31 JANUARY 1931, Page 28

A useful account of recent archaeological work in Palestine is

given in Digging Up Biblical History (S.P.C.K., 12s. 6d.)

by Mr. J. Garrow Duncan, who has had practical experience in Palestine, Iraq and Egypt and brings together in an orderly fashion the scattered- results attained by many scholars on many sites. Mr. Duncan begins with the cave- dwellers, and then treats the Bronze Age very fully, taking the -pottery and the, forts separately. The monuments of the Hebrew period are described in the last third of the Volume: Mr. Duncan is specially concerned to relate the Old Testament record to the results of modern research and to show how remarkably well, on the whole, the Hebrew narrative stands the test. He is inclined at times to speculate freely where the evidence is inadequate. Thus he has, in his preface, to abandon the suggestion, emphasized more than once in the text, that the mysterious Hyksos who conquered Egypt were identical with the Hittites. Still, the book is a substantial contribution to an enthralling subject, and it is admirably illustrated with photographs and plans.

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