CHIEFLY FROM NIPPUR. 



223 



Third Campaign, 1893-1896.— Staff: J. H. Haynes, Director, etc.; and an Ot- 

 toman Commissioner; Joseph A. Meyer, Architect and Draughtsman, from June to 

 November, 1891. Excavations from April 11, 1893, to February 15, 1895 (with an in- 

 terruption of two months, April 4 to June 4, 1891), with an average force of 50-60 

 Arabs. Principal results : Systematic excavations at III, I, II, VI-X, and searching 

 for the original bed and banks of the Shatt-en-jS"il. Examination of the lowest strata 

 of the temple, three sections excavated down to the water level ; critical determination 

 of the different layers on the basis of uncovered pavements and platforms; the later 

 additions to the ziggurrat studied, photographed and, whenever necessary, removed ; 

 the preserved portions of Ur-Gur's ziggurrat uncovered on all four sides ; systematic 

 study of the ancient system of Babylonian drainage; the two most ancient arches of 

 Babylonia discovered ; structures built by Naram-Sin and pre-Sargonic buildings and 

 vases unearthed ; c. 400 tombs of various periods and forms excavated and their con- 

 tents saved. Objects carried away: About 21,000 cuneiform tablets and fragments 

 (among them contracts dated in the reign of Dungi and of Darius II and Artaxerxes 

 Mnemon) ; many bricks of Sargon I and Naram-Sin ; the first inscribed brick of 

 Dungi in Nippur; 15 brick stamps of Sargon I, 1 of Karain-Sin; inscribed torso of a 

 statue in diorite (f of life size, c. 3000 B.C.) and fragments of other statues of the 

 same period ; incised votive tablet of Ur-Enlil ; 3 unfinished marble blocks of Lugal- 

 kigub-nidudu and over 500 vase fragments of pre-Sargonic kings and patesis ; c. 60 in- 

 scribed vase fragments of Alusharshid, 1 of Sargon, 3 of Entemena ; 1 door-socket 

 and 1 votive tablet of Ur-Gur ; 1 votive tablet of Dungi ; a number of inscribed lapis 

 lazuli discs of Cassite kings ; fragment of a barrel cylinder of the Assyrian period ; 

 fragments of an Old Babylonian terra-cotta fountain in high relief; water cocks, drain 

 tiles, a collection of representative bricks from all the buildings found in Nippur ; c. 

 50 clay coffins and burial urns, and many other antiquities of a character similar to 

 those excavated during the first two campaigns but in greater number and variety. 



"With regard to the wealth of its results this Philadelphia expedition takes equal 

 rank with the best sent out from England or France. The systematic and careful 

 manner of laying bare the vast ruins of the temple of Bel and other buildings in 

 Nuffar, with a view to a complete and connected conception of the whole, is equal to 

 that of Layard and Victor Place in Assyria and something without parallel in previous 

 expeditions to Babylonia. Only an exhaustive study and a systematic publication of 

 selected cuneiform texts, which will finally embrace twelve volumes of two to three 

 parts each, can disclose the manifold character of these documents — syllabaries, letters, 

 chronological lists, historical fragments, astronomical and religious texts, building 

 inscriptions, votive tablets, inventories, tax lists, plans of estates, contracts, etc. The 



