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ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN" INSTITUTION, 19 3 3 



have occurred without adequate reasons. It must be that the story 

 buried in the long-forgotten mound has proved to be, upon being 

 pieced together from the various remains recovered, of far more 

 than local significance. To trace that story in terms of the successive 

 civilizations preserved in the stratified deposits of Gawra is the pur- 

 pose of the present paper. Only the principal features can be touched 

 upon in a general account of this nature, the full details being re- 



FiGUEB 1. — Map of Mesopotamia. 



served for a more technical study. But before we are ready for the 

 presentation, it will be in order to explain how the mound came to 

 be dug at all. 



Various factors may lead to the excavation of a given site. In 

 the early stages of Mesopotamian exploration attention centered 

 on the largest ruins as the most likely sources of sculptural material. 

 Nineveh, Dur-Sharruldn (Kliorsabad), and Calah (Nimrud), all 

 of them former seats of Assyrian royalty, have their size to blame 



