The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-02-17

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aHGSSSG OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES y s&Ss4Sssss
group of mounds little more than half
a mile in diameter. about the outer edge
q ridge somewhat higher than many OF
the inner mounds conceals the remains
of the ancient city wall.
Toward the northern end of the space
within the walls rises tower of mas
sive brickwork, which, though washed
by the rains of 400 winters since the
reign of Urgur, the king who built 1T,
is still in a fair state OF preservation
The upper OF it's three stories has dis
appeared; but the two lower, rising
seventy feet above the plain, remain.
Mr.. Taylor, while clearing the summit
of the tower, found the stairway which
led to the upper story; and ne dug
about the base among the chambers,
which We're filled with the rubbish of
long-paSt ages.
The other mounds of the group, like
most Babylonian ruins OF great
antiquity. are covered with fragments
of ancient pottery, so thickly scattered
that in places the ground beneath Is
invisible.
Here and there Mr.. Taylor dug below
the surface. In one mound near the
temple he uncovered a small square
building, Of which the ancient roof was
still in place. The sand and dirt had
filtered in through the doorway, filling
the one room of the house completely;
above it the dirt had accumulated, ana
thus protected the house has remained
intact Its roof is the only roof or
Babylonian house which time has not
destroyed.
In such a house in this very town
/ chi
were no windows in it, and the only
lsght entered by the doorway. There
was no rloor's save the well-trodden dirt
of the ground, l.r chairs or tables; for
then as now the oriental sat uNn Inc
ground, and only kings employed chairs
to raise them above the people.
The furnishings were simple; a reed
mat for the bed was spread at night
upon the floor, or in summertime upon
the roof; during the day it was rolled
up and stored away. A stone mortar
for grinding the grain, an earthen pot
for bringing the water from the river,
a stone knife, and a clay whorl COM
prised the greater part of the house
hold furnishings.
There was no fireplace in the house.
for there the sun supplies heat in
abundance, and then as now the oven
for baking the bread was like a huge
stationary pot built of mud in the
street.
AN ANCIENT CEMETERY.
Equally interesting with the houses
of the living were the graves OF the
dead. Protected by the ruins above
them. many of the graves have remain
ed in state of perfect preservation.
f1ynr 70 a M
vault, though not of hewn stone, but
of unbaked bricks of mud. which, if
protected from the influence of the
weather, endure forever. They were
miniature houses, about seven feet long
and four feet in width and height.
The Babylonian of Ur rarefully pre-
pared the ground for a cemetery, sur
rounded 1t with a wall, and undertake
IL with tiles to drain away all moisture.
The body was laid upon the level
ground thus prepared; the arms and
feet were placed in the required posi-
ton: and the brick-mason, who then
played an important part in the cere-
mony. began to build the tiny house
about the dead. At his side was pile
of sun-dried bricks and some damp mud
for mortar.
Quickly building the walls about the
body to a few inches in height he placed
the clay vessels of various shapes and
sizes. containing food and drink for the
shirt of the dead. within. Then the
having of the bricks was continued TO
the customary height. To form the roof,
each of the side courses of bricks was
set in, gradually nearing each other,
and covering the grave, until hnalIy the
one top course shut out the light, the
rain. and even the air.
Thus buried, even the fragile pottery
in the little houselike graves mas re-
r,ained uninjured during ali of the
thousands of years since Abraham left
JJr. In one such grave Mr.. Taylor
found the skeleton lying upon reed
mat. with a reed basket at the feet,