, 1896-10-28
BABYLONIAN DISCOVERIES.
A Written Record Ten Thousand Years Old.

TIL discoveries made by two expeditions
that have been and are still working in Baby
lOnia, are (says the Constautinople correspon-
dent of The Dai1y ChTOnicte), certain to arouse
general interest. A French expulition has
for some time been Mt work at Toio, and has
been remarkably successful. But lie Ameri-
can expedition has produced even more re-
mankable results. At present the head of
the expedition is Professor Hllprccht, an
American who occupies a foremost place in
everything relating 10 Babyloniau arch8olc-
gy. Upon him las devoIved the t SIX Of elias
sifylng and de-. pherlng the enormous number
Of inscriptions which have been found at
Nippur. The labour Of piecing together the
thousands Of fragments Of vases md other
objects, and Of deciphcring the inscriptions
upon them, has during the past winter nearly
cost him his eyesight. He is at present III
Constantinople arranging and classifying the
lnscriptjoas and objects If priceless value,
which under the conditions IF the hrmon
become the property of the Impe.ill Museum.
The first and most notable res 1t of the
excavations is that the history Of The Baby
lonian people as recorded in cuneiform writ
inc on taolots is carried back at least two
thousand two hundred and fly years farther
than it had yet been known. Ia other words,
there is now abundant written evidence that
she Babylonian people existed, and were civil
Used enough to be able to write,
At Least Seven Thousand Years
before Christ.
Written records probably went back as far
az eight thousand years B. G., but in his pub
lished records he was unwilling to print any
thing which could not be amply borne out by
evidence. He explained that DR.. Peters, to
whOnn ho uttrihuf = OUaOt 0.olit 90. 4ba D,a
ner in which lie had opened out the great
mound at Nippur, had worked dowu to a Ger
tain floor, or platform, which be and others
had taken to be the ground level Of the
ancient city. One Of the party, however,
suggested that this level should be penetrated.
and digging continued until rock or virgin
soil was reached. This suggestion WINS adopt
cd, and to the delight Of all concerned it was
found that what had been taken for the level
of the ancient city was only The level of Il
comp atlvely modern city built over the
ruins of an older one OF q succession Of older
ones. The exCava; ions Above the level or
platform had gone through 36tt. of debris.
They were now continued to q depth Of soft.
below it. The excavations above the plat
form discovered remains which covered u
period of
Four thousand Years of Babylonian
History.
Below the platform to the virgin soil was an
accumulation of drains, preserved and broken
pottery, and various other objects of interest.
Twenty-Five feet Glow the platform Mr..
Hams came upon the most ancient keystone
arch known, an arch which Professor
Hilprecht thinks cannot be later than 5000
BIC. The lower part of the marvellous wall
was found 10 be loft. below the level of the
desert the wall itself was lift. high and
ASH. wide. Upon the top of this wall was
another of unknown height. These walls
were built of bricks 20in. square-probabIy
the largest bricks ever used. The most Val
liable fuds, however, we're the inscriptions
upon broken vases, bricks, tablets, and other
objects, and from these it is confidently pre-.