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

282 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
cavations.
Indeed, the marble slabs from the royal palaces
of Dur-Sharruken, Calah, and Nineveh looked very recent
when compared with the much-admired monuments of Lagash.
All indications pointed unmistakably to the districts
of the lower Euphrates and Tigris as the cradle of the earliest
Babvlonian civilization.
The first attempt at imitating De Sarzec's example was
made in Germany. And though in the end it proved to be
unproductive of great tangible results, and barren of those
startling discoveries without which an expedition cannot command
the general support of the people, it was important,
and a sure sign of the growing popularity of cuneiform
studies in a land where only ten years previous even university
professors kept aloof from the Assyriological science.
Through the liberality of one man, L. Simon, who in more
than one way became a patron of archaeological studies in
Germany, the Royal Prussian Museums of Berlin were
enabled to carry on brief excavations at two Babylonian
ruins during the early part of 1887. These researches were
in control of Dr. Bernhard Moritz and Dr. Robert Koldewey,
faithfully assisted in the practical execution of their
task by Mr. Ludwig Meyer, the third member of their mission.
Leaving Berlin in September, 1886, they reached the
scene of their activity in
the beginning of the following year.
The mounds which were selected for operation are called
Surghul and El-Hibba, distant from each other a little
over
six miles, and representing the most extensive ruins in the
large triangle formed by the Euphrates, the Tigris, and
the Shatt el-Hai.
Situated in the general neighborhood of
Tello, and about twenty miles to the northeast of Shatra,
Surghul, the more southern of the two sites, rises at its
highest point to almost fifty feet above the flat
alluvial plain
and covers an area of about 192 acres, while the somewhat
lower mounds of El-Hibba enclose nearly 1400 acres. The
excavations conducted at Surghul lasted from January 4 to