Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-10-27
Ruins of Ancient Nippur Carry Us
Back Seventy Centuries.
IT Was A NOBLE CITY, EVEN THEN
Amazing Results of Prof. Hill
precht's Excavations.
AN EARLY CIVILIZATION


arrived in New York city brought a mes
sage from the beginnings of civilization
through Prof II. V. Hilprecht Of the Uni
yersfiy Of Pennsylvania. whose remarkable
discoveries on the site of ancient Nippur
have been of such great archaeological
value and interest 1t is fully expected
that his report of what he has found in old
Babylonia in his most recent excavations
will project the history of mankind back
ward into the past several thousand years
beyond the beginnings heretofore assigned
to it.
Enough Information from the work at
Nippur has found It's way to Philadelphia
to show that ten thousand years ago tcen-
turtles prior to the old time date of the ere
atom there existed a civilization as com
prehensiye as our own: commercial sys-
tenn built on modern lines" an exalted
patronage of art and letters; far-seeing
appreciation of the good opinion of poster
ity: people then went to war on the same
pretexts that animate modern armies; they
had libraries in which were dictionaries
histories, etc, public museums IN Whcn
were paintings, sculpture, archaeologicai
specimens; they used machinery for making
earthen pots and platters: they did exqui-
site enameling: their architecture included
palaces at least two stories high. covering
the extent of a modern city block and hay
ing drainage system in which reSem-
blance in principle to some recorded pat
e. enIs can be traced; their scientists studied
astronomy and speCulated on the move
ments Of the stars; the educated went in
for special religious cults and looked down
upon those Dagans who We're without the
law. the rich Wore jewelry which a modern
goldsmith might be proud to make. and
they lived in the cities during the season.
leaving their estate in the malarious coun-
try districts to the care of agents.
But most marvellous Of all with the evil
den - that this ancient civilization differed
Inn L. from =
belief that then it was very old; that
in fact, it must already have been in pro-
cess Of formation as many years as have
elapsed between that day and our day.
The Man and His Work.
Naturally. the iiscoverer of this old world
holds an exalted place among archaeolo-
gistS Already he has been honored in Eu-
rope by the Sultan of Turkey, who has con-
ferred a decoration upon him, and by the
German universities. which are wing with
one another in fattcring offers of profess
sorship and doCturates. Now, Prof Hill
these Teutonic favOrs, which have come
from the emperor down. must he very
tempting to him. But in spite of them he
has declared his allegiance To his American
college, and the gain to the latter can be
gagged from the fact that he has declared
the mounds of Nippur to be 50 extensive
that at least a dozen years will be- re-
qulrrd to complete the work of excavation.
The man is as interesting as his work, for
the latter is the direct result of his per
Sruality.
The mounds Of Nipour We're known to
students perhaps before Hilprecht was
born. ana even after they opened and
some Of their contents scrutinized their i'm
prTIauce was not fully realized until this
almost unknown student pieCcd the frag
nruts into a wonderful mosaic of the
early history Of the world. And since then
it has been his aStutc diplomacy. his unfail-
ing courage and his scientific aCumen which
have br Ugat forth this veritable sermon
in stones triumphing over many difficulties
Other seats of learning in other countries
have striven nightly to win the Ottoman
consent To their delving in Nippur. The
digging is carried on in the midst Of war
ring tribes Of Arabs, who gallop suddenly
over the desert and attack the explorers.
compelling them to scurry to their fortified
castle, built Of bricks taken from the tenn
pie Of SdTgpu, who lived $500 3. G.. and
from there to beat off the besigers until
help can arrive in the form of tie Turkish
police.
These bricks meaningless t. all of the
party until Hilprecht can scan them one by
one and read the story which the ancient
scribe has stamped in curious Cuneifurm
script. s. in his threefoId capacity Prof
EipreCht has been the life Of the expedi-
tiua. and hence not only To the world of
Archaeology. but t. the world in general
mis- coming will be an event Of Importance,
since what he has learned is the link which
connects us with the remote past.
Wonderful Finds.
81. in anticipation of the tale he will
tell. the scholars are brushing up on his
past achievements. 1t Is a Fascinating
story, and here are its outlines: Ancient
NivPur, or, as it was called during the
days Of its prosperity, kengi. is situated
Oh = iuHrShy plain i'll MeSOpotamia. about
tw" days ride on horseback from Bagdad.
When the explorers first went there they
saw only great mounds of sand. acres and
acres in extent. rising out of the plain.
Arab tribes had their camps among these
il, Ill
r"wtd into the piles short distances in
quest Of the curious tablets which occa-
sI"ualy cropped out on the surface and
which brought small sum from dealers
III '"nSt;tntinuPlc and elsewhere. Some of
thes" Arabs were employed at sums g,reate err
than they mad ever earned for like periods
IN their lives !" dig into the mines and
carry IN" sand away in baskets and DUMP
II IN tn" marsh far out on the plain
rom an arid waste the place came to
tax" on an air of busting activity. and
tablets ard other things that had been
buried for centuries began to he found In
AN abundance that surprised and delighted
the explorers
ON the surfaCe of the sand piles were
found pottery and small objects of various
character, some of which Were lettered in
way 20 let the scientists know that they
nae been dropped by the Jews. who lived
on IN" mound in the manner of the present
1a! Arab as late as 500 A. ID. But once the
hrSt layer of sand was removed and old
picked up showed the excavators that they
We're AMID the ruins OF u city which evil
gently fuurtshed centuries before Christ
BriCks were picked up marked Ashurbana-
PAL, a king who lived prior to 600 r. c.
me value of this find was eclipsed how
ever, by the discovery of objects which
evidently belonged to the reign of one King
hstueshinan- Turgu. who iiourished lIop n
( scattered around in profusion were the
remains OF many objects belonging to that
ulhe. ANA when the find was announced
with the many evidences of the culture a nd
progress of the time, the world in general
compared II easily with the Greek and
R"rlan chronology. and found it NOT So
hard 70 look back these few additionaI
years.
still More Remarkable
But further along in the report II Was
stated that below the temple platform IN
which the relics were found We're ais.
covered the remains of another temnIa
which must have been built in the reign .,
King Cr-Gur many centuries before Abra.
ham. the founder of the Jewish nation W
Dorm Then the world wondered There
was very little, unless it might be ms
creation itself, to compare with this. AnG
later, when the platform OF Ur-Gur had