BSY_FB_12_021

il-Mef‘aleh, Dêr Smêdj, Slêm, Brêkeh April 6, 1909

The first of these places is a small village of
little interest where an insc. said to have come
from Dêr Smêdj, was copied.

The tell above the village is an extinct volcano
with a perfect crater at the top. At one side of the
crater is a strongly built tower which I believe to
be very ancient, either Nabataean or Prehistoric.
The lower parts of the tower are almost "Cyclopean."
There is a buried arch within built of crude voussoirs.
The place was almost inaccessible.

Dêr Smêdj is hardly more than 15 min
from Ḳanawât. The ruins here are those of a
walled temenos with interior colonnades and an
arched building added to the N.E. corner.

The highly ornamented portals of the temenos,
on the East side have been destroyed, and many of
the highly finished stones have been taken away.
The columns of the interior are all lying near
their original places.