page_title: Gaston Cros
section_title: Archaeological work at Tello
hierarchical_section_title: Gaston Cros / Archaeological work at Tello
caption_attribution_description: English: An account of barley rations issued monthly to adults (30 or 40 pints) and children (20 pints) written in Cuneiform on clay tablet, written in year 4 of King Urukagina (circa 2350 BCE). From Ngirsu, Iraq. British Museum, London. BM 102081
context_page_description: Colonel Marie Augstin Gaston Cros was a French army officer and archaeologist. He was born in Alsace and was displaced when that territory was incorporated into the German Empire. He joined the French Army as a lieutenant and saw action in Tonkin before spending several years surveying in Tunisia, receiving the honours of membership of Vietnamese and Tunisian orders and appointment as a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. In 1901 Cros was appointed head of the French archaeological expedition to Girsu, Iraq to continue the work of Ernest de Sarzec. His work over the next five years included the tracing of the 32.5 feet thick city wall and for his work there received a letter of commendation from Gaston Doumergue, the Minister of Fine Arts, and the award of the Golden Palms of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel, Cros served in the French protectorate of Morocco from 1913, seeing action in the Zaian War.
  Upon the outbreak of the First World War Cros was recalled to metropolitan France and fought in defence of Paris at the First Battle of the Marne, leading an ad hoc unit of zouaves and tirailleurs.
context_section_description: From December 1901 Cros was placed in charge of the French-led Tello Expedition to the archaeological site of Girsu in Iraq.  He replaced the late Ernest de Sarzec, the French consul of Basra, who died in 1901 and had been excavating Tello since 1877, having initiated the rediscovery of the Sumerian civilization.   The appointment of a military man to this position might have been influenced by the revolt of the Muntafiq Arabs against the Ottoman Empire which created a hostile environment for the archaeologists.  Cros' knowledge of archaeology, like Sarzac's, came from a purely amateur interest in the subject though he had a thorough understanding of desert topography from his surveying days. One of Cros' first acts was to move the site of the French camp nearer to the excavation area, having been previously situated an hours ride away.  This made it less defensible and further from the water supply but he solved these problems by negotiating protection from the local Karagul Arabs and co-ordinating the construction of a new reservoir supplied with water by caravan convoys.
  Cros undertook numerous excavations at Tello producing significant numbers of artefacts, some dating from the earliest periods of Sumerian civilization.  One of his achievements, considered his most important at Tello, was the tracing of the great city wall which was 32.5 feet (9.9 m) thick.  In 1903 he discovered a doorway in the vicinity of de Sarzac's famous cuniform tablets that provided evidence that the tablets were stored as part of a state administrative archive.
  During his time at Tello he remained nominally with the 39th Infantry Regiment, transferring to the 80th Infantry Regiment on 17 February 1903.  His archaeological work was recognised by promotion to chef de bataillon (roughly equivalent to major), in the 116th Infantry Regiment, on 24 June 1905 and by appointment as an officer of the Legion of Honour on 12 March 1906.
  Cros transferred to the 33rd Infantry Regiment on 25 May 1906 and to the 5th Infantry Regiment on 22 December of that year.  He left Tello after his posting to the 5th Regiment but returned in 1909 to conclude his research, for which he was commended by Gaston Doumergue, the Minister of Fine Arts.  His research, published in the book Nouvelles Fouilles de Tello (New Excavations at Tello) in 1911, was welcomed by the British Royal Asiatic Society as some of the most important on the subject of ancient Sumeria.  When Cros left Tello in 1909 the French government was unable to find a suitable successor.  Cros received the Golden Palms of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques for his academic work.  A replacement was eventually found in 1914 but the outbreak of war prevented his assuming the post and the next chief of the French mission wasn't appointed until 1928.
  Cros was later promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 1st Algerian Tirailleurs.  In April 1913 he transferred to the 5th Algerian Tirailleurs and undertook expeditions in Western Morocco from May to August 1913 for which he was commended.  He subsequently participated in the Zaian War under General Hubert Lyautey, leading a column from Rabat to capture Khénifra.  Other columns were led by Lieutenant-Colonel Henri Claudel from Meknes and Colonel Noël Garnier-Duplessix from Kasbah Tadla.
caption: One of the Cuneiform Tello tablets
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