Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-12
LATE FINDS IN
ARCHAEOLOGY.
BY Frederic J. Haskin.

A translation of the oldest real estate
mortgage in the world has just been
made for President Charles W. Mark
ham of the Illinois Central railroad. The
ancient brick upon which the mortgage
was recorded was taken short time
| ago from Nippur, near ancient Babylon
| and is considered to be one of the most
| interesting archaeological finds ever made
| The brick is 2.243 years old and it is in
scribed with the terms of a mortgage
| upon an orchard in Babylon to secure
| loan made by a family of bankers VINO.
according to the inscription, financed all
| the big business deals OF that period. IN
Guiding those made by royalty
To the average person archaeology is
dry un;nteresting science. having no
| present-day Interest. The discovery OF
some small record ike this aiciel. hiust
gage indicates how thoToughiy the NE,
customs and habits of the ancient races
corresponded with our own. ArcheoloSS
has many practical sides. IT furnishes
the real basis for all historical knoWieuse
of ancient times. II may also serve 20
give hints TO the modern inventor II Is
well known that the ancients possessed
conveniences differing vastly from our
own The differences are not always IN
our favor. The speed and ease win
which horses were handled in olden times
are well established facts Consequently
their gearing and harness must nave
been we'll adapted to the purpose. \ New
York horse owner recently PAID a nigh
price for a set of brides of improved pat
tern guaranteed to control the horses
without injuring their tender NOUNS. -
few months later he visited Pompell-
Among the articles recovered there oy
the Psychologists were NUMBER OF
brides of precisely the same pattern as
those which had recently been patented
in the United States, and whlcn ne ha -.
purchased as quite the newest ideas IN
brides.
Until recently the study of archaeology
has been chiefly confined to the Ola
world The greatest amount OF eAca'd-
ton has been made in Egypt. Greece
italy and the Mediterranean lsiancs.
Studies in Switzerland. England, SCOT
land France and other parts OF Europe
are now revealing new facts apout races
whose existence had been absolutely uils
known In America the study OF
archaeology is yet in it's beginning, but
the ancient cities of Central America,
Mexico and the mountainous coast Oh
South America are yielding up ricn
treasures showing the development oi
the earlier peoples of the western con-
tnent
The building of one city upon the site
of another has been a frequent occur
renee in many
Cities Are Built parts of the
world. In vol
on Sites of Others. canic countries
where sudden eruption was likely to
submerge a city without warning, after
the manner of Pompeii and Herculaneum,
such a procedure is more easily under
stood than in region where the cities
,nt n 70 ha 11y
from view. In England and other parts
of Europe buried cities are not infre-
quent. Within the last three months the
archaeological world has been especially
interested in the uncovering of the an
cient city of Uriconium in Shropshire.
Uriconium was built by the Romans
during their occupancy of Britain. 1t
was situated on one of the principal
Roman roads and was undoubtedly an
important center of Roman-Britain life,
although it has lain buried for centuries.
The excavators have now completed the
circuit of the city, which measured about
three miles and inclosed an area of ITO
acres. which is twenty acres more than
Pompeii. The public baths and the ba-
silica have been uncovered. The latter is
an imposing building with a nave foored
with tiles in berr.ngbone pattern, with
geometrical resigns in mosaic. A temple
measuring ninety-fye by fifty-five feet,
with an entrance under a portico of six
columns. is being excavated now. Parts
of two affairs and some large pieces of
statuary are being recovered
A large building. with a front portico
upon the street lis feet long. has been
traced back to a length of 200 feet. This
building has many rooms. At least four
of them had hypocausts or hot air heat
ing apparatus. indicating that modern
ways of heating were not unknown to
the Romans, although the Saxons and
Normans, who followed them, had not
the art. for their ancestral castles were
cherries and cold excepting for the fires
which blazed in the fireplaces of their
great walls.
Interesting pieces of jewelry in gold.
silver, bronze. ivory, jet. glass and other
materials have been taken out. An anne
thyst gem exquisiteiy engraved with a
figure of Venus, bronze disk with the
device of an eagle holding fish, in diff
ferent-colored enamel: an ivory-handled
clasp knife in the form of a crouching
lion are among the most noteworthy Of
these treasures, which for centuries lay
buried under plowed fields and trodden