Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-21

there by centuries iof inhabitants. As they
went further downs proving with each spade
ful the history Of a Kingdom and people
that had for thousands OF years been
wrapped in impenetrable darkness they
found broken pieces OF the tablets or vases
on which temple records had been kept.
The cuneiform Inscription grew more
| primitive at every foot
| Hiprecht who knew that at one time the
| ounelform writing had had its origin In pic
| lures, felt sure that lbafore the bottom OF the
| vein was reached 1.-THE pictures would be
| found. The pits, two of them side by side,
and having total narea OF about one hun
| dred square yards, were sunk until they were
| thirty feet below the platform which formed
such an important milepost In computing
the passage OF ages, The broken clay came
to an end and all traces OF human life dis
| appeared
The excavators were now cutting into the
virgin clay of Babylonia and carrying out
earth that since the creation OF the world
had lain undisturbed by man. They had not
| yet unearthed writing in which the pictures
were whole, nor even the form In which
round objects were pictured in curved lines,
| a stage that must have preceded the time
when the straight strokes were used for all
| characters.
They found that the present desert level
was not the one that had existed in the early
days OF Nippur. There was an older desert
thirty feet or so below the present line, and
on this plain Nippur had been founded.
buI lHty lOuUu Inut lue OlutSl vi intSt
fragments, those taken from the bottom of
the pit were scratched with cuneiform char
| acters, dating 5000 years before Christ. Prof
iilprecht has no hesitation in stating this,
and adds that 1t Is based on a very con-
servatlve calculation. Sargon lived $500 d.
O., and high above his platform of bricks
the gradual action of the busy life of Nippur,
the industry of the inhabitants the accidents
or building changes, and the annual sand
storms had heaped forty feet of dirt and
debris before the opening of the Christian
era. Four thousand years, the professor
counts, was required TO pile those forty feet
OF earth. On that computation he thinks 1t
fair to suppose that the thirty feet of grad
ual deposit found under the platform was
5000 years in piing itself from the original
soil. Nippur was not always as busy and
as great as she was in Sargon's day and
in the days of his successors. Her beginning
may have been small. and the process of
the deposit thus much slower than IL was
In later years.
CONFIRMED BY EXPERTS.
So Hilprecht satisfies himself with stating
that the lower layers of the strata were
thrown there 1000 years before Sargon, and
nearly G,OO0 years before Christ. 1t may
have been very much earlier than that 1t
certainly was not later .
The world was not an infant even in those
days The earliest of the writings found
represent development that could not have
been reached in less than 1900 years How
long men lived without writing may never
be known but there is proof enough in the
results of the expedition to show that the
worshipers of Bel wrote on clay 5000 years
before Christ. Prof. Hilprecht makes the
statement advisedly. 1t is based on his
knowledge of cuneiform development, and
as there are barely half dozen men in the
world today who can compare with him in
that science, there will be few to dispute
his announcements.
a lie halt Of In, bis
few days ago, and 1t is published now
for the first time
Hilprecht believed 1t firmly when he wrote
the first volumes Of the report. but he
held 1t back until, after another years
study, his belief became a positive GER
tainty.
The deciphering of the inscriptions and
the piecing of the fragmentary text will be
the work of years. After poring over thou
sands of fragments of vases, marked by
him as the product OF a single century, the
professor became convinced that each vase
had borne the same inscription-a temple
history-and he set about restoring it.
The text when completed, was formed of
eighty-seven fragments, and had 1872 lines
of cunelform writing. Its translation oc-
cupied nearly a year.
"Hilprecht may well be proud" said Prof.
Sayce of Oxford, ''of the magnificent re-
suits he has achieved" and the other Euro
pean Archaeological, who with Sayce, is con-
sidered leader in the science, Hummel of
Munich added that mo other living AS
syriologist could equal such a contribution
to science"
AS it is, Hilprecht has added to history
about thirty new kings, previously unknown
to us, and has cleared up by his reconstruc-
tion of Babylonan history the exact rela-
tons OF the early Semitic dynasties to the
old Sumerian kings of Babylona.
CUNEIFoRMS OF VAST VALUE.
Prof. Hilprecht's summer work for the
lnG has hoo, tl,n
and organization of the Semitic and Hittite
sections of the Imperial Ottoman museum,
as an officer of the Turkish government. The
result of his work has been of incalcula-
BILE advantage to the University of Pennsyl-
vania. The Turkish law now forbids the
removal of any archaeological material from
the country, all antiquities being deposited
in the museum in Constantnople, but in
recognition of his work the sultan presented
him with more than sixty boxes of the an
tiquities that he chose as most valuable in
the expeditions find.
The university now has three times as
many cuneiform writings as all other Eu- |
ropean museums put together. None of
the tablets are from the latest expedition, |
the results of which have not yet reached |
Constantinople, being now en- route from |
Bassorah by way of Arabia and the Red |
sea. These in turn will have to be arranged |
and cataogued like all the other pieces in |
the museum, in two languages French and |
Turkish
Hilprecht has found time to hunt through |
the east for many other antiquities, and has |
brought home with him objects which are |
worth thousands. and which were bones of |
contention between the earnest representa-
tives of the greatest universities in Eu-
rope. Some came by devious ways, as
Turks are ever devious in matters of trade
and the most valuable pieces, therefore |
must not be photographed for fear of the
jealous measures that the German and |
French collectors might take. One of the
finds. among the most important, is a mar
BILE vase the only vase in existence dated
in the time of ArtaXerXes. 1t is valued
at S30OO and is inscribed in Median. in
cuneform and in Egyptian hier-
oglyphics. 1t was in private possession
and thrifty German buyers had for two
years been leisurely trying to lower its
price.
Prof. Hilprecht also bought for a song COM
paratiyely the Oldest cuneiform tablet in
existence, bearing the name Enkhegal one
Of the Oldest kings of the city and land of
Tello. Six rivals were working for the same
tablet, and the utmost delicacy had to be
used. 1t is worth at least $1,000.
For six years Prof. Hilprecht's special Sc
cret aim has been to find out the exact spot
In Asia Minor where the famous Cappadocian
tablets came from. To find the place he
made special tour in Asia Minor, using the
two branches of railroad as far as they went