THE EISE OF MAN BREASTED 421 



sites, and eventually also the two others forming the group of four, 

 from the single center at the Tell Asmar house. 



The importance of these researches lies in the fact that this 

 region on the east of the Tigris stretches eastward toward the Per- 

 sian Mountains and the eastern end of the Highland Zone, as we 

 call it, the high and mountainous belt of country that extends from 

 the Persian Plateau westward through Anatolia to the Balkans in 

 Europe. This Highland Zone was inhabited by a group of round- 

 headed people like the Hittites and the Armenians, who developed 

 a civilization, the variations of which are closely related to each other 

 and which may be called the Highland Civilization. These High- 

 land peoples overflowed constantly to the lowlands on the south. 

 At Tell Asmar and Khafaji we have evidences of this overflow, 

 which even extended as far west as the region of Baghdad. 



The work at this site has been aided by airplane observation, at 

 first kindly made for the institute by the British Air Force and later 

 from an Imperial Airways plane chartered by the institute. The 

 grass, which, supported by the winter rains, grows chiefly in the 

 spring, does not grow on a surface covering the walls in such an 

 ancient site. The absence of the grass therefore discloses the ancient 

 walls lying beneath the surface of the present desert. Indeed, when 

 an air photograph of desert surface has been developed in the dark 

 room the lines of ancient walls may be traced quite clearly as be- 

 trayed by the absence of the grass. Although the old walls them- 

 selves, because they are buried beneath the surface, are invisible, 

 their ground plan is thus revealed to the investigator by the air 

 photograph. At Tell Asmar and Khafaji the topmost strata belong 

 to an age before 2000 B. C, in general the age of the great lawgiver 

 Hammurapi, and it is clear, therefore, that the lower levels must 

 be of much greater age. The lower levels will reveal to us earlier 

 stages of Sumerian history and will disclose especially their relations 

 with the Highland peoples on the north. A large palace of Sumerian 

 age has been discovered at Tell Asmar and will be entirely laid bare 

 next season. At Khafaji we have uncovered a fortified inclosure 

 with temples and dwellings. 



AN UNKNOWN CITY OF THE HITTITES 



The most important of these Highland peoples were the Hittites, 

 whose chief states and leading cities were in Anatolia. Here the 

 Oriental Institute has been actively engaged in exploration and exca- 

 vation for the past five years. These Hittite researches have been 

 under the field directorship of Dr. H. H. von der Osten, and for a time 

 also Dr. Erich Schmidt. Doctor von der Osten's explorations have 

 been fruitful in the discovery of new sites, and the statement that he 



