Babylonian Ruins.

Manawatu Herald, 28 August 1897, Page 2

Babylonian Ruins.

« A most interesting discovery, bearing on the ancient civilisation of Northern Babylonia, has just been made by Mr Haynes, who is in charge of the American excavating expedition. Tba excavations have been carried on during the last five years on the great mounds of Nuffar, with the result that the ruins of the oldest city yet known to arcbeelogi9ts has been unearthed. It has been estimated that the builders eotnnenced their work 9,000 years ago, i) period which antedates even the : rchitectural remains of the ancient Egyptians. The great mounds of Nuffdr are situated on the east bank of the now dry Shat er-Nil, a great main artery navigation canal which onoe connected Babylon with the Persian Gulf. The central point of VI i* Haynes' explorations was the temple of Ur-Gur, built 4698 yeara go, the mound of which even now, lisea 95ft above the surrounding ruin 3. This tower or temple, it was found, rests upon a massive platform i crude bricks. Below this was found another pavement of much finer construction, consisting of an normous bulk of dried bricks 19£ ft .-quare. Nearly the whole of these bricks were inscribed with the name )f Sargou and his son Naram Sin. *» I who reigned just 1000 years before the building of Ur-Gur, 5697 years since." The fixing of this date was not a difficult matter from the inscriptions found here, and in other ruins, but to some extent dates of the ruins found lower was fixed by analogy. On this pavement the debris was 86ft in thickness, which it is known took 5000- yeara to accumulate. Mr Uaynes sunk thirty feet deeper through ruins ot buildings, accumulation of broken pottery, and well constructed drains with fragments of inscribed pottery, which indicated that two older temples than Mullil built iv Naram-Sins reign, had been erected below this pavement. This W.l* accumulation of rubbish and of ruins upon ruins, alone indicate the great age of the lowest architectural remains. The first structure discovered on the old natural. surface was an altar of sun -dried bricks, which even then had upon it a large deposit of white ash^B, the remains of sacrifices posi aibly offered 9000 years ago. Round the altar was a low wall making the sacred enclosure. Outside the wall were found two immense vaseß of terra cotta, decorated with rope pattern. These it is believed were the vase 3 used for purification. In the course of other excavations on the lowest level, Mr Haynes found a big stone arch. The history of these ruins will be better known shortly when the numerous tablets and inscribed pottery found have been decipered. One point, however, was evident to Mr Haynes, namely the similarity of the older ruins to the buildings of ancient Egypt. The objects of art clearly showed the builders and sculptors of the one country had copied the styles of the other. A somewhat melancholy reflection upon the much daunted progress of man is that the descendants of the people who raised these mighty buildings* and whose remains testify that they lived in a high state of civilisation for thousands of years, roam over the plains almost in a state of savagery, unworthy even to tread on the ruins of the great dead. Mr Haynes had the greatest difficulty in carrying on his work amongst them. They even made an attempt on his life on two occasions. The discoveries made at Nuffar should teach historians in future not to be so dogmatic in fixing upon the exact age of civilisation or the place or time of man's advent npon the earth.