CHIEFLY FROM NIPPUR. 241 



pottery was discovered at a depth of 4.G m. to 8 m. below the pavement of Naram- 

 Sin. 1 " Had these pieces been found in the higher strata, one would unhesitatingly 

 declare them of Greek origin, or at least ascribe them to the influence of Greek art." 

 For they are, as a rule, of great excellence and in quality far superior to those found 

 in the strata subsequent to the period of Ur-Gnr. 



The results of our excavations in the deepest strata of Ekur will change the cur- 

 rent theory on the origin and antiquity of the arch, will clear our views on the devel- 

 opment of pottery in Babylonia, and will throw some welcome rays on one of the 

 darkest periods of history in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates. But first of all, 

 they again have brought vividly and impressively before our eyek the one fact that 

 Babylonian civilization did not spring into existence as a deus ex machina ; that behind 

 Sargon I and lv"aram-Sin there lies a long and uninterrupted chain of development cov- 

 ering thousands of years ; and that these two powerful rulers of the fourth millennium 

 before Christ, far from leading us back to " the dawn of civilization," are at the best 

 but two prominent figures from a middle chapter of the early history of Babylonia. 



1 A vase of ordinary gray pottery, 33 cm. high, was found 7.40 m. below this pavement " directly beneath the line 

 of the very ancient curb, and near to a perpendicular let fall from the E. corner of the altar." The stratum which 

 produced this vase, according to Hayues, " was literally filled with potsherds of small size and generally brick red in 

 color" (Report of Sept. 14, 1895). 



