col-te-lawrence

[col-te-lawrence]

What occurred during the archeological expedition in Beersheva for the Palestine Exploration fund during WWI?

Sir Woolley and I received a telegram from the British museum not too long ago. We are to join Captain Stewart Newcombe of the Royal Engineers to look at the Biblical, Nabatean, & Byzantine sites in the Northern areas of the Sinai and the Southern parts of the Negev deserts. We were told that the expedition had already been approved by the Turks, and we were confined to a relatively small area. I was ready to jump in immediately as my fascination for biblical history was amping up. However, I soon found out that the ‘expedition’ was just a cover. I wrote to my mother my feelings when I found out we were there to spy on Turkish defenses in the south of Palestine, close to the Suez Canal. During the War we’ve been working tow in tow with intelligence officers, they recognize our value to the war effort. Whatever we are able to survey, whatever we see, and conclude, is all sent to intelligence. I have surveyed almost the entirety of the Turkish defense system around the canal, and I view their preparations as futile, as they are useless against a mobile enemy in a desert land like this.

I look forward to the future, for there is much in store. And I’m the man who robbed the bank at Monte Carlo.

[col-te-lawrence]

What was the architectural influence for Crusader castles?

Although this topic of study is greener than most, it would be foolish to not to jump at the chance. This past summer of nineteen hundred and nine was perhaps the best I’ve yet to experience. I’ve walked 1100 miles across Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, and visited over 35 castles in the surrounding areas. My mother was a pious woman, and my siblings and I’s early life consisted of much religious teaching. I never quite took to it, but I have been thinking about her a lot. When I first caught gaze of the Sea of Galilee I could not help but think of how this land looked in the time of Our Lord. ‘Palestine was once rich farmland, and the sooner the Jews farm it all the better: their colonies are bright spots in the desert.

When I first arrived in the east the widely held belief of Crusader castles was that they had been influenced by eastern architectural designs, but during my research I found that with the exception of the Templar fortresses, the Crusader castles were influenced almost exclusively from western designs.

[col-te-lawrence]

Cannot say I anticipated an outcome like this, only a couple months after graduation and I’ve been granted the privilege to work with two of the most esteemed archaeologists of our Island nation. I am pictured here with one of them, Sir Leonard Woolley. We are showcasing a Hittite tablet that we excavated, and our other findings here will be paramount I am sure. I’ve spent my days at the head of this local group of workers, whom I’m sure are just as enthusiastic as I am. These days have gone by with an outstanding pace, I have copied inscriptions, photographed finds, catalogued discoveries, bought antiquities, and what’s more have put my own pen to the soon to be published document. I’ll never forget the look on that lads face when I walked up behind him in that cemetery, he likely needed money, but looting from there would not stand. Be on the lookout for our publication of the findings, if I recall correctly, it will be titled:

Carchemish: Report on the Excavations at Djerabis on Behalf of the British Museum