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

244 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
Though the precise meaning of both of these names is
obscure, Heuzey is doubtless correct in
trying to explain the
significance of the two structures represented by them from
the nature of the principal building occupying Mound B,
from the character of the numerous antiquities excavated in
their neighborhood, and
from certain other indications furnished
by the inscriptions. The large oval reservoir and
three smaller rectangular ones, discovered within the
enclosure
marked by Entemena's figurines, have
probably reference
to the (temporary) storing of dates !
and to the preparation
of date wine.
Even to-day the date-growing Arabs of
Babylonia, who have not been influenced by certain changes
recently introduced in connection with the increased export
of dates to Europe and America, use similar elevated receptacles,
— the so-called medibsa? — which have all the characteristic
features of the ancient (oval) basin with its
inclined
pavement and outlet.
There are architectural remains which were unearthed
other parts of these ruins close to the large brick terrace
erected by Ur-Nina and enlarged by his successors. But
being too fragmentary in
in
themselves and valuable chiefly as
providing further evidence with regard to the real character
of the whole complex of buildings concealed in Mound B,
we may well abstain from enumerating them one by one and
describing their peculiarities in
detail.
What was the original purpose of all
these separate walls
and crumbling constructions, which at some time apparently
constituted an organic whole ? Certain pronounced architectural
features still to be recognized in the central buildings
of the two lowest platforms, and a careful
examination
of the different antiquities taken from the accumulated rub-
1
Comp. the khasaru of the Neo-Babylonian contracts.
2
For further details as to their construction and use, comp. Hilprecht,
"The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania," series A,
vol. x ( in press).