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

DURING 10 in CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 373
It is Haynes' view, as reproduced by me in 1896, that,
with the exception of the lowest front face and the two conduits,
Ur-Gur's ziggurrat was built entirely of crude bricks,
and that even at the time of the Cassite and Assyrian occupations
the upper stories had no casing walls of baked
bricks. This theory seems to me untenable. For there
are many indications which necessarily lead to the conclusion
that the whole pyramid, from the time of Ur-Gur down
to Ashurbanapal, was properly protected. I cannot go into
details here. To mention only one circumstance, it would be
impossible to explain the presence of so many stamped
bricks of Ur-Gur, found out of their original position everywhere
in the ruins of Nuffar, except on the assumption
of a casing wall for every stage of the ziggurrat. It was
only natural that the bricks of the earlier builders should
be removed by the later monarchs before they repaired and
enlarged the temple. But the very fact that the material
of Ashurbanapal's casing walls of the lowest story consists
largely of bricks of Ur-Gur and Kadashman-Turgu,
and that the construction of the Seleucido-Parthian rulers
contained a great number of stamped and unstamped bricks
of all the three Babylonian kings mentioned, is alone sufficient
evidence to demonstrate that the
entire outside of the
ziggurrat must have been built of baked bricks.
While working towards the second stage from the upper
edge of the lowest story, Haynes discovered the opening
of a large well in the centre of its northeast facade and
partly overlapping the ancient conduit. It was built of
baked bricks, and descended through the crude mass of the
stage-tower down to the water level. Though unable to
determine its age and special purpose at this remarkable
place, Haynes was inclined to ascribe it to Ashurbanapal.
But this is impossible. In connection with my subsequent
visit to the ruins, I could p
v
ove conclusively that this well
did not belong to the ziggurrat proper, but was constructed