Abstract
THE annual exhibition of antiquities from Tell Duweir (Lachish), Palestine, found by the Wellcome Archaeological Research Expedition to the Near East under the leadership of Mr. J. L. Starkey in the course of the excavations of 1934–35, opened on June 24 at the Wellcome Research Institution, 183–193 Euston Road, London, N.W.I. The objects exhibited again illustrate details of culture in the various periods represented on the site, beginning with the extensive prehistoric settlements of the copper and bronze ages and ending with the later Jewish kingdom, when the city suffered the successive onslaughts of Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar. Further light is thrown upon the early cave dwellers, and the possible line of development of the localised art reminiscent of Tell el-Amarna, of which evidence was found last year, is suggested by a bone inlay in the form of a head, which seems to be a copy of an ivory original. Another interesting find is an Iron Age burial, which included among its grave furniture a short-handled iron fork with three long prongs. It is reasonable to conjecture that this implement served the priest to extract joints from the offerings -bin of the sanctuary discovered last year. Culturally and historically, however, the outstanding finds are a further example of the early script, resembling that from Sinai, which adds three characters to those known from last year's find, and a series of letters on ostraka, dating from shortly before the fall of the city, now to be identified with certainty as Lachish. This discovery, long eagerly awaited, alone makes the excavation notable. An instructive commentary on the work of the expedition is afforded by a cast of the bas-relief of the siege of Lachish, now in the British Museum, which, coloured and skilfully flood-lit, can be seen in full detail for the first time. The exhibition is open daily from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., and on certain evenings until 8 p.m., until July 27. A lecture on “The Lachish Letters found at Tell Duweir“will be given by Dr. Harry Torczyner, professor of Hebrew philology in the University of Jerusalem, on Tuesday, July 9 at 5 p.m. Admission to the exhibition and lecture is free by ticket.
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Antiquities from Tell Duweir, Palestine, 1934–35. Nature 135, 1067 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/1351067a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1351067a0