238 OLD BABYLONIAN INSCRIPTIONS 



time. But as no evidence of an ancient ziggurrat previous to Ur-Gur and Naram- 

 Sin has been discovered, the accumulations must have necessarily been slower and 

 presuppose a longer period than elapsed between Naram-Sin aud the final destruction 

 of Ekur in the first post-Christian millennium. I do not hesitate, therefore, to date 

 the founding of the temple of Bel and the first settlements in Nippur somewhere 

 between 6000 and 7000 B.C., 1 possibly even earlier. I cannot do better than repeat 

 Haynes' own words, written out of the depth of this most ancient sanctuary of the 

 world so far known : " We must cease to apply the adjective earliest to the time of 

 Sargon or to any age or epoch within 1000 years of his advanced civilization." 2 "The 

 golden age of Babylonian history seems to include the reign of Sargon and of Ur- 

 Gur." 3 



Somewhat below the pavement of Naram-Sin, between the entrance to the zig- 

 gurrat and the E. corner, stood an altar of sun-dried brick, facing S.-E. and 4 m. long 

 by 2.4G m. wide. The upper surface of this altar 4 was surrounded by a rim of bitu- 

 men (18 cm. high), and was covered with a layer of white ashes ((3.5 cm. thick), 

 doubtless the remnant of burned sacrifices. To the S.-W. of it IJaynes discovered a 

 kind of bin built of crude brick and likewise filled with (black and white) ashes to the 

 depth of c. 30 cm. 3 At a distance of nearly 2 m. from the altar (in front of it) and 

 c. 1.25 m. below the top was a low wall of bricks, whose limits have not yet been 

 found. Apparently it marked a sacred enclosure around the altar, for it extended far 

 under the pavement of Naram-Sin 6 and reappeared under the W. corner of the ziggur- 

 rat. 7 The bricks of which this curb was built are plano-convex in form. s They are 

 laid in mud seven courses (=45 cm.) high, 9 the convex surface, which is "curiously 

 creased lengthwise," being placed upward in the wall. 



At a distance of 4.02 m. outside of this low enclosure and c. 36 cm. below its 

 bottom stood a large open vase in terra-cotta with rope pattern 10 (cf. PI. XX Vir, No. 

 72). It will serve as an excellent specimen of early Babylonian pottery in the fifth 

 millennium before Christ. Undisturbed by the hands of later buildei s, it had remained 



'A similar conclusion -was reached by Peters in The American Journal of Archeology X, pp. 45f. 

 2 Report of August 30, 1895. 

 'Report of August 3, 1895. 



4 Which was 0.92 m. below the level of Nararn-Sin's pavement. 



5 Haynes, Repoit of Feb. 17, 1894 (also Aug. 24, 1895). Hayncs's chemical analysis of the white ashes showed 

 evident traces of bones. 



6 The facts concerning this curb have been gathered from Haynes's Reports of Feb. 17 and March 17, 1894; 

 Aug. 3, 1895. 



7 Cf. Peters, The American Journal of Archeology X, pp. 31 and 44. 



8 With an average length and breadth of 24.5 x 18 cm. 



9 "Being placed lengthwise and crosswise in alternate courses" (Haynes, Report of March 17, 1894). 

 10 Haynes, Report of Aug. 24, 1895. 



