href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@49345@[email protected]#Page_249" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">249

62-63. Copper figures of bulls surmounting cones, which were employed as votive offerings in the reigns of Gudea and Dungi 256

64-65. Tablets with architect's rule and stilus from the statues B and F of Gudea 265

66. Figure of a god seated upon a throne, who may probably be identified with Ningirsu 268

67. Mace-head of breccia from a mountain near the "Upper Sea" or Mediterranean, dedicated to Ningirsu by Gudea 271

68. Designs on painted potsherds of the Neolithic period (Culture I.) from the North Kurgan at Anau 355

69. Designs on painted potsherds of the Aeneolithic period (Culture II.) from the North Kurgan at Anau 356

MAPS AND PLANS

I. Plan of Tello, after De Sarzec 19

II. Plan of Jôkha, after Andrae 22

III. Plan of Fâra, after Andrae and Noeldeke 25

IV. Plan of Abû Hatab, after Andrae and Noeldeke 29

V. Plan of Warka, after Loftus 33

VI. Plan of Muḳayyar, after Taylor 34

VII. Plan of Abû Shahrain, after Taylor 36

VIII. Early Babylonian plan of the temple of Enlil at Nippur and its enclosure; cf. Fisher, "Excavations at Nippur" I., pl. 1 87

IX. Plan of the Inner City at Nippur, after Fisher, "Excavations at Nippur," I., p. 10 88

X. Plan of the store-house of Ur-Ninâ, at Tello, after De Sarzec 92

XI. Plan of early building at Tello, after De Sarzec 93

XII. Map of Babylonia, showing the sites of early cities. Inset: Map of Sumer and Akkad in the earliest historical period 380

A HISTORY OF SUMER AND AKKAD

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY: THE LANDS OF SUMER AND AKKAD

The study of origins may undoubtedly be regarded as the most striking characteristic of recent archaeological research. There is a peculiar fascination in tracking any highly developed civilization to its source, and in watching its growth from the rude and tentative efforts of a primitive people to the more elaborate achievements of a later day. And it is owing to recent excavation that we are now in a position to elucidate the early history of the three principal civilizations of the ancient world. The origins of Greek civilization may now be traced beyond the Mycenean epoch, through the different stages of Aegean culture back into the Neolithic age. In Egypt, excavations have not only yielded remains of the early dynastic kings who lived before the pyramid-builders, but they have revealed the existence of Neolithic Egyptians dating from a period long anterior to the earliest written records that have been recovered. Finally, excavations in Babylonia have enabled us to trace the civilization of Assyria and Babylon back to an earlier and more primitive race, which in the remote past occupied the lower plains of the Tigris and Euphrates; while the more recent digging in Persia and Turkestan has thrown light upon other primitive inhabitants of Western Asia, and has raised problems with regard to their cultural connections with the West which were undreamed of a few years ago.

It will thus be noted that recent excavation and research have furnished the archaeologist with material by means of which he may trace back the history of culture to the Neolithic period, both in the region of the Mediterranean and along the valley of the Nile. That the same achievement cannot be placed to the credit of the excavator of Babylonian sites is not entirely due to defects in the scope or method of his work, but may largely be traced to the character of the country in which the excavations have been carried out. Babylonia is an alluvial country, subject to constant inundation, and the remains and settlements of the Neolithic period were doubtless in many places swept away, and all trace of them destroyed by natural causes. With the advent of the Sumerians began the practice of building cities upon artificial mounds, which preserved the structure of the buildings against flood, and rendered them easier of defence against a foe. It is through excavation in these mounds that the earliest remains of the Sumerians have been recovered; but the still earlier traces of Neolithic times, which at some period