Suggestions for improvement in future editions will be welcomed, and will no doubt be forthcoming as the result of experience.  Meanwhile it is hoped that this little book will accompany many travellers in foreign lands, and that the labour expended on it will bear fruit in the improved observation and record of archaeological data, in establishing sound principles for the administration of antiquities, and in enforcing proper methods of excavation and conservation.  It may also be found of service by those who study the results of research as they appear in museums.

F. G. Kenyon.

PART I

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

The hints which it is the object of this volume to convey are not meant for experienced archaeologists.  They are rather addressed to those who, while anxious to observe and record the antiquities which they may see on their travels, are likely, owing to lack of training, to miss things that may be of importance, or, having observed them, to bring home an imperfect record.  It is hoped also that they may catch the attention of some of those who are not interested in the subject, but, coming into possession of antiquities, may unwittingly do incalculable harm by allowing them to be destroyed or dispersed before any record has been made.

Most, if not all, of the countries with which we are concerned, have their Laws of Antiquities.  It cannot be too strongly insisted that those laws, even if they might be better than they are, should be obeyed by the traveller.  He should familiarize himself with their main provisions, which are summarized in an Appendix.  The traveller who makes it his object to loot a country of its antiquities, smuggling objects out of it and disguising the sources from which they are obtained, does a distinct dis-service to archaeological science.  Although he may enrich collections, public or private, half or more than half of the scientific value of his acquisitions is destroyed by the fact that their provenance is kept secret or falsely stated.  Such action is equivalent to tearing out whole pages from a history and destroying them for ever, for each antiquity, whatever it may be, is in its way a part of history, whether of politics, arts, or civilization.  For the same reason anything like unauthorized excavation, especially by unskilled hands, is gravely to be deprecated.  To dig an ancient site unskilfully or without keeping a proper record is to obliterate part of a manuscript which no one else will ever be able to read.  The tendency of recent legislation is to allow more generous terms in the matter of licences for export to excavators and collectors, and the harsher provisions of some of the existing laws are likely soon to be amended.