Tikal, Guatemala
Mr. Shook, Field Director of the Tikal Expedition, has just made an exciting discovery–a stela inscribed with a date thirty-six years earlier than that of Stela 9 at Uaxactun, until now the earliest known Maya inscription. Stela 9 was discovered in 1916. Our stela also antedates the Leyden Plate which is supposed to have been made at Tikal.
The Maya date of this new stela is 8.12.14.8.15, the equivalent of A.D. 291. Only the upper part of the stela was found, evidently not in its original position, and not associated with any particular building. Much of the carved surface, including a human figure, was badly eroded, but fortunately the Initial Series glyphs are in excellent condition.
Gordion, Turkey
The Expedition began work early in March, with Dr. Young as Field Director and Ellen Kohler as his assistant. They will be joined by Machteld Mellink of the faculty of Bryn Mawr College as soon as classes there are over, and will continue excavating through the summer. They plan this year to dig down further into the large mound below the 8th century B.C. level where they had been working, in order to examine even earlier phases of Phrygian development.
El-Jib, Jordan
From May 25th to August 8th, the Joint Expedition of this Museum and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific will continue the excavations at El-Jib which has been identified as the Biblical city of Gibeon. This is the third Jordan Expedition: as in 1956 and 1957, Dr. James B. Pritchard will be the Field Director.