WORD comes from Mr. FitzGcrald at Beisan that the building with the two column bases, which we mentioned last month, has proved to be a structure of some importance, dating from the time of Seti I. Between the two column bases a door-sill has been disclosed, facing east and with the end of a later wall, which runs between the bases, built up against it. On the sill lay part of a limestone door-jamb, in fragmentary condition but with a hieroglyphic inscription incised upon it, the signs being filled in with blue pigment [Plate XI]. The inscription, which contains the place name of Heliopolis, was probably an invocation of the sun-god. Two other door sills, with their limestone posts still standing, lead into a small room in the floor of which was buried a large three-handled pot. A large limestone slab with cup-shaped depressions was similar to one found in the Canaanite temple of the Seti I period.
The Seti I level has not yet been reached in the area of the gate-tower, of which we spoke last month, although the gate-tower itself, together with its foundations, have now been completely removed. In clearing one of the adjoining Byzantine walls a Janus-headed herm (an image of a deity, usually consisting of a square pillar surmounted by a human head) was found; one head is badly defaced but the other is fairly well preserved.
In the area adjoining the Thothmes III temple, walls of the Thothmes period have been cleared and a very similar complex of buildings has been found beneath. In the debris below was discovered painted pottery of the Late Bronze Age and a number of forms of the Middle Bronze Age, dating to about 1600 B. C.
