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164 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
Researches of the American School in
Palestine.
I. The Tombs of the Judges, and a Neighboring Tomb hith-
erto unexplored. 2. Investigations near the Damascus
Gate of Jerusalem. 3. The Inner Harbor of Joppa.
PROFESSOR GEORGE A. BARTON.
BRVN MAWR, PA.
Director of the School for tJie Year iqo2-iQ03.
i. The Tombs of the Judges.
DURING the first weeks in December, 1902, we had the op-
portunity of observing the clearing out of two tombs in the
interesting old necropolis north of Jerusalem. One of these is that
commonly called the Tombs of the Judges ; the other has not before
been explored and described, but is of similar structure, and prob-
ably dates from the same period. The tradition which connects the
Tombs of the Judges, called by the Jews the Tombs of the Seventy,
with the Sanhedrin is mentioned as early as 1537. 1
These tombs are on an estate which is a part of the property of an
insolvent bank ; and the receiver of the bank, Mr. Serapion J.
Murad, determined to explore the tombs, and gave us the privilege
of watching, and even at times of directing, the workmen.
Robinson gave a general description of the tomb and its different
apartments. After stating that "at the N.E. and S.W. corners of
the anteroom, a few steps lead down through the floor to a lower
apartment in each corner, of like form and dimensions," he con-
tinues : " It is not improbable that similar apartments may exist
under the other two corners of the anteroom, the entrances to
which are now covered with stones and rubbish." 2
1 See Carmoly, Itineraires de la Terre Sainte, pp. 430, 443, cf. 387.
2 Biblical Researches, 1841, I. 527 sq.; 2 ed., I. 356.
1 66 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
Tobler afterward gave the tomb a much more thorough examina-
tion. 3 He took exact measurements of all that could be measured
without excavation, but to him, as to Robinson, some of its problems
appeared insoluble. He remarks : " Ob im Nordwest- und Slidost-
winkel, wie in den andern zwei Winkeln der Kammer A, schutt-
bedeckte und darum verborgene Locher (Eingange) in ahnliche
tiefere Kammern sich noch vorfinden, kann nur frageweise angedeu-
tet werden." Tobler' s description has been regarded by more recent
archaeologists as sufficient, and in later literature one finds only
passing allusions to the Tombs of the Judges. In the English Sur-
vey of Western Palestine but a short paragraph is devoted to this
interesting sepulchre, 4 the explorers being apparently content to rest
upon Tobler's results.
As all the debris in the tomb was to be removed, we had high
hopes that Robinson's conjecture would prove to be correct, and
that we should come upon some chambers hitherto unknown. In
this, however, we were disappointed, for when the floor of room A
was entirely cleared, the rock at the southeast and northwest cor-
ners appeared to be entirely solid. No entrances to undiscovered
apartments had ever existed there.
In order to test Tobler's measurement, all the dimensions of the
different apartments, niches, and recesses were taken anew, and are
given below. Tobler's measurements are given in feet, while ours
were taken in metres and centimetres.
The present porch is 4.15 m. wide and 2.75 m. deep. It is partly
filled with earth, and its height is not known. Its appearance is
shown in PI. 1.
Room A. — West side, 5.66 m. ; south, 6.07 m. ; east, 5.69 m. ;
north, 5.95 m. ; height from floor to roof, 2.52 m. ; width of main
entrance at the outside, 0.76 m. ; on the inside, 1.01 m. ; thickness
of outer wall, 0.76 m.
On the north side of the room there are two tiers of niches {kukhn),
arranged as shown in PI. 3. The lower tier are cut directly into the
solid rock, and are seven in number. Their length varies from 1.98
m. to 2.20 m., their height from 0.81 m. to 0.90 m., and their width
from 0.47 m. to 0.62 m. Above these is a tier of three arched re-
cesses, each containing two niches. The length of the recesses varies
from 1.72 m. to 1.75 m. ; their greatest height from 1.20 m. to 1.24 m.,
3 Topographie von Jerusalem, 1854, II. 326-340. Tobler cites most of the
literature on the tombs which had been published before his time.
4 Jerusalem, p. 407.
barton: researches of American school in Palestine.
167
and their width from 0.73 m. to 0.79 m. The niches opening from
these are approximately of the same dimensions as those of the lower
tier. At the northwest corner there is a single niche running east and
west, which is of a very curious character. It is about 1.75 m. from
the floor of room A, and is reached by a step cut into the solid rock,
into the front of which a notch has been cut to receive a slab which
closed the entrance to this niche. The odd thing about this niche
is that two recesses (see a, Fig. 2) are cut from the solid rock on
its north side, as though for receiving water jars.
2. Plan of the Tombs of the Judges: Upper Level.
Room B. — On the east of room A is room B, entered from it
through a door 1.45 m. high and 0.48 m. wide. This room measures
on the west side, 2.30 m. ; on the north, 2.35 m. ; on the east,
2.25 m. ; and on the south, 2.25 m. The height in the middle is
1.82 m. Around the north, east, and west sides of the room runs
a bench cut from the solid rock, varying in width from 0.81 m. to
0.84 m. There are in this room twenty-one niches arranged in two
tiers. The lower tier consists of three on the north, east, and south
sides respectively, and the upper tier, of four on each of these sides.
These niches are of about the same dimensions as those in room A.
Room C. — From room A we pass by an entrance 1.40 m. high
and 0.49 m. wide, to room C. The north side of this room measures
2.45 m. ; the west, 2.48 m. ; the south, 2.44 m. ; the east, 2.53 m. ;
o
^^H
■^■■B
BARTON : RESEARCHES OF AMERICAN SCHOOL IN PALESTINE.
169
its height in the middle is 1.79 m. This room contains nine niches
of the same dimensions as those in the other rooms. They are on a
level with the floor, and are arranged three on the west, three on the
south, and. three on the east sides. Above each three, on these
sides, is an arched recess. The length of these varies from 2.25 m.
to 2.28 m., the width from 0.82 m. to 0.86 m., and the height at the
centre of the arch from 0.77 m. to 0.83 m.
Room D. — From the northeast corner of room A we descend
a little stair, 1.58 m. long and 0.65 m. wide, cut into the rock, and
pass by an opening 0.71 m. high and 0.42 m. wide, through a wall
0.78 m. thick, and step down 0.60 m. from the threshold into room
D. This room is in reality an antechamber to room E, and is so
treated by Tobler. The removal of the accumulated earth from the
4. Section of the Tombs of the Judges.
floor of this room revealed a sill cut out of the solid rock running
entirely around the room. This sill is approximately 0.30 m. high
and 0.30 m. wide, though like everything else about the tombs the
measurements vary, being slightly different on the different sides.
At the northeast and southeast corners posts of the same dimensions
as this sill rise to the roof. The dimensions of this room are as
follows: length, 1.84 m. ; width, 1.58 m. ; height, 1.52 m. Two
niches open from it, the one at the north end, and the other on the
west side near the northwest corner. They are of about the same
size as the others. From the south end a small opening, about the
size of the openings of the niches, leads into a chamber of roughly
cubic form, measuring in length 0.96 m., in width 0.76 m., in height
0.92 m., which was evidently used for depositing bones from the
ossuaries after the bodies had decayed and the ossuaries were
needed for the bones of those who had died later. (See plan of
Room D, PI. 5.)
170
JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
Room £. — From room D we pass by an opening 0.70 m. high and
0.42 m. wide, and descend two steps into room E. The sides of this
room measure respectively 3 m., 2.95 m., 2.955 m., and 2.96 m. ;
and its height 1.85 m. On the north, east, and south sides are three
arched recesses, 2.35 m. long, 0.75 m. wide, and 1.07 m. high. The
only niches in the room are in these recesses. Those on the north
and south sides contain four each, while that on the east contains
three that are let into the rock, and a fourth which is let into the
rock from the south end of the arched recess at right angles to these.
At the other end of this eastern recess a narrow passage, about the
height of the opening of the niches, leads to a chamber 1.15 m.
5. Plan of the Tombs of the Judges: Lower Level.
long, 0.85 m. wide, and 1.39 m. high. This chamber, like that which
led from room D, was used as a receptacle for old bones after they
had been emptied from the ossuaries.
Room F. — In the floor of room A, at the southwest corner, a
stairway, 1.35 m. long and 0.55 m. wide, descends to a small opening.
This opening admits one to a little cell on the left of which another
small opening brings one to some steps which conduct one to the
floor of room F, a chamber directly under room A. This chamber
is irregular in form (see plan, PI. 5), and was never finished. As
Tobler remarked, one can see here the method on which these
tombs were constructed. Its greatest length, east and west, is
4.75 m., and north and south, 4.14 m. An opening has been cut
from this through the floor into room A, as marked in the diagram
BARTON : RESEARCHES OF AMERICAN SCHOOL IN PALESTINE. 1 7 1
(PL 2). There is evidence that at some period this room was used
as a cistern.
It will be noticed that none of the apartments are quite square.
The workmen who constructed these chambers were guided largely
by the eye, and did not work by exact rule.
There are two chambers of different form from the niches, the pur-
pose of which seems not to have been apparent to Tobler. One is
connected with room D (x, PL 5), the other with room E (y, PL 5).
These chambers are not long enough to receive a sarcophagus and
are considerably higher than the niches. As Mr. R. A. Stuart Mac-
alister, of the Palestine Exploration Fund, who has made a consider-
able study of tombs, suggests, these chambers were used as receptacles
for bones, after the bodies had decayed. First the bodies seem to
have been placed in sarcophagi until the flesh had decayed and the
bones separated ; then the bones were placed in ossuaries that the
sarcophagi might be used for other bodies. As other members of
the families or kindred who used the tombs passed away, the sar-
cophagi and ossuaries were needed for them, and thus it happened
that after a few generations, the bones were thrown into these cham-
bers in an indiscriminate heap.
In our examination we noted a hitherto unobserved feature in the
original structure of the tomb. The former literature of the subject,
so far as it is known to me, nowhere makes mention of the fact
that a court, or outer porch, nearly ten metres in length and nine in
width, once existed in front of the tomb. The walls of this court
were formed on two sides, the east and south, by a scarp of the solid
rock, a little of which projected also on the west side (see PL 2).
The front was apparently approached through two or three arches,
the masonry of which was attached to the rock scarp at the southwest
corner of the court, where a bit of it still remains. In consequence
of this evidence that an arched front existed to this court, I conjecture
that a wall once ran along its north side (see dotted line, PL 2).
In the doorpost of the main entrance to room A is a notch cut to
receive a latch. This groove is so arranged that a door could swing
inward, and seems to indicate that the tomb was once used for a
dwelling. The fact that room F appears to have been used for a
cistern points in the same direction. It was probably at this period
that the opening in the floor of room A, just in front of the main
entrance and leading to room F, was cut. It was apparently made
for convenience in drawing water.
Since this tomb had been open so long, and had been used for
172 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
such varied purposes, we could not hope to discover in it many
antiquities. Fragments of sarcophagi and of ossuaries were found in
nearly all the niches. Some of these were ornamented. In one
or two of the niches a few bones were found, but they were too dis-
connected to have any significance. One or two Arabic coins, in-
scribed in Cufic characters, and a fragment of an Arabic lamp, were
also found.
By far the most interesting objects discovered were five rough bits
of stone on which modern Jews had written prayers to the ancient
worthies whose bodies were buried here, and had then cast them
into the various niches, evidently in the hope that the rabbi or judge
addressed would intercede for them with God. Mr. Murray, a mis-
sionary at Hebron, tells me that into certain holes in the wall of the
Haram there, Jews often cast letters addressed to Abraham, contain-
ing similar prayers.
Of these five stones, two were inscribed in the modern Jewish
script, one in the Judaeo-Spanish script, one in square Hebrew char-
acters, and one in Syriac characters. On all of them but one, mois-
ture had rendered some of the letters illegible. This one reads as
follows : 5 —
Yakhiye-Yakhiel, son of Yoseph — may he grow up to a prosperous life and to
peace, with male issue continually.
The Second Tomb.
A little to the south of the Tombs of the Judges, and slightly nearer
to the path which leads from Jerusalem to Nebi Samwll, is another
interesting tomb which has never before been described. Our atten-
tion was first called to it by Mr. R. A. Stuart Macalister, who dis-
covered it. This tomb had a wide entrance, which must have been
very imposing before the earth, brought down the slightly sloping
ground by the rains, had hidden it from view. When we approached
it, the tops of the pillars of this fine entrance were just visible. The
two corner posts and the two pillars of this entrance (see PL 6),
with their ornamentation, and the porch behind them, were cut out
of the solid rock. The earth, which had silted into the entrance
and filled the porch, was much less deep at the back or eastern
5 Mr. Feinstein, the second Dragoman of the American consulate in Jerusalem,
transliterated this for me from the modern Hebrew script.
c
H
o
174 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
side of the porch, than at the front, or western side. At the back
of this porch the top of a doorway into an inner chamber was
visible. By removing a little of this earth it was possible to enter
this chamber (see room A, PL 7). Into this room comparatively
little earth had silted and that only about the doorway. From it
three others opened, as shown on the accompanying plan (PL 7).
The interior of this tomb appeared to be quite clean. Two of its
rooms were never finished, and the others, if ever used, had been
so thoroughly cleaned out as to leave no trace of the fact.
We did not wholly clear out this tomb. A shaft was sunk between
the northwest doorpost and the pillar next to it, with the purpose of
ascertaining whether a sill or threshold had been cut out of the rock
at their base. No such sill or threshold was found. The pillars rest
upon the level rock-floor of the porch.
Both the corner posts and the pillars were ornamented at the top
with a simple ornamentation which is shown in PL 6. The southern
one of the two pillars is now broken away at the top, and its stump is
worn down to a level with the accumulated earth.
Shafts were also sunk at the two ends of the porch, to ascertain
whether there were rock chambers on the north or south, opening
out of this porch ; but no such chambers were found.
In the course of the digging one or two Arabic coins and two
lamps were found. One of these was of the simple type, supposed
to be the most primitive form of lamp in Palestine ; 6 the other was
an early Christian lamp bearing an inscription.
The dimensions of this tomb are as follows : length of the west
(front) side of the porch, 6.93 m. ; of east side, 7.23 m. ; width (i.e.
depth) at north end, 3.42 m.; at south end, 3.44 m. ; height of roof,
2.70 m. The pillars were 1 m. and 1.02 m. respectively from the
corner posts. The circumference of the pillar which is still intact is
1.2 1 m. From the porch, we pass through the east wall by an open-
ing 0.45 m. wide and 0.80 m. high into room A. The floor of room A
is about a metre below the floor of the porch. Its exact measure-
ment could not be ascertained without removing the earth which had
silted in through the entrance. The height of the roof of this room
from its floor varies from 2.29 m. to 3.03 m. Its west side measures
4.33 m. ; south side, 4.22 m. ; east side, 4.13 m. ; and north side,
4.27 m. This room contains neither niches nor arched recesses.
6 See Bliss, Mound of Many Cities, p. 87; and Excavations in Palestine, 1898-
1900, by F. G. Bliss, R. A. S. Macalister, and R. Wiinsch, London, 1902, PI. 20.
Lamps of this form are still used by the peasants in Palestine.
barton: researches of American school in Palestine. 175
Through the north wall of room A we pass by a doorway 0.54 m.
wide and 1.87 m. high and descend two steps to room B. This room
7. Second Tomb: Ground Plan.
measures, on the south side, 2.31m.; on the west, 2.30 m. ; on the
north, 2.70 m.; on the east, 2.37 m. ; and its height is 1.93 m. It is
only roughly finished, and no niches were cut in its walls.
yb. Cross Section.
Through the east wall of room A we pass by a doorway 0.47 m. wide
and 1.87 m. high and descend two steps to room C. This room
176 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
measures, on its west side, 2.29 m.; on its north, 2.41 m. ; on its
east, 2.44 m.; and on its south, 2,50 m. Its height is 2.04 m.
This room contains, on the north, south, and east sides respectively,
three arched recesses, two of which, those on the south and east
sides, are approximately 2 m. long, 0.55 m. wide, and 0.95 m. high at
the centre of the arch. That on the north side is 2.03 m. long, 0.25 m.
wide, and 0.60 m. high at the centre of the arch. Each of these is
about 1 m. from the floor. From each of these recesses there open
two niches, the width of which varies between 0.45 m. and 0.50 m. ;
the height between 0.75 m. and 0.78 m., and the length of which is
approximately 2 m. each.
Through the south wall of room A we pass by a door 1.47 m. high
and 0.50 m. wide into room D. This room is in as unfinished a state
as room F of the Tombs of the Judges. A large block of stone, which
had been broken from the wall of solid rock, lies on the floor.
Smaller fragments of stone are all about it, but this had not been
broken up to be carried out. The methods of these ancient tomb-
builders can easily be followed here. We tried to secure a photo-
graph of this rock and the wall from which it was broken, but the
small size of the room rendered our efforts unsuccessful. The room
is so unfinished that it is quite irregular in shape. Its dimensions
are as follows: east side, 1.85m.; south, 2.60m.; west, 2.70 m.;
north, 1.83 m. ; the height varies, but averages about 1.60 m.
This tomb was finely conceived, but was never finished. The
little ornamentation which may still be seen at the tops of the pil-
lars contains no work as fine as the delicate carving over the porch
of the Tombs of the Judges. It seems probable, however, that the
two tombs were constructed in the same general period of history.
In the immediate vicinity there are many other rock-cut tombs, but
if we except one described three years ago by Mr. Macalister, 7 none
are nearly as fine as the two described above.
2. Investigations near the Damascus Gate.
During the last weeks of the school year (1903), the owner of a
piece of land near the Damascus Gate was digging on his own ground,
with the object, as I think he said, of finding, if possible, an old cis-
tern. By his courtesy we were permitted to observe and report
upon the work. This piece of land is situated outside the wall, im-
mediately to the west of the Damascus Gate. It is bounded on the
7 See Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1900, pp. 54 sq.
barton: researches of American school in Palestine. 177
north by the road which runs from the Damascus Gate (Bab el- c Amud)
to the New Gate (Bab e Abdul-Hamid), parallel to the city wall; on
the east, the Damascus road bounds it ; on the south, the city walls ;
while on the west it is bounded by the tract of land on which the
discoveries reported by Dr. Selah Merrill in the Quarterly Statement
of the Palestine Exploration Fund, April, 1903, pp. 155 sq., were made
last year.
The length of the tract is about 140 yards. Its width varies
with the windings of the wall. The digging was begun here on April
22, and was continued with a small force till May 14. Most of
the excavation was made near the northwest corner of the tract.
I }En RUp i
8. Investigations near the Damascus Gate.
A, Damascus Gate; B, road to the north; C, road to the New Gate; aaa y trenches; bbb,
remains of stone piers; cc, wall of a peasant's dwelling; dd, northern terrace; e y eastern
trench.
Some months previous to the beginning of the work described here, a
shaft had been sunk about four metres from the wall which separates
this lot from the property adjoining on the west, and a piece of
masonry had been discovered. The owner of the land now deter-
mined to continue the work, in order to discover, if possible, the pur-
pose of this masonry. The original shaft was, therefore, gradually
extended into the trenches marked a a aaaa, in PL 8. The piece
of masonry first seen proved to be a pier, or the base of an arch,
which once formed a part of the crypt of a church or monastery. In
the course of the work two others were found east of the first.
These piers are marked bbb, in PL 8. They were once connected
by arches, of which they formed the bases. Portions of the arches
may still be seen (see PL 9). Between the eastern and middle piers
the trench was carried down to the native rock which underlies Jeru-
1 7 8
JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
salem, and it appeared that these foundations were laid on this native
rock. There was no older structure intervening between them and it.
These piers were constructed of two kinds of cut stone. In parts
of the structure which (when the building was intact) were not ex-
posed to view there were used stones with the drafted edges charac-
teristic of Jewish work of the Herodian period or earlier ; while the
face consisted entirely of stones smoothly hewn, the diagonal cutting
of which is characteristic of the work of the crusading period. (See
Pis. 11 and 12 for the two kinds of stone.) The front of this build-
ing was toward the
south.
It is probable from
the character of the
stones used in these
arches that the build-
ing to which they be-
longed was a part of
a Christian church or
monastery, in erecting
which stones from
some older structure
had been used. Can
we go farther and
determine what this
church or monastery
was ? MujIr-ed-Dln
(1496), in his list of
the gates of Jerusa-
lem, 8 mentions, between the Bab el- c Amud (Damascus Gate) and
the Bab ar-Rahbeh (St. Lazarus Postern), another gate, which he
calls Bab Deir es-Serb, or Gate of the Servian Convent. The
St. Lazarus Postern was a small gate which received its name from
its proximity to an important hospital. Le Strange places it to the
east of the present Franciscan Monastery. If this be the correct posi-
tion of the St. Lazarus Postern, and the Bab Deir es-Serb intervened
between it and the Damascus Gate, it is clear that the Bab Deir es-
Serb was very near the building the remains of which we have dis-
covered. This conclusion is also confirmed in another way. Mujir
9. Western Pier, from the Northeast.
8 See the quotations and discussion in Le Strange, Palestine under the Mos-
lems, pp. 212-217.
BARTON : RESEARCHES OF AMERICAN SCHOOL IN PALESTINE.
179
ed-Dln, as quoted by Le Strange, 9 says, in speaking of a certain quar-
ter of the city : " It has in it Saladin's Bimaristan (or hospital), and
the Church of the Kumamah (of the Resurrection). On its west
side is the Quarter of the Christians, which extends from south to
north, from the
Bab al Khalil
[Jaffa Gate] to
the Bab as-Sarb,
and includes the
Harah ar Rah-
bah, the Quarter
of the Square."
Now the
Church of the
Resurrection is
the Arabic name
for the Church
of the Holy
Sepulchre, and
a glance at any
plan of the city
9 Ibid., p. 215.
11. Western Pier: West Face.
i8o
JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
will make it clear that, if a certain quarter of the city extended from
the Jaffa Gate to the Bab Deir es-Serb and included the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, the Bab Deir es-Serb must have been very
near the structure the foundations of which we have discovered. The
evidence does not warrant a positive conclusion ; but I am strongly
inclined to suspect that the building which these shattered arches sup-
ported was none other than the monastery of the Servians which gave
its name to the Bab Deir es-Serb. If this hypothesis represents the
truth, these founda-
tions are, in all prob-
ability, considerably
older than the cru-
sading period.
The time during
which the Servians
— a branch of the
Greek Church —
would be likely to
construct a large
monastery in Jerusa-
lem was in the period
before the Moham-
medan conquest of
the city, the general
period during which
the church which now
forms the Mosque el-
'Aksa was built. The
fact that in this
structure we find
stones of the type commonly classed as " crusading stones," is, I
think, no real reason for regarding this foundation as a work of the
crusading period ; for evidence is altogether wanting, so far as I know,
to prove that this style of stone-cutting first came into vogue in the
time of the crusades. It may well have been employed for three or
four centuries before.
Be this as it may, there were in this region many important build-
ings during the crusading time. There was a palace of Odo near the
Damascus Gate (then called St. Stephen's Gate), on the inside; 10
another palace stood outside the walls on the east side of the
10 See Rohricht, Regesta Regni Hierosalymitani, p. 140.
12. Middle Pier: West Side.
BARTON : RESEARCHES OF AMERICAN SCHOOL IN PALESTINE.
ISI
Damascus Gate, 11 while not far from this was the Asnerie, discovered
some years ago by Col. Conder. 12
One who explores the foundations of the present buildings within
the walls and just west of the Damascus Gate will find much work
of the crusading times or of the period anterior. The Rev. J. E.
Hanauer called my attention to one doorway which apparently comes
from the crusading age.
How extensive the foundations of this old monastery were we did
not succeed in discovering. Trial trenches were sunk at two differ-
ent points (marked
dd and e in PI. 8),
but no traces of simi-
lar foundations were
discovered there. In
the trench dd only
small objects were
found; in the trench
e was found a stone,
carved as though in-
tended to ornament
the top of a gate or
building (see PL 13).
It was 80 cm. high
and 30 cm. square at
the base. It is to be
hoped that other at-
tempts will be made
to find traces of these
interesting founda-
tions in other parts
of this lot of land, before it is all utilized for building purposes, as it
will be in a few years.
It was my hope, when the opportunity came to make the obser-
vations which are here recorded, that something might be found
which would bear upon the vexed question of the position of the
" second wall " of Josephus. While it might seem at first that the
discoveries here related have no such bearing, a little further reflec-
tion is sufficient to modify this conclusion. We noted above that
the foundations which we discovered contained two styles of stones,
11 Rohricht, I.e., p. 85.
12 PEF. Quarterly Statement, 1875, p. 190, and 1877, P* I 43«
r **/'♦• W^
T^^^2
^Itoi^^gpir,
1 \ . r
t& '
%l
13.
Stone Post.
1 82 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
one Jewish, the other post-Jewish. An element of uncertainty is
introduced by the fact that we do not know how long after the Jew-
ish period these drafted stones continued to be used. An exam-
ination of the present city wall, which was built in 1542, in the
immediate vicinity of these foundations, reveals in it the same two
kinds of stone, the Jewish element being quite large. It is altogether
probable that this Deir es-Serb, which had fallen into ruin, was
demolished by the Turks, and the stones which it furnished incor-
porated in the present wall. Moreover, as one follows the present
wall westward toward the present Franciscan Monastery, he finds a
very large number of these stones with the Jewish drafting built into
the present wall. Whence did they all come? It does not seem
possible to account for their presence, except by the hypothesis that
a wall such as the " second wall " described by Josephus ran near the
line of the present city wall, and that its stones, incorporated into
successive city walls, or into such structures as the Deir es-Serb,
found their way at last into the wall of Suleiman, which still stands.
Owing to our ignorance of the date when the fashion of stone-cutting
changed, this conclusion can be only tentatively held.
One interesting fact in the history of these ruined arches remains
to be recorded. At some time before the arch which connected the
eastern and the middle piers had fallen in, and after about a foot of
debris had accumulated on the floor, a fellah made himself a home
there by building a wall of rough stones across the front and plaster-
ing the inside of the room which the arch, completed by this wall,
made. The entrance to this rude dwelling was from the north. In
the rude wall constructed on the south two receptacles for food and
stores, such as are now found in Palestinian houses, were built. In
this dwelling a stone trough was found, length 30 cm., width 20 cm.,
height 17 cm. Not only caves, but ruins of all kinds, are still utilized
by the peasants as dwellings. One of the arches of a ruined khan on
the Nabulus road, opposite Er-Ram, is to-day similarly used as a
dwelling.
In the course of the excavations there were found a number of
fragments of glass, pottery, and other objects, none of which were
whole, and nearly all of which were from the Arab occupation of
Jerusalem. After the monastery fell into decay, the place appears to
have been used as a dumping ground.
BARTON: RESEARCHES OF AMERICAN SCHOOL IN PALESTINE. 1 83
3. Examination of the Supposed Inner Harbor of Joppa.
In the spring of 1903 we were able to make an examination of a
site near Jaffa, which is believed by some students of Palestinian
topography to be the site of the ancient harbor. This piece of land
is situated to the eastward of the city of Jaffa, and is a basin of low
land, the soil of which consists of a fertile water deposit. On all
sides this tract is surrounded by higher land which slopes gradually
toward it, except to the northwest, where there was evidently once
an outlet toward the sea. The higher ridges of land by which this
basin is surrounded consist mainly of sand, but in this basin the
owners tell me they have penetrated twelve metres without getting
below this black water deposit to the sand. This tract of land
belongs to the estate of Mr. Murad, who is endeavoring, by means
of drainage and by planting eucalyptus trees, to render it suitable for
an orange garden. 13
The Rev. J. E. Hanauer of Jerusalem, who resided for some years
in Jaffa, kindly furnished me with the chief points of an article which
he was preparing on this subject for the Quarterly Statement of the
Palestine Exploration Fund. 14 The grounds upon which the theory
of an inland harbor in the depression or valley east of Jaffa may be
justified are, in Mr. Hanauer's judgment, of two kinds. First, the
configuration of the ground : " We have a low-lying tract only about
eight or nine feet above sea-level, toward which it slopes steadily,
and bounded on either side by two ridges of higher ground. The
result of excavations shows that the soil of this tract is a fertile water
deposit of remarkable depth, reaching considerably lower than the
level of the present sea bed close to the shore. The most marked
features remind us of what we find at other places along the Syrian
coast, namely, a prolonged ridge running up to the shore, and along-
side of or behind it a fertile plain sometimes drained by a river.
Such ridges are sometimes continued into the sea by a line of rocks
or an island. The ridge is sometimes, but not always, very strongly
13 The situation of this depression may be seen in Sandel's map of the neigh-
borhood of Jaffa {Zeitschrift des Deutschen Pal'dstina- Vereins, Vol. III., Part 1,
PI. iii.; cf. pp. 44 ff.), where it is named El-Bassat es-Saghlreh (No. 37) ; on the
reduced map in Baedeker's Palestine it is represented as a swamp east of the
" Garden of the German Consul." Mr. Hanauer has printed a sketch map of
the vicinity in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, July,
1903, p. 258.
14 It has since been published in the July number, 1903, pp. 258 sqq.
184 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
marked, as in the Carmel range. As examples of the occurrence of
these features may be cited Tripolis, Beirut, Tyre, and Sidon."
Second, Historical allusions : " We possess," says Mr. Hanauer,
" as far as I am aware, no single record mentioning the existence of
such a harbor at the spot indicated, or of an inland lake or lagoon ;
but we have historic allusions to show that some changes have taken
place in the level of the shore line at Jaffa. Thus Josephus (BJ. hi.
9, 3) tells us that it was the ' black north wind ' that was dangerous
and much dreaded as destructive to shipping at Jaffa. This is not
the case at present. It is now the west, or more particularly the
southwest, wind that is feared. The north wind is, indeed, disliked,
but not on account of the shipping. It is popularly considered a
poisonous wind, bringing down the malaria from the marshes on the
north. Then again several of the Crusading Chronicles, amongst
which I may mention William of Tyre (History, viii. 9), Vinisauf (in
Bonn's Chronicles of the Crusades, pp. 312 sq.), Beha ed-Dln (Life
of Saladin, "Palestine Pilgrim Texts," pp. 365-370), and Joinville,
(Memoirs, Bonn's translation, p. 486), make a clear distinction be-
tween ' the town ' and ' the citadel ' of Jaffa, the former, according
to Joinville, being a large village on the seashore, while the latter
' resembled a well-defended town, and was situated on an island
near the seashore.' This island, which to judge from the quotation
must have been of noteworthy size, now no longer exists. We may
conjecture that volcanic agencies may have caused the changes to
which I have referred. We know that earthquakes are not uncom-
mon here, and we have the statement of Arab historians (see Besant
and Palmer, History of Jerusalem), that about a.d. 1068, i.e. shortly
before the first crusade, the sea receded for a considerable distance,
and the land left dry was occupied and reclaimed by people of the
district, but that the sea suddenly returned and caused a great loss
of life." 15 In addition to this argument of Mr. Hanauer, I learned
15 [The inference from Josephus is erroneous. The " black norther " (fxeXafi-
pdpiov) is not the clear north wind " which brings most fair weather " on this
coast (Josephus, Antt. xv. 9, 6), but a violent northwest wind; at the other end
of the Mediterranean the famous mistral was called by the same name (Strabo,
p. 182). Joinville does not say that the castle of Jaffa was on an island, but
that it was on the shore. The passage is as follows : " Nous nous lojames entour
le chastel, aus chans, et environnames le chastel, qui siet sur la mer, des l'une mer
jusques a l'autre. Maintenant se prist li roys a fermer un nuef bourc tout entour
le vieil chastiau, des l'une mer jusques a l'autre. Le roy meismes y vis-je mainte
foiz porter la hote aus fosses, pour avoir le pardon" (ed. de Wailly, 1874, § 517).
The "island" in Bonn's translation owes its existence solely to unconscionable
BARTON : RESEARCHES OF AMERICAN SCHOOL IN PALESTINE. 1 85
from Mr. Murad that some twenty years ago, in making some inci-
dental excavations, some rocks were found, which contained holes
and rope-marks, as though they had been used for the anchorage of
ships.
When, therefore, Mr. Murad determined to investigate the matter
a little further, and to give the American School the opportunity of
watching and describing the work, the privilege was eagerly accepted.
Accordingly, between April 20 and May 12, three trenches were dug
at two points near the western boundary of this piece of land. Dur-
ing the progress of the work I made three excursions from Jerusalem
to Jaffa to make observations upon it. Mr. Irwin Hoch De Long
and Dr. Hans H. Spoer each spent at different times three or four
days in Jaffa for the same purpose.
At first we were highly gratified at the results of the work. On
the second day of the digging we came upon a wall, which we hoped
might prove to be the wall of the old harbor. It was built of rough
stones, and the part first found was seven metres long and one metre
wide. To the south this wall was interrupted by a well. It is prob-
able that when this well was dug stones from the wall were used in
its construction. Later some stones which probably formed a part
of the same wall were found on the other side of the well. Still
other stones, in line with this same wall, and probably once a part of
it, were also found considerably to the north.
All thought that this wall had any connection with an ancient
harbor had, however, soon to be given up. As the trenches were
carried down, the wall found appeared to be nowhere more than half
a metre in depth, and it rested everywhere upon the same black
water deposit of earth which forms the soil of this whole basin.
What the purpose of this wall was can only be conjectured ; but it
seems reasonable to suppose that it was built at a comparatively
recent period, possibly as a barrier against the floods, such as that of
1893, to which this land was subject, or possibly as a division wall
between two estates. Be that as it may, the wall as we found it was
everywhere buried half a metre or more below the present surface.
A short distance to the west of our trenches one comes upon sand
at a very slight depth, but the part of the trench which ran parallel to
blundering, and it is unnecessary to have recourse to an earthquake to get rid of
it. The account in Beha ed-Dln (ed. Paris, 1884, pp. 323 sqq.) of the relief of Jaffa
by Richard I. (a.d. 1192) agrees entirely with Joinville's description. It is per-
haps not superfluous to add that the translation of Beha ed-Dln in the " Palestine
Pilgrim Texts " is not to be trusted. — Editor.]
1 86 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
the wall was carried down four metres without coming to sand. The
black water deposit extends here to a greater depth than that. 16
While the level of the different parts of the estate in relation to
one another had been previously determined, the height of the whole
above the sea-level had never been accurately ascertained. A sur-
veyor was accordingly employed, who determined the top of the wall
found in our first trench to be 4.50 m. above the present sea-level.
The conformation of the land at this point is such that there may
have been a harbor here in early times, but our investigation revealed
no evidence that there was.
An examination of the historical references to Jaffa, so far as I can
at present see, affords no evidence that the depression which we
investigated was ever used as a harbor. 17
16 In the course of the excavation three pieces of a broken shell from a cannon
were found ; also an iron object shaped something like an axe head, but without
an eye for the helve (the iron was about one-half inch thick), and three coins.
Two of the latter were too much corroded for identification. The third was an
Egyptian coin dated 1223 A.H.
17 At the time when my report to the Managing Committee was written
{American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. VII., Supplement, pp. 35 sqq.), the
authors cited by Mr. Hanauer (above, p. 184) were not within my reach, and I
was led to express a different opinion, which examination of the sources shows to
be unfounded.
