Science: Diggers, Jan. 27, 1947

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One Palestinian digger is bearded Dominican Father Roland de Vaux (described by a colleague as "rather a dandy for a Dominican"). At Tell el-Farah, near Nablus in central Palestine, he found a likely spot, staked out a 40-acre claim. On the surface were iron age remains, rather recent for the Holy Land. Below, the bronze age began. Father de Vaux believes that he may prove his city to be ancient Tirzah, first capital of the secessionist Kingdom of Israel, which Jeroboam split off from Judah after the death of Solomon about 937 B.C.

If so, Jeroboam chose no upstart city for his capital. When Father de Vaux dug deeper, he found proof that the site had been inhabited in 4000 B.C. Nearly 30 centuries had passed over it before the Israelites first burst into the land of Palestine.

In Jerusalem the diggers were searching for truth in a city where every square yard is encrusted with stoutly defended legend. Recently they discovered evidence calculated to knock the props from under the holiest spot in Christendom, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

According to Hebrews 13:12, Jesus was crucified "without the gate." This agrees with Hebrew custom, which forbade a crucifixion or burial within a city wall. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands on a hill traditionally identified as Calvary (where the Bible says that Jesus was crucified, was buried, and rose on the third day).

The church lies well inside the present wall of Jerusalem. But this does not bother the traditionalists, who attribute this wall to the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who ruled from 117 to 138 A.D. The wall enclosing the city at the time of the crucifixion, they say, was built by King Herod, and left Calvary outside.

This hypothetical wall has never been found, but for some time great stones have been showing up far outside the present wall. Recently the diggers found some more. Many believe that they are remains of the actual outermost wall and that the present wall, many times rebuilt, is Herod's.

If these subversive diggers are right, Calvary must have been somewhere else, and Jesus cannot have been crucified or buried anywhere near the present Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Soviet Mysteries. Most tantalizing blank spot on the diggers' map of the world is Soviet Russia. Modern man himself probably developed somewhere in Soviet Asia. Scattered thickly from the Black Sea to Manchuria are fascinating mysteries which the diggers yearn to probe. But the Soviet Government excludes outsiders; Soviet diggers, like learned squirrels, hide their choicest finds from outside scrutiny.

Two major digs are now in progress. In Russian Azerbaijan, close to the Persian border, the Soviet Government is building a hydroelectric dam. Red Army tanks, doubling as bulldozers, uncovered relics which looked so interesting that experts from Baku took over.

So far, they have found 1,500 objects: gold and silver jewelry, carved signets, artistic glassware and pottery. Here a considerable city must have flourished, perhaps 3,000 years ago. Its inhabitants, to judge from skeletons found on the site, were strapping fellows well over six feet tall. But who they were and what happened to them the Soviet diggers have not decided, and they have published no details.