Archaeology Magazine - October 1966 - 57

support for the early chronologyof
sculpture in Nepal is given by an
inscribed (but not dated) image of
Brahma, recently discovered.In her
paper, "The Beginning of the Iron
Age in North India," Vimala S.
Begley reported that iron objects
have been found in the first phase
of the painted gray ware culture
(which may begin as early as
1000-800B.c.) at a stratified site at
Atranjekhera in the Ganges Valley.
Hitherto the earliest surviving iron
work in North India came from the
upper levels of painted gray ware,
not before ca. 450 b.c. The revised
dating may shed light on the problem of the Aryans in the Ganges
Valley. A review of an extensive
archaeological survey and the excavation of three sites in western
Iran in 1965 was given by T. C.
Young, Jr. (to be reported in our
January 1967issue).
The first three seasons of excavation at Ashdod were described by
M. Dothan. The correlated stratification of the six excavated areas
shows twenty strata, from Early
Bronze II until the seventh century
of our era. Richest archaeologically
is the period between the thirteenth
and seventh centuries B.c. Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery was
found in some houses of the Canaanite city, which was destroyed
at the end of the thirteenth century.
The succeeding Philistine period
lasted until the city was destroyed
at the beginning of the tenth century. During the two centuries before the Assyrianconquestin 713/12
the city of Ashdod extended beyond
the Acropolis. Trude Dothan discussednew evidencefor the Aegean
background of Philistine culture,
which can be traced through the
distinctivepottery and some details
of burial customs. New discoveries
have added to this material, especially cult objects from the Philistine cemetery at Hazor and the
Philistine strata at Ashdod. Comparable finds in the Aegean area
come from Perati (Attica) and
from Enkomi and Sinda (Cyprus).
The now large group of Philistine
cult objects forms a well defined
unit, indicating an even closer relationship with Mycenaean culture.
An account of the excavations in
1964 at Samosata, a strategic fortified city on the Euphrates, in southeastern Turkey, was given by
Theresa Goell.

The last paper of the sessionwas
"Archaeological Evidence for the
Ancient Game of T'ou-hu," by R.
Poor. Occasional reference is made
in ancient Chinese literary sources
to a game known as ou-hu, or
pitch pot; the same game is described in later sources and given a
special moralistic significance.Until recently the only knowledge of
how the game was actually played
came primarily from these later
writings. Now some recently excavated bronze material, contemporaneous with the Classical literary
texts, suggests that later interpretations of the game and its utensils
have not been entirely correct.
At the second session of the Far
Eastern Section, on April 21, the
opening paper by W. Samolin illustrated the application of radiography to the study of metal artifacts, specificallya group of Chinese
ritual bronze vessels in the Sackler
Collection. It was pointed out that
the radiographs help to clarify
techniques of fabrication, indicate
the quality of the casting and expose both ancient and modern repairs. Thus they are a necessary
adjunct to chemical and metallographic studies of ancient artifacts.
Excavations at a newly discovered
tomb site at T'ai-chi-shan in Yunnan Province, southwestern China,
were discussed by J. F. Haskins.
During the 1950's, excavations in
the K'unming area in Yunnan led
to the discovery of the "Royal
Tombs" of the ancient state of
Tien at Shih-chai-shan ("stone
fortress hill"), near Chinning village. More recently, another tomb
site at T'ai-chi-shan ("furthermost
hill") near Anning- across Lake
T'ien-ch'i, has shown the spread of
the Tien-related cultures. Fewer
tombs were found here than at
Shih-chai-shan,and the graves were
less rich. The newly discovered
tombs seem somewhat later in date
than the "Royal Tombs," bringing
our knowledge of the art of the
region down to the end of the Han
period, to about A.D.225. They also
show that the area covered by this
culture is much larger than suspected, and they once again raise
the point that China rather than
Southeast Asia may have been the
source for this civilization.
One or two papers of archaeological interest were read at the
third session of the Ancient Near

East Section, on April 21; most
were historical or linguistic studies.
Tau, or the game of twenty squares,
was the subject of A. J. Hoerth's
paper. The marked board for this
game is first known from the Royal
Cemetery at Ur. It spread over
most of the Near East before dying
out ca. 700 B.c. The speaker summarized the results obtained from a
study of over seventy examples of
the game and offereda reconstructed
set of rules based on a long series
of contests waged by his colleagues.
An unusual example of a board
which was seen by E. Banks in a
dealer's shop in Baghdad is shown
(by an unpublished board in Cairo)
to be authentic. A. R. Schulman
discussed "Some Egyptian Ex-votos
of the Poor," a group of small and
apparently insignificant fragments
of reliefs found among the stelae
placed as dedications near the temple of Ptah and the palace of Merneptah. The stelae were discovered
by the University Museum's excavations in 1915-1923.The small
fragments had been hacked out of
wall reliefs, cartouches and stelae,
but on each the figure of the god
Ptah is completely preserved. It is
evident that these fragments were
dedicated to the god by the very
poor people of the area.
Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, Jordan
The third season of excavation
at Tell es-Sa'idiyeh,a mound which
rises 138 feet above the plain of
Jordan, about thirty-two miles from
the Dead Sea, took place February
7-April 16, 1966. The expedition,
a joint undertaking of the University Museum of the University of
Pennsylvania and the Department
of Antiquities of the Jordanian
Government,was directed as before
by James B. Pritchard (see Archaeology 18 [1965]292-294).
A group of about sixteen houses
uniform in size and plan was found
last year in Stratum 5 of the
mound (eighth century B.c.). Although only the floors and portions
of the walls remain of the original
house, impressions made by reeds
on fragments of the ancient sunbaked mud roof were also found,
as well as wooden beams which
had become powdery with time.
These made it possible to project
measurements and room layouts
289

Archaeology Magazine - October 1966

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