History in The Bible

AT THE CLOSE of World War I, it fell to my lot to organize a new Department of Antiquities for Palestine under the obligations of the Mandate. A first task was to draw up a list of the historical and Holy Places in order to ensure their protection, and this involved the appointment of traveling inspectors and a recording staff under whom, in the course of a few years, more than two thousand sites were placed upon the register and so railed off by law, theoretically at least, from clandestine digging or other sources of spoliation. My idea at that time was to reclaim the Holy Land for what it was and still stands for, in much the same way as I later saw done perfectly at Gettysburg, so that every visitor, whether tourist, pilgrim, or archaeologist, might see what he wished to see in peace, and leave with happy memories. A special feature of this branch of the new administration was the constitution of an international Advisory Board, which the Director of Antiquities was bound to consult, under the terms of an Antiquities Ordinance promulgated at the time, on all matters liable to provoke contention. On this Board, American, Arab, British, French, Italian and Jewish archaeological interests were represented by their chosen delegates who sat at its meetings side by side, united by good will in a common purpose. Their work was admirable. I cannot recall a single occasion, during the seven years (192127) that I presided over their deliberations, when they did not find in amicable debate an acceptable solution to the many knotty problems submitted to them. On the contrary, their findings, backed by the influence they represented, greatly simplified my task, smoothing the way for the execution of