THE traditional site of the crucifixion and entombment of our Lord occupies a plot of land which is apparently bounded on the south and east by remains of the city defences, which are certainly much older than the fourth century.

In describing these remains of walls of a remote age, it must be remembered that they cannot be precisely identified either in age or use, because they are without any architectural features. The methods of masonry construction adopted in the Levant have remained remarkably unchanged throughout the ages. The huge stones with a simple drafted edge, leaving the face in the rough, are common to the primitive builders of the “Haram area” (site of the Jewish Temple) as much as to the Crusading masons of thousands of years later. Also the method of building the city walls at different periods has remained practically the same, the masonry tending to become a little smaller in cases where rebuilding has taken place and the stones have been reshaped to fit their new positions.

On the south side of the site a considerable length of the city wall lies buried beneath the accumulations of débris and the later buildings covering the area known during the past few centuries as the “Muristan.” It was traced by Schick and others during the various alterations which have been carried out by the Germans and Greeks during the past quarter of a century on this site, and, although it was never very accurately noted at the time, the lower courses of the structure still remain below the level of the new German church and the Greek bazaar.