EXCAVATION

the proce of removing soil or rock in engineering or exploration works, such as for cocks, retaining-walls, railway cuttings, canals, foundations, . On a small scale, or in situations propulsion, and run on temporary rails laid down as the work proceeds. They work against the face of the excavation, and load directly into bogies or wagons. EXCAVATIONS. The forgotten history of the remote past has been reconstructed by those scientists who have explored the sites of ancient seats of civilization. Egyptian and Babylonio - A yrian investigations date from the middle of the eighteenth century, but it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century. when modern scholars first penetrated 352 EXCAVATIONS the secrets of the lost languages (see CUNEIFORM WRITING and HIERoOGLYPHIcs) that the ancient civilizations were rendered more or le articuiate. As the texts were being deciphered with increasing ease and accuracy, a basis was provided for archeology, and it became po ible to frame chronological systems. During the latter years of the nineteenth and the early years of the present century, excavators, philologists, and ethnrologists provided a fairly continuous and detailed history of man from 3000 B.c. till cia ical times, thus bridging a gulf which used to be misty with doubtful legends and traditions. bramatic excavations were those begun by He in rich Schliemann in 1871 at Hi arlik, the site of ancient Troy. On the hillock he dug through nine succe ive settlements. He afterwards excavated at Mycene and Tiryns in Greece and found evidence of a bigh pre-Helienic eulture. Following up the clues thus afforded, Sir Arthur Evans and others, excavating in Crets during the opening years of the present century, discovered abundant relics, including palaces and towns, of the earliest A®gean civilization now referred to as Minoan (see CRETE). Ui late years Central and Western Europe have yielded evidence of the ‘“dvift’ of Minoan culture to out-lying parts. Excavations in Ru ian Turkestan and Chinese Turkestan have revealed traces of ancient culture centres dating back beyond 2000 B.c. In HMgypt one of the most amazing archeological discoveries of modern times was the excavation of Tut ankh a men’s tomb in 1922 by Mr. Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon. New discoveries are being unearthed continually in Central America. One city, kmown as Calakmul, was discovered in 1931. The ruins are elaborate, delicately carved, stone-built erections, almost rivalling those found in Egypt. They were built by the Mayan race, who dwelt in_ the American continent before the Christian era. In Palestine also many excayvations have been carried out within recent years. The discoveries made during the last few months are astounding. The lost cities of Sodom and Gomorrah have been found and made to reveal their secrets. The site of the City of David has been uncovered, and on or near the site of the House of Caiaphas, a complete series of ancient Hebrew weights and measures have been found. The site of Mamre has been uncovered, and also the Hbrary city of Kirjath-Sephar in Southern Palestine. In Mizpeh has been found a cistern believed to be the weil into which Ishmael threw Gedaliah after he had slain him. In Samaria the remains of Ahab’s ivory palace have been laid bare, while at Capernaum has been unearthed the remains of a church known as the church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, the reputed scene of the miracle of the Feeding of the Five You sand. A very important discovery was made in 1933 by Sir Flinders Petrie, who solved a problem of history which has puzzled the world for hundreds of years. By means of excavations at Gaza he revealed the identity of the people who founded the seventh and eighth Hgyptian dynasties. These people, a strong and powerful race With great skill in building, were native to the Caspian shores, and the discovery enabled the arc he elogist to trace Egyptian culture back to Neolithic man. See BABYLONIA; CRETE; Heyer; TROY.