inevitably destructive of evidence, can be made to yield profitable
fruit. There is plenty of work that can be done on the surface of the
ground without excavation.

[Illustrations X & XI: Table of West Semitic Alphabets & Numerals.]

II. Sites of Towns and Villages.

1. Nomenclature.
The sites of ancient towns and villages are usually conspicuous in
Palestine, and are recognized in the local nomenclature. They are
denoted by the words _tall_, plural _tulul_, meaning 'mound', and
_khirbah_, plural _khirab_ meaning 'ruin'. These words are commonly
spelt in English _tell_ and _khirbet_ (less correctly _khurbet_) and
we use these more familiar forms here. As a rule, though not
invariably, the sense of these terms is distinguished. A tell is a
site represented by a mound of stratified accumulation, the result of
occupation extending over many centuries, and easily recognizable
among natural hillocks by its regular shape, smooth sides, and flat
top. A khirbet is a field of ruins in which there is little or no
stratification. Nearly all the sites of the latter type are the
remains of villages not older than the Byzantine or Roman period.

2. Identification of ancient sites.
This is a task less easy than it appears to be, and many of the
current identifications of Biblical sites call for revision.
Similarity of name, on which most of these identifications depend, is
apt to be misleading; in many cases sites identified thus with Old
Testament places are not older than the Byzantine Period. [1] This
similarity of name may sometimes be a mere accident; it may also