14 The American Naturalist. [January, 
LEGENDS OF THE SUMIRO-ACCADIANS OF 
CHALDEA. 
By ALICE BODINGTON. 
In THE American Naturatist for August, 1892, Mr. Wilson — 
puts in a strong plea for the study of prehistoric anthropology, 
nor can the claims of this science be overrated. But of equal — 
interest in its own line is the study of that earliest civilization a 
of Western Asia, which a few years ago was itself prehistoric, — 
and which has only emerged into the light of day since the 
deciphering of the Cuneiform inscriptions of Assyria and — 
Chaldea. | a 
Some 5000 years B. C., wandering Turanian tribes! settled — 
in the fertile alluvial plains at the mouths of the great rivers, 
Tigris and Euphrates, round the head of the Persian Gulf. 
Materials for building, it might be thought, did not exist, save | 
for the giant reeds, fourteen to fifteen feet high, with which 
the Arabs of that marshy region still construct their huts. 
But the Sumiro-Accadians, as these Turanian tribes were | 
named, had the faculty possessed by their relations, 
Chinese, of taking the first steps in inventions. Out of the 
mud and clay of their new home they made bricks, at first- 
mere cakes of sund-dried clay; then these cakes were found 
to gain consistency by mixture with finely chopped straw; 
finally the clay was kiln-dried and gained a hardness ani 
consistency equal to the best bricks produced now. The kiln- 
dried bricks were highly valued and were stamped with the 
name and titles of the king for whose palaces and templ 
they were to be used. Some bearing the name and title ¢ 
-Gudéa, the patesi or priest-king of Sirgulla, have inscriptions 0 
Chaldea. Story of the Natives. Z. A. Ragozin. 
_ I must disclaim all responsibility for the spelling of proper names, since 
every oct I have consulted spells the names differently, and no 
standard to have been arrived at. For nase se the spelling is some- 
times Shnmiro-Akkadian, sometimes Sumiro-Accadian 
B 
