New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-10-11
NINE THOUSAND YEARS OLD.
REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES BY TWO
EXPEDITIONS IN BABYLONIA.
GREAT SUCCESS ATTENDING THE WORK OF THD
AMERICAN PARTY UNDER THE REV. DR.
PETERS AND PROFESSOR HILPREcHr-
RECORDS GOING BACK TO 1000 b. c.

PETERS AND PROFESSOR HIlPhEChr-
RECORDS GOING BACK TO 1000 B. C.
From The London Daily News.
Our Constantinople correspondent writes: Tne
been and are still working in Babyiona certain
to general interest. A French expedtlon mas
rem remsTHably SUCCESSFUL" But the American exped
ton has produced even more e ean1nr:
the he m n, Of Npp"r Or NiHr was granted eight
years ago. II was at Nppur where Sir Henry, tneS
e ra yar' Psary Ssl OF
took expedition at Its own expense. and the Rev.
Of csrh i'm at q
an exploring party intended TO excavate al Nippur
been u tutor in Robert College and who still con:
tihues connected with the explorations =. presens
American. who occupies foremost place IN every
thing relating to Babyonian archaeology Ipon
eiphering the enormous number OF inscription:
which have been found az Nippur. The LABOR OF
vases and other objects and OF decipherng the In
scriptions apOn them. has during the last winter
recovering. and ' is at present in Constaninope ar
ranging AMI classifying the inscriptions ana oDlecu
Museum sia "in1'' "'' ''''' '"e ''''e'''
years before the Pennsylvania University will be
able to publish all the inscriptions which have been
and gives promise OF rich harvest The first and
most notable result Of the excavations Is that the
cuneiform writing on tablets; is carried back At
least two thousand two hundred and NIFTY years
words there Is now abundant written evidence that
the Babylonian people existed and were civiIlsed
Years. before christ In with the pro-
lessor who in all matters Of archaeology Is eau
that. in his judgment: they probably went back a:
records he unwilling to print anything which
could not be amply borne out by evidence. To have
had ha,L s,rittn htcfn vatA ST.
years u.s. however enough to make a reputation. In
reply my inquiry how it happened that his prede-
to this early period he explained that Dr. Peters 10
whom he attributed great credit for the manner in
pub had worked down to certain floor plat
form which he and. others had taken to be the
however. suggested that this level should be pene
trated and digging GSntinued unit! rock or virgin
and TO the delight Of all concerned Il found that
what had been taken for the level Of the ancient
city was only the level OF comparatively modern
city built the ruins OF an older one or success.
sion Of older ones. The excavations above the level
bris They were now continued to depth OF thirty
% it. Ths aS0y ns Of %
years of Babylonian history Below the platform
ana Broken pottery and various OBJ
ects OF interest Twenty-three feet below the plat
STONE arch known. ' an arch Witch professor HI
prccht thinks cannot be later than 300 Il. 4. Last
In con- work. S0 NppuT tho
lower part Of the marvellous wall of the city Its
foundato found to be sixteen feet below the
level OF the desert. the wall itself seventeen
feet high and forty five feet wide. Upon the top OF
this wall 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 bricks tablets and other objects. and
from these II is confidently predicted by Professor
Hilprecht that a continuous history OF Babylonsm
will be able to be written
Among the recent finds Of the French expedition
which has been and IL still working at Telo
number OF dated cureiform tablets Of Sargon and
OF his son. Naram-Sin. These have reached
Constantinople and within the last two months
have been submitted to the examination OF NJ
IieiZey. director Of the Museum OF the Louvre and
| OF Professor Hiiprecht who has been retained by
| the Turkish Government to decipher and classify
the objects found by both expeditions. BY this i'm.
porant find all questions as to the mythical char
acter OF SargOn are put end TO. and he Is shown
to have been real person The contents Of the
called Oman tablet definitely decided to be his
| torical and not mythical One of the new tablets
speaks Of the year when Sargon marched against
Palestine tMartu). This was $500 b. c. Even were
no other finds to be made the Inscriptions gathered
knowledge possessed Of the history and civilization
every to suppose that there exists untold
store OF archaeological riches buried along the
shores Of the Euphrates and Tigris Books tho
subject which were up to date three years ago al
ready require revision. and there is reason to be-
lieve that the efforts which the Americans and the
| French making In a field first opened by Layard
Will be amply rewarded"