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The Great Ash Heap in the Wilderness! 57

The seat of wor ship of the min ers, was a TEMPLE ON THE TOP OF A ROCKY
PLATEAU, two thou sand five hun dred feet above sea level, and THREE OR FOUR
DAYS’ JOURNEY FROM THE COAST. The ex pe di tion [Petrie’s] found the ru ins of this
tem ple, and of an in ten sive set tle ment, which had once been FORTIFIED, per haps against
the in tru sion of wild beasts rather than against men [or to keep Is ra el ite slaves in?]. The
place is a day’s jour ney from wa ter at the pres ent time....Ev i dence that at this tem ple a form
of wor ship was car ried on, WHICH RESEMBLED THAT OF THE ISRAELITES, was
man i fested in a num ber of ways. This was a GREAT HIGH PLACE. Here were IMMENSE
HEAPS OF WOOD ASHES, and the fuel must have been car ried up to this rocky pla teau
from places a thou sand feet be low, and these ashes tes ti fied to the burnt of fer ings, WHICH
IT WAS THE CUSTOM OF ABRAHAM’S RACE TO SACRIFICE ON THE SUMMITS
OF HIGH HILLS AND MOUNTAINS.

Sir Charles continues:

Here there were MANY PORTABLE STONE ALTARS FOR BURNING INCENSE,
AND NO LESS THAN FOUR SUCCESSIVE GREAT LAVERS, OR TANKS, FOR
ABLUTIONS. A fea ture of the set tle ment it self, was a num ber of stone...mono liths, of large
stand ing stones...like the one erected by Ja cob at Bethel (Gen. xxviii.18)....Though the
Egyp tian ex pe di tions had built and adorned the tem ple with their in scrip tions, THE CULT
PRACTISED WAS NOT AN EGYPTIAN ONE. The ev i dence that had been left be hind,
iden ti fied the re li gious cere moni als of its wor ship pers as SIMILAR TO THOSE
PRACTISED BY THE ISRAELITES....The dis cov ery, like many of the older ar chae o log i -
cal finds, had been some what ne glected, un til a Ger man scholar -- Pro fes sor H. Grimme, of
Mun ster -- claimed that he had DECIPHERED THE NAME OF MOSES ON ONE OF THE
INSCRIPTIONS. -- The Bi ble Comes Alive, pps.168-170.

The Enigma of the Ashes!

When Petrie and his ex pe di tion ex am ined the re mains of the tem ple at Serabit, they made a
star tling dis cov ery!

Of this pe riod [Amenemhat IV] a very in ter est ing re sult was found BENEATH THE
LATER TEMPLE. Over a LARGE AREA a bed of white wood-ashes is spread, of a con sid -
er able thick ness. In the cham ber O [of the later tem ple] there is a mass, 18 in. in thick ness,
un der ly ing the walls and pil lars, AND THEREFORE BEFORE THE TIME OF
TAHUTMES III [of the 18th Dy nasty]. In cham ber N it var ies from 4 to 15 in. thick; west of
the py lon it is from 3 to 12 in.; and it is found ex tend ing as far as cham ber E or F with a thick -
ness of 18 in. Thus it EXTENDS FOR OVER A HUNDRED FEET IN LENGTH. In
breadth it was found wher ever the sur face was pro tected by build ing over it. All along the
edge of the hill, bor der ing on the road of the XIIth dy nasty past the STELES, the ashes were
found, all across the tem ple breadth, and out as far as the build ing of stone walls of cham -
bers ex tends on the south. IN ALL FULLY FIFTY FEET IN BREADTH. That none are
found out side the built-over area is to be ex plained by the great de nu da tion due to strong
winds and oc ca sional rain. That large quan ti ties of glazed pot tery have been en tirely de -
stroyed by these causes is cer tain; and a bed of light wood-ashe would be swept away much

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