The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-28
EXCAVATIONS BY
GERMANS UNCOVER
BABYLON|AN CITIES
Work Started in 1899 and
Still Continues-How
Nebuchadnezzar
Lived

iiisliis III the MeSopotamian valley began
in 1899, and are still continued, says the
Scientific American. The ruins of several
Babylonian cities, Abu Habba, Fara,
Babylon and of the Assyrian capital As
sur, have been uncovered in a most sys-
tematic manner. The results have been
measer IN some of the ruins; in others
they have been of the greatest archeolog-
ical Importance. The general oversgh.
of the entire field has been in the hands
of DR.. Robert Koldewey. an architect.
who has personally superintended the ex-
cavatlon work. He has been assisted by
several psychologists and architects; of
these, DIR. Maresh, now In charge of the
work at Assur, deserves great credit. The
funds for the support of the excavation
nave been provided by the Deutsche Ori-
entgesellschaft, to which the German En-
peror has been a liberal contributor This
German activity in Mesopotamia far sur
passes that of any other nation, which
activity may be due to the fact that the
German government would increase its
influence In that part of the world per-
maps with the hope that when the German
railroad crosses the northern desert to
Bagdad shall have been completed this
land of mineral wealth and of ancient
ruins may be practically German territory.
Abu Habba, small ruin in Central
Babylonia, and Fara, few miles farther
south. were the first to attract the Ger
man excavators; the results at these two
ancient sites were comparatively insigniff-
cant. At Abu Habba trenches revealed
scarcely more than the walls of the houses
from middle period of Babylonian his
tory, and the work was soon abandoned.
AT Fara, a low mound, half a mile in
length and about half as wide, work was
continued for about nine months, with a
force of 200 men. Beginning at the end of
the ruins trenches about 10 feet wide and
five feet deep and a few yards apart were
dug entirely across the mound, and when
ever the walls of a house appeared they
were followed until the nature of the
structure was revealed. The results were
few. An abundance of pottery, some
marble vases, vertical drains of tiles and
wells only were discovered. Finally, when
the system of trenches had been carried
the entire length of the mound, a large
palace of an exceedingly early age ap-
peared. In the chambers were several
large clay tablets, covered with primi-
tive cuneiform characters. 1t happened
that in a fight during the work an Arab
was killed, Whereupon the eXcavators
were stopped by the Turkish government
The inscriptions revealed the ancient
name of the city as Shurippak, the scene
of the Babylonian story of the flood which
appears In the Gilgamish epic.
"A valuable discovery at Fara was a
large arch sewer beneath the city. Though
we have long been taught that the arch
was of Roman origin, the arch of this
sewer was perfect and symmetrical, and
from an age not far from $500 b. c., when
the pre-Semitic Summerians occupied the
land. The bricks used in its construction
were plano-conVeX, resembling in shape
and size a small loaf of bread. They
were burned to a dark red. The plane
convex bricks appear to have been the
first burned bricks ever employed.
Could the excavations have continued a
few weeks longer, more remarkable dis
coveries might have resulted. However,
the Germans then turned their attention
to the ruins of Babylon ON the left bank
of the Euphraets, 20 miles south of Bag
dad. Unlike most Babylonian cities, the
site of Babylon had never been quite for
gotten. Travellers of every age have de-
scribed it. Nearly a century ago large
square bricks bearing cuneiform mscrip-
tions with the name of Nebuchadnezzar
were taken to the British Museum, and
the ruins have long been a profitable
source of revenue to the Arabs who
searched among them for bricks Hiliah.
a city of 10000 people, is constructed of
them. The courtyards of the houses and
a large city square are paved with them:
they have been employed In the construc-
tion of an irrigating dam across the Eu-
pirates. and still the supply seems mex
haustible
The ruins of Babylon consist of three
large and several small mounds Sur
rounding them is ridge of dirt, reaching
in places to a considerable height, and
representing the city walls Hereadotus
10 lie xxrnr Ii or
feet wide. Other writer's claim that they
We're from AZ to 56 miles in circuit that
they were surrounded with $50 towers
and pierced with 100 gateways with gates
of bronze. Though the Germans have at
tempted to trace the walls throughout
their extent, they have but partly sue
ceeded, yet it seems that the ancient writ
ers were fairly accurate in their descrip-
tions.
OF the three larger mounds. Babel, the
one to the north, still retains its an
c1ent name. Square in shape, it rises to
height of 100 feet. Specially here have the
Arabs long been digging for bricks. The
Germans have paid little attention to this
mound, except to examine the walls
which the Arabs have uncovered. Dr.
Koldewey believes that an ancient struc-
ture, which gave rise to the biblical story
of the Tower of Babel stood there. At
the base the Arab diggers have devealed
the huge arches of passageways leading
through the mound. and they have led
some scholars to believe that they sup
ported the famous banking gardens of
Babylon. 1t is supposed that the over
hanging foliage of the several terraces
had the appearance of being suspended
in the air.
The central of the three large mounds is
the Kasr, or the fortress so named
by the Arabs because of the massive
walls which have always projected from
the surface. Here the Germans have made
their most remarkable discoveries. 1t is
the custom of the Germans to employ
force of 200 men the year round. The
men are divided into gangs of II each AT
the head of the gang is the pickman,
who loosens the dirt: his pay is 20 cents
a day. With him are three men with tri-
angular hoes who scrape the dirt into bas-
kets; their pay is 16 cents a day. The
remaining eight men of the gang are
basket men who carry the dirt from the
trenches to the dump the car: their
pay is u cents a day. Small children are
employed at the rate of cents a day
1t is only at Babylon that narrow iron
track, with small push cars TO carry dirt
to the edge of the mound, has even been
employed In Babylonia.
The antiquities discovered in the Kasr
Rave not been so ancient as the Germans
when compared with other Babylonian
show and you'll have them at your
feet"
Lady Churston's plan was to get
popular with the people of the neigh
borhood. II drank tea with the cot