Evening star., 1935-09-15
The Worlds Oldest CITY
Continued from page seven

twelve superlmposed civilizations -
and have been rewarded with wonder
full finds. increasingly so as we pene-
trated deeper into the mound. In the
upper levels the remains lacked
distinction, as though the more recent
occupants of this ancient site were
less cultured and less competent
people than its earlier settlers.
BY the time the sixth level was
reached, however. we were finding ex-
citing things - temples with extra
ordinary cultural relics. In the ninth
level We came upon tombs with many
Skeletal remains, and exquisite orna-
ments of gold and of the gold-silver
alloy known as electrum. And by the
beginning of 1885, with the unearthing
of the twelfth level, our site was
yielding an interestingly complex
architectural layout OF many build
ings, co,utyards and interconnecting
structures.
One of the strategic finds in this
burrowing down through the accumu-
lations of the Great Mound was the
discovery OF a varied array of copper
implements at the sixth level This
discovery enables us to date the level.
For the copper ware and seal cylinders
are of the same type and designs as
those characteristic of the first dy-
nasty of Ur, 5000 to 26OO Be There
fore, this sixth-level city can hardly
be later than 260O years before Christ.
which means that it was flolrishing
about $500 years ago.
Anything below this must be. older,
since these lower levels were occupied
first, and sufficient time must be al
lowed for the city to rise. to fall and
to be silted over by natures inexorable
processes. Considering all the evidence
-- the cultural remains Of the lower
ruins, the thickness of the debris
we estimate that the twelfth level is at
least fifteen hundred years older than
the sixth level. and therefore about
5000 years old.
The architecture of this twelfth
level city far surpasses that of the
later cities which surmounted it. The
walls are thicker and more massively
built Particularly interesting was
large central structure, a room about
thirty feet long and fourteen feet wide
We call it the White Room because its
walls are finished in white plaster -
the earliest evidence we have of the
use of lime. Many painted pots were
found in this White Room, in addition
to Others that were undecorated, and
we believe that here we have reached
the period of the painted pottery
peoples" and may expect increasingly
valuable relics of their culture in the
layers below.
In one corner of room associated
with the White Room was small
built-in oven. made of clay; in the
oven was a pot with the lid on; and
inside the pot were blackened bones.
Have we here the remains of dinner
that was in process Of cooking when
disaster overlook the household?
think it probable. Our theory is that
the house was burned. perhaps in some
sudden invasion by an enemy, for
thick layer OF ashes and charred refuse
lay over the whole area of the city. 1t
is not unreasonable to suppose that
the population was attacked so sud
denly that it had to flee, leaving
everything just as it was, even the
mutton stcwing in the oven.
All that we shall ever know OF these
cities must be pieced out of the cir
cumstantial evidence of the tools, the
ornaments, the pottery and other