Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-07

lll4-l4lo-lAlS douglas ST.
Order hard coal before advance Coutant
& squires, lace Farnam Tel. $3.50.
NINE THOUSAND YEARS OLD.
Recent Discoveries Made by Amcri-
cans In Bnbylonin.
The Constantinople correspondent of the
London Daily News writes: THE discover
les made by two expeditions that have been
and are still working in Babylonia are GER
tain to arouse general interest. French
expedition has for some time been at work
at Telo. and has been remarkably successful
But the American expedition has produced
even more remarkable results. The iirman
authorizing the Americans to explore the
mound of Nippur, or Niifur, was granted
eight years ago. 1t was at Nippur where
Sir Henry, then Mr. Layard nearly lost his
life from the attacks of the Arabs. The
University of Pennsylvania undertook al
expedition at its own expense, and Rev. DR..
Peters, an Episcopal clergyman, now in
charge Of a church in New York, was placed
at the head of an exploring party intended
to eXCavate at Nippur. He was aided by
Mr.. Haines, a young man who had been
tutor In Roberts college, and who Is still
connected with the explorations. At present
the head OF the expedition is Prof Hilprecht,
an American. who occupies a foremost place
in everything relating to Babylonian archae
ology. Upon him has devolved the task of
classifying and deciphering the enormous
number of inscriptions which have been
found at Nippur. The labor of piecing to-
gether the thousands of fragments of vases
and other objects, and OF deciphering the
! Inscriptions upon them, has during the last
winter nearly cost him his eyesight. Hap
PLY he Is now recovering and is at present
in Constantinople arranging and classifying
the inscriptions and objects of priceless
value which, under the conditions OF the
| firman, become the property of the Imperial
museum
Prof. Hilprecht Informed me that 1t will
| be years before the Pennsylvania university
| Will be able to publish all the inscriptions
which have been deciphered, but the publ
cation has already begun. and gives promise
| OF rich harvest The first and most nota-
BILE result OF the excavations is that the
| history of the Babylonian people, as re-
corded In cuneiform writing on tablets, Is
| carried back at least $3.50 years further than
1t had yet been known In other words,
| there Is now abundant written evidence that
the Babylonian people existed and were
| civilized enough to be able to write at least
| 1000 years before Christ. In conversation
with the professor, who in all matters of
archaeology is cautious l asked whether
he could say that the written records did
his judgment, they probably went as far
| back as 5000 years b. c., but that in his
| published records he was unwilling to print
| anything which could not be amply borne
| out ny evidence. 10 nave pushed DaCk
| written history at one stroke by $3.50 years
is, however, enough to make a reputation.
| In reply to my inquiry how II happened
| that his predecessor had not found the many
| objects belonging to this early period, he
| explained that DR.. Peters, to whom he at
| tributed great credit for the manner in
| which he had opened out the great mound
| at Nippur had worked down to a certain
| floor or platform which he and others had
| taken to be tha ground level of the ancient
| pity One Of the hnWpynr Cd
| that this level should be penetrated, and
| digging continued until rock or virgin soil
was reached This suggestion was adopted
! 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 a comparatively modern city built over
| the ruins of an older one or a succession
| OF older ones.
The excavations above the level or plat
form had gone through thirty-six feet Of
| debris. They were now continued to a
! depth Of thirty feet below II. The eXcaya-
| tions above the platform discovered remains
| which covered a period Of 900 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
three feet below the platform Mr. Haines
came upon the most ancient keystone arch
| known, an arch which Prof. Hilprecht thinks
cannot be later than 5000 b. G. Last sum-
mer Mr.. Haines who has spent the last
three years in continuous work at Nippur,
| excavated the lower part of the marvellous
| wall of the city. Its foundations were found
| to be sixteen feet below the level of the
| desert; the wall itself was seventeen feet
high and forty-five feet wide. Upon the
top Of this wall was another of unknown
height. These walls were built of bricks
twenty inches square-probably the largest
bricks ever used. The most valuable finds.
| however were the inscriptions upon broken
| nj har oh 4
from these 1t is confidently predicted by
Prof. Hilprecht that a continuous history
of Babylonism will be able to be written.
among the recent finds of the French
expedition which has been and Is still work
ing at TelO are number of dated cuneiform
tablets of Sargon l and of his son. Naram-
Sin. These have now reached Constantine
pie. and within the last two months have
been submitted to the examination of NJ
Heuzey, director of the Museum of the
Louvre and of Prof Hilprecht, who has been
retained by the Turkish government to de-
cipher and classify the objects found by
both expeditions By this important find all
questions as to the mythical character OF
Sargon are put an end to- and he is shown
to have been a real person. The contents
OF the so-called Oman tablet are definitely
decided to be historical and not mythical.
One OF the new tablets speaks of the year
when Sargon marched against@ Palestine
(Martu). This was $500 b. C. Even were
| no other mus 10 De maue, the inscriptions
gathered by the two expeditions will add
largely to the knowledge possessed OF the
history and civilization OF Babylorla. The
truth is, however, that there is every reason
to suppose that thoro exists an untold store
OF archaeological riches buried along the
shores OF the Euphrates and Tigris. Books
on the subject which were up to date three
years ago already require revision, and there
is reason to believe that the efforts which
! the Americans and the French are making
In field first opened by Layard will be
amply rewarded"
The popularity OF Salvation oil is not as
tonshing when we hear of its many cures.
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