REMARKABLE EXCAVATIONS AT JERUSALEM.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1296, 31 December 1886, Page 3

REMARKABLE EXCAVATIONS AT JERUSALEM.

The French Dominican monks at Jerusalem have made some remarkable exoavatiors on some land which they have lately acquired, about a furlong and a-half outside the gate of Damacus. Six; metres below the present level of the ground the workme i came upon some arches of considerable extent, walls of which had been very carefully built. At a short distance they found the basement- of a chapel before the entrance of which was a tombstone covered with along inscripiiod, which however was stolen before anyone thought of copying the insciiptiou. About the middle ot their property they found a large well-preserved mosiae and upon the space all round being cleared, the basis and other remains of great pillars were discovered, This is supposed to bo the site of the great basilica built in the fifth century in honour of ot. Stephen bv Kudoxia the wife of Arcadicus, the first of a long line of Eastern emperors. A still more remarkable discovery was made while digging the trench for the foundations ot the boundary wall which the Dominicans wished to bmld ; the ground gavo way and one of the workmen disappeared. On

clearing out the place they came upon a beautiful hall which had been out cut'ot the rock ; where the rock failed the gap was tilled with admirable masonry. From two sides two largo led into two vaulted tombs, all of the same size. On each side of the vault there was a resting place for ono coffin, and at the end opposite the entrance places for two. At the furthest end of the great ball a passage led to another excavated vault, in which stood three great covered sarcophagi. It is suggested that these sarc >phagi contain the remains of Helena, Que°n Ahiadenos, and her sons. The quantity of bones found in these chambers was very great. In the middle of the great hall, in a hollow specially prepared, a sort of long metal box was found. It was adorned with representations of children holding garlands up on high. Unfortunately there was no inscription, nor anything which could furnish a clue to the period or the> process of these sepulchral chambers.