former direction, thus producing a regular criss-cross pattern on the 
surface of the stone. This dressing is found on each of the three 
ancient walls of the Haram, and on masonry of various degrees of 
finish, seeming to indicate a common period of execution for all the 
varieties of masonry, for it would be a bold assumption to suppose 
that the masons of Solomon used a chisel of exactly the same dimen- 
sions and number of teeth employed by Herod’s masons, considering 
that a lapse of time equal to that which separates the reigns of Alfred 
and Victoria occurred between the two building epochs in question. 
The criss-cross dressing is found on the voussoirs of the Tyropceon 
Bridge, which, as before explained, has been found leading westwards 
from the Sanctuary wall, and which is plainly attributable to the 
Herodian period, to which it would therefore seem all the masonry 
similarly dressed is most naturally assigned. 
The second type of masonry above the drafted stones has been 
attributed to Justinian by the same architectural authority above 
quoted, the Due du Vogue. Justinian is known to have erected 
splendid buildings on this site, and is the only builder between 
Herod and Omar who is historically recorded to have constructed 
anything on this side of Jerusalem. The architectural details 
accompanying the large smooth masonry in question are, moreover, 
identical in character with the style which is found throughout 
Syria in buildings of the fifth and sixth centuries, a.d. 
