Heth and Moab; Explorations in Syria in 1881 and 1882 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1892 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VII. RUDE-STONE MONUMENTS. The exploration of rude-stone monuments in Palestine is perhaps one of the most interesting features of the Survey expeditions, and it has resulted in discoveries and observations which may prove materially to assist the study of this obscure but fascinating subject. Not that it was a new addition to our knowledge that such monuments should be found to exist in Syria, for they had been already mentioned and described by Irby and Mangles, by Finn, Stanley, and Tristram, as well as by earlier writers on Phoenicia, by Palgrave in Arabia, and by Lieutenant Welstead in the neighbourhood of the Red Sea: while the explorers of the Sinaitic peninsula reported the existence of circles, which they believed to belong to pre-historic times. No traveller had, however, the opportunities enjoyed by the Survey parties, of studying at leisure a very large number of examples of these relics of the past, and nothing apparently has as yet been written concerning their relations to the rude-stone monuments of other countries, or respecting their affinities with the Arab stone erections of ancient.and modern periods. The distribution of the centres where these monuments occur in Syria is also a matter of no little importance, concerning which the completion of the Survey of Western Palestine and the exploration of the greater part of the country east of the river now permit us to express a definite opinion. No dolmens, menhirs, or ancient circles have been discovered in Judea, and only one doubtful circle in Samaria. In Lower Galilee a single dolmen has been found; in Upper Galilee four of moderate dimensions are known. West of Tiberias is a circle, and between Tyre and Sidon an enclosure of menhirs. At Tell el Kady, one of the Jordan sources, ...