Smyrna times., 1933-03-29
FINE STONE
AGE VILLAGE
Expedition to Persia Yields
Two Most Remarkable
Discoveries
SPAN OF 1000 YEARS

Ehicago.-TwO chapters in the
epic of human advance over span
or nearly four thousand years from
the remote Stone age to the mag
nificence of Cyrus the Great have
been dramatically revealed by dis
coveries of the Persion expedition
OF the Oriental institute of the uni
yersity of Chicago, which have just
been reported to Director James
Henry Breasted BY DR.. Ernst Herr
field, field director Of the expedi-
tton.
At Persepolis, the Versailles Of
ancient Persia, the institute eXpedi-
tion has discovered some of the
most magnificent sculptures ever
uncovered by archaeology. Within
two miles of the ruins of the an
cient palaces to which Alexander
the Great in $50 B. O., set the torch
during a drunken debauch, Doctor
Herzfeld has found a Stone age
village of approximately 1000 B. @.
in a state of preservation surpass-
ing any such discovery heretofore
made.
THE discovery at Persepolis is
one of the greatest and most impor-
tant in the history of archaeological
research" Doctor Breasted said.
'It not only far surpasses any ar
theological disclosure ever made in
the history of such research in Per-
sia, but there has never been any
discovery like it anywhere in west
ern Asia since archaeological exca-
walton began there almost a cen
tury ago"
Wall Sculptures.
Doctor Herzfeld has uncovered a
series of wall sculptures which. if
set together, would form a vast
panel of reliefs five or six feet in
height, and almost a thousand feet
in length. The carvings include a
series of historical inscriptions of
the greatest historical Importance.
The walls of magnificent palaces
which stood on the gigantic terrace
Of Persepolis, overlooking a mighty
plain encircled by mountains, were
Of sun-dried brick. But the colon
naded halls, the windows. and the
great doors were done in black
stone which was polished like
ebony.
The sculptures We're done here
and there in this black stone
Those discovered BY Doctor Herr
field depict a magnificent durbar. or
conclave, Of a great group Of Per
sian and Median officials standing
with the brilliantly uniformed pal
ace guards Of the Persian emperor
drawn up at one side to receive
the ambassadors of twenty-five sub
ject nations who approach from the
other side bearing their tribute to
Persia.
The execution of the scenes. Doc
tor Herzfeld reports, displays un-
parelleled beauty and refinement Of
detail.
1t was the disintegration and fall
of the great mud-brick walls that
preserved the newly discovered
sculptures. and protected them
from the ravages Of weather and
vandalism through the nearly two
thousand five hundred years since
they were created. The carvings
are as fresh as the day when the
sculptOrs' chisels touched them for
the last time. No other works Of
old Persian art have ever been
found in such perfect preservation.
Stone Age Village.
Doctor Hergfeld found the Stone
age village beneath a small mound
some three hundred by six hun
dred feet in area and only ten or
twelve feet in height, within two
miles Of the ruins of the great pal
aces.
The walls Of the adobe houses
are preserved in places to a height
Of six or seven feet. There is a
narrow street or alley extending
the length Of the little settlement,
and a modern visitor walking along
II can look over into the houses.
Through the doors and the earliest
known windows ever found, he can
see mural decorations Of red ochre
water color still discernible Oh the
walls.
Standing about on the floors are
household utensils Of pottery, fire
places with burned clay fre-dogs
still il position, and pottery yes
sells still containing the remains Of
food. especially the bones Of prob
ably domesticated animals. In some
Of the dishes lay the flint knives
with which the ancient people had
last eaten some six thousand years
ago.
"Such remains" Doctor Breast
ed said. disclose to Us the earliest
prehistoric ancestry Of the civiliza-
tion which reached its elimination
in the palaces Of Persepolis. The
evidences Of the intervening evolu-
tlon are plentifully preserved all
around Persepolis.''