Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

220 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
or sub-governor.
They include a number of higher and lower
elevations stretching from northwest to
southeast for about
four English miles along the left bank of a large dry canal
that represents either the ancient bed or a branch of the
Shatt el-Hai, from which in a straight line they are distant
a little over three English miles. The two principal mounds
of the whole site are designated as mounds A and B in
the following sketch. The former and smaller one (A)
rises only fifty feet above the plain at the extreme northwest
end of the ruins, while the latter (B) is nearly fifty-six
feet high and about 650 feet to the southeast of it.
These
and the many other smaller mounds constituting the ruins
of Tello consist as a rule of an artificial massive terrace
of unbaked brick, upon and around which the scattered
remains of one or more ancient buildings once occupying
the platform are mixed with the sand of the desert into
one shapeless mass.
In January, 1877, at his very first ride over the ruins,
De Sarzec recognized the value of this large archaeological
field, scarcely yet touched bv the professional Arab digger,
from the many fragments of inscribed cones and bricks, sculptures
and vases which covered the surface. Among other
objects of interest he picked up the magnificent piece of a
large statue in dolerite inscribed on the shoulder. After a
few minutes he had gathered evidence enough to convince
him that he stood on a prominent site of great antiquity.
The fragment of the statue was interpreted by him as having
rolled down from Mound A, at the foot of which it was
discovered, thus serving as the first indication of an important
building which probably was concealed in its interior.
This starting point for his excavations once being given, he
hired all
the workmen whom he could obtain from the wandering
tribes, and set to work to determine the character and
contents of the hill in question. A few weeks of digging
revealed the fact indicated above, that the whole mound