Evening star., 1924-12-07
SEARCHERS REVEAL
CITY OF ANTIQUITY
Ancient Palace OF KiSh, Near
Babylon, Believed 1000
Years Old.
Correspondence of The Star and New York
World

World.
OXFORD, England, November 22-
The oxford and Field Museum expe-
dition to Babylon, which returned
from Basra in April, and has since
been engaged on research work in
connection with its discoveries, has
succeeded, it's director believes, In
discovering architectural monuments
10 human civilization older than any
previously known, either in Egypt or
EIesopotamia. 1t has succeeded in
unearthing, 8 miles from Babylon,
the city of kish, seat of the first
Kings of Babylon. and dating back
into inconceivable antiquity.
The discovery is the more promis-
tng because the city itself, with its
ireat palace has not been built over,
tnd the debris which has accumulated
around them has acted the guar
dian of their treasures. The remains,
which include the oldest stairway in
the world and the only great series
of brick-built pillars ever found in
Mesopotamia, stand several feet
above the original ground level when
eNcavated. Some 800 natives served
the eXcavators as assistants.
Age Placed MT 5000 II. c.
The founding of Kish was dated by
rhe Babylonians to what would
mount to $4,000 Is. c., and although
fhis greatly exceeds probability, Prof.
Iangdon, the director, puts it as far
back as 5000 or 5000 B. c. Whether
.r not It was, as it's inhabitants be-
1eVed the first city to be built after
the great food which swept away
everything, it was certainly the oldest
"S any Babylon city known to modern
Archaeology. The records found
claim a dynasty of 23 Kings whose
Ieigns added up to no less than $4,000.
some of them ruling as long as 1900
years.
Great as was the interest of the city,
the chief discoveries were made in
and about the great palace, where
the Kings lived and from which they
1neted out justice. 1t was built of
Sery small bricks, biscuit shaped and
with convex tops, and these were
perfectly preserved not only in the
.sreat wall of the palace but in the
magnificent stairway which led from
ne great courtyard and was fianked
Sy a wall built into alcoves.
Before the throneroom, runnin g
east and west, was an imposing col
onnade of brick pillars, the only one
of it's kind ever found in Mesopotamia
and forming the front of the court
where the disputes of the day were
Judged by the King or his old men.
Inside the throneroom were many
exquistely worked plaques, measur-
ing uniformly three feet by two, and
placed round the room to form a
decorative frieze, in which were seen
the successful expeditions of the
Kings against other cities.
Old Questions Settled.
So skillful was the sculpture in
these that many points hitherto left
fnr
ample, the fact that the people of
-&ish and the captives from foreign
cities both belong to the Sumerian or
round-headed race, and not to the Sc
nitic race. Both their chins and
their upper lips were shaven. unlike
those of the Semites and the axis of
he eye was outward and down
ward, not horizontally, as in the
Semites and modern Eurasians. 9th
"rs of the plaques were sculptured
into magnificent reliefs depicting the
return of the cattle from the fields to
the milking yards and the processes
of agriculture.
The earliest piece of human writing
ever discovered, the director believes,
was found near the throne itself. 1t
was a prfect example of Photograph
work, in which the idea of the head
or a hand or anything else was rep
resented by a small but wonderfully
clear drawing of it. The purport of
this example was a list of slaves in
the palace, with some notes by the
scribes indicating those who were IN
service and those who were absent.
Equally interesting were the traces
OF burial, which were very complete
There were no tombs and the bones
of the dead were found shrouded only
IN reed mats, lying on their sides,
with one hand beneath the cheek and
the knee slightly drawn up, as if In
sleep. the other hand extended toward
a cup of water Near the wrists
were exquisitely wrought cylindrical
seals carved into representations Of
warlike or hunting or civil or pas
toral scenes, many of them depicting
the herds being attacked by lions
and rescued by hunters.
The repetition of the figure of an
eagle standing with outstretched
wings, with one claw on each of two
lions, both facing outward, suggested
this was the coat of arms of the city.
People of Armenia's Type.
The belief entertained for many
years by Prof. Langdon, that the Su
2nerians were of the Armenoid type
and were the earlier and more intel
1ectually developed of the two Meso-
potamian races, as we'll as being the
Inventors OF WrlLlnB, l1IurBlcal WOE-
ship and law, was confirmed again
some weeks since, when skulls
brought to oxford for examination by
the department of comparative anat-
omy proved to be of the same type as
the heads on the plaques
The religion of the Armenoids was
closely bound up with the notion of
an all bountiful earth, or Mother
Goddess. who presided over child
birth and watched over man from the
cradle to the grave. making his fields
productive, giving him prosperity and
represented, indeed. as putting the
breath of life into his body, which she
made from the clay. Representations
Of this Mother Goddess were found
nodded upon the handles of the
oldest water jars on which handles
have ever been found, containing
several gallons of water for the de-
ceased in the passage of their souls.
For their food vessel hitherto un-
known to ceramics was used-a tall
vessel like Il champagne vase in ap-
pearance. but in reality a plate eie-
vated upon a stem which contained
! heater to keep the food warm. Ex-
amples of these new types of ceramic
pottery have been secured. with many