Here also we found several stones of a curious nature
and entirely foreign to the place. Two of them are
stones with even hands of an asbestiform substance,
a serpentine with veins of chrysolite, the grooves
being caused by the natural erosion of the fibrous
bands. Another stone is an irregular polygonal
pillar-like object of coarse-grained basalt, the smooth
faces of which are natural points, the whole being a
portion of a rough column or prism. Another, again,
is a fragment of schistose rock, apparently horn-
blendic; also we found several round blocks of diorite
FR A GM EN T OF BOW L W IT H PR O C E S S IO N O F B U L L S
in this place. The collection here of so many strange
geological fragments cannot be accidental, and points
to a veneration of curious-shaped stones amongst the
earlier inhabitants of the ruins, which were collected
here on the platform, a spot which, I am convinced,
will compare with the fianvkia or betyles of the
Phoenicians, and of this stone cult we have ample
evidence from' Arabia. El Masoudi alludes to the
ancient stone-worship of Arabia, and leads us to
believe that at one time this gross fetichism formed a
part of the natural religion of the Semitic races.
Marinus of Tyre says, they honoured as a
god a great cut stone. Euthymius Zygabenus
further tells us that apparently
‘ this stone was the head of
Aphrodite, which the Ishmaelites
formerly worshipped, and it is
called Bakka Ismak | ’ also, he
adds, * they have certain stone
statues erected in the centre of
their houses, ..round which they
danced till they fell from giddiness
; but when the Saracens were
converted to Christianity they
were obliged to anathematise this
stone, which formerly they worshipped.’
1 Herr Kremer, in his
account of the ancient cult of
Arabia, makes frequent allusions
to the stone-worship. In the town
of Taif a great unformed stone
block was worshipped, identical
with the goddess which Herodotus
calls Urania; and one must
imagine that the Kaaba stone
at Mecca resembles the black
schistose block which we found at
Zimbabwe; it is an exceedingly old-
world worship, dating back to the
most primitive ages of mankind.
The next series of finds to be discussed are the
] AJcademie der Wissenschoft. Wien, 1890.
FRAGMENT OF BOWL WITH HUNTING SC ENE