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

222 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
After the French consul had ascertained the general character
of Mound A and its
Votive Statuette in Copper
Inscribed ivith the name of Gudea,
Above all,
about 2"JOO B. C.
probable contents, he devoted the
rest of his time to an investigation
of the other parts of the
ruins by placing his workmen
in long rows over the whole surface
of the enormous site. This
peculiar method, which would
have utterly failed at Babylon,
Nuffar, Warka, and other similar
mounds, produced important
results at a ruin as little settled
in later times as Tello subsequently
proved to be. De Sarzec
unearthed many fragments of inscribed
vases and sculptures,
several inscribed door-sockets,
a large number of cuneiform
tablets, the bronze horn of a bull
in life-size, etc. He exposed
large
columns of bricks of the
time of Gudea, and found not a
few peculiar cubical brick structures
generally concealing a votive
tablet of Gudea or Dungi.
The latter was placed over a
small copper or bronze statue of
a man or a bull, which often
terminated in the form of a nail.
he brought to light one of the earliest bas-reliefs
is wrong, as the inscription on the hack of De Sarzec' s statue is complete.
In fact, it must be regarded as doubtful if the torso obtained by Smith belongs
to any of the statues or fragments discovered by De Sarzec at Tello, as long as
this question has not been settled by means of casts of the pieces in the British
Museum sent to Paris for examination.