Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-07-01
FOUND IN PERSIA,
rrehch Government Excavations Lend
to Remarkable Results

| From the London Post
The publication by the French govern
| ment of the first memoir bv NJ de Morgan
| on ms recent explorations at Susa has
| marked an epoch in oriental archaeology
| or ABOUT 1--WE years the expedition of which
| ne was the head has been engaged on the
site or the ancient Persian capital, and the
p! results have far exceeded the expectations
| which had been formed. The work of for
| mer explorers had been hitherto confined to
| the larger of the two tumuli at Shastu, the
modern name of the locality. Here Ken
| meth Lotus in 1851 and NJ. Dienlafoy in
| 1881 FOUND the remains of the apatianas or
coored halls in the palaces of Darius Hvs-
| taSpes and ArtaXerXes; and NJ. Dienlafoy
obtained the fine series of SCULPTURES which
| now adorn the Susanian rooms in the
| Louvre. 1t was evident that the smaller or
western mound marked the site of the older
city DESTROYED by AsurbanipaI Go b. c. The
attention of the recent expedition was ac-
cordingly directed to this spot
NJ. de Morgan had been trained as a min
ing engineer, and his knowledge OF the geo
logical law of stratiffcation served him in
good stead. He began his labors by max
ing series of test tunnels. These were run
into the mound from the base of virgin soil
at regular levels. The result was that
he found the traces of no less than five dis
tlnct settlements on the site. Commencing
from the upper part, We have first Graeco-
hartman layer of remains, dating about 800
300 b. c.; below this the remains of the
PERSIAN Achaemenian settlement, 3. C.
tOo-3Oo; and beneath this again, the older
city. almost wholly destroyed in $40 B. c.
These explorations reveal the important fact
that, though the city was pillaged, burned
with hre and the palaces wrecked by Asur-
banipal in his terrible campai ign of vengeance,
1t was, nevertheless, not totally destroyed;
and there was found among the debris a
cylinder of Nebuchadnezzar the Great.
which shows that the city was occupied
during the time of the Jewish captivity, and
that It is quite possible Daniel may have
visited it. The popular tradition is that the
great prophet of exile was buried at Susa. |
The city which was destroyed by the As
syrians probably dates from about 1900 B. |
c., as bricks of the Kassite rulers of Baby |
lonia We're discovered there.
One of the most valuable discoveries made i
by NJ. de Morgan is that of the record /
chambers of the palace in which were |
found number of important Inscriptions. |
Among these were several boundary stones. |
containing grants Of land to officials or royal |
relatives. The kasSite rulers, who con-
Quered Babylonia about 1900 b. c. and held
1t for several centuries, gave large grants |
OF land to their subjects, and as they APP
pear at the same time to have become mas
ters of Susa the charters were deposited
there. Those grants are specially interest
ing for the records of the feudal rights as
we'll as the privileges which the king had
accorded to his favorites. Thus, in one of
the finest of these termini King Malisikhu
grants to his faithful servant Merodach-
IodldNdn, pfoDdb1S his son, d IuSe estate,
and with it gives curious privilege of ex
emption from the work of the corvee. This
inscription is most valuable, as it supplies
the whole details of the corvee system in
Babylonia. In this chamber were found in
scriptions of a much older date the most
important being a fine STEELE of Naram-sin,
son of Sargon, $3.50 B. C. This monument
proves incontestably the historical charac- |
ter of these ancient rulers. The king is
wearing a horned helmet and
armed with bow and spear. He has a
Semitic type. The royal warrior has his
foot a dead foe, while another falls
wounded and tries to draw an arrow
from his breast. 1t is extraordinary to
chaic age. In Babyionia have been found
tablets-now in the museum at Constan-
from the time of these |
campaigns, proving that the reigns of Sar-
gon and his son are no mere fiction.
M. de Morgan discovered on the site ex-
plored by him extensive deposit of |
ashes, indicating that there had been a col
lection of wooden hutS which had been de- |
stroyed by fire. In this deposit We're found |
enormous numbers of flint teeth of sickles, {
the wooden framework gone. AS these |
We're lying In heaps. it is probable that
they were left there by the inhabitants
who had used them to harvest the grain |
in the rich and fertile plain of the Karum |
and Dizful, now one of the most fertile ,
regions of western Persia No metal was
found in the settlement, and the only
were stone maces. similar to
hose found in Chaldea, but uninscribed. | {
The pottery was handmade and many ,
vases of large size were decorated with
patterns. Even below this was Z
discovered a still older settlement, some
thirty. feet above virgin soil, with rude
flint implements and handmade pottery. |
The historic city was about fifteen feet
below the surface. What date is to be {
assigned to these most primitive settle l
nents 1t is impossible to decide. NJ de
Morgan has not yet worked up all the {
material he has obtained, but he is to be
congratulated on having achieved one Of |
he most important pieces of oriental ex- )
,loratton of recent years, and DIR. Schell | i
his Assyriological collaboration, is to be
praised for the careful manner in which | 7
lie has edited these extremely difficult |
Inscriptions which have been unearthed | !
n these successful excavations