The excavation conducted by Sir Leonard Woolley in 1936 and 1937 at the site near al Mina, at the mouth of the Orontes, produced material of interest not only for archaeological study but also for Oriental history. The eighth to the fourth centuries of the pre-Christian era, to which the material remains belong, are also represented at other sites in Syria and Palestine that have been excavated by scientific expeditions. But the Phoenician cities, Byblos and Sidon, the north Syrian cities, Carchemish and Sinčirli, the sites on the plain of Aleppo reported on by the Syrian expedition of the Oriental Institute of Chicago, and Palestinian sites, have not yielded the same material of one special kind as al Mina, or only stray examples of it. There Cycladic and proto-Corinthian sherds and later developments of early Greek vases show conclusively that there was trade between the little Syrian port on the one side and the Aegean islands and the Greek mainland on the other, between the beginning of the eighth century and the end of the seventh. Similarly Attic pottery and coins are a proof of the encouragement given to Athenian trade at the same port from the time of Darius I to that of Artaxerxes III. In this respect new knowledge is to be gained from the finds at al Mina as to the history of the north Syrian coast during five centuries. The conclusions that may be drawn form an interesting footnote to what is known, and to some of the assumptions, about general Oriental history.