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

406 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
nian potterv which are reported to have been found in a
room the walls of which were 1 1 feet high and lay entirely
below Naram-Sin's pavement. How large this room was,
whether it
had any door, and other necessary details are not
stated. It contained two open vases about fourteen feet
distant from each other. 1 They stood in their original positions
at two different levels, the one being placed about
two and a half feet higher than the other. We notice remarkable
differences also with regard to their forms and
sizes. One was bell-shaped, and had a flat bottom about
twice as large in diameter as its mouth. The other was a
little over two feet high, measured one foot nine inches across
the top, and was decorated with a rope pattern. 2
In descending a little farther and reaching a level of fifteen
feet below the often mentioned pavement, Haynes
picked up " a fragment of red lacquered pottery " so much
superior in quality to " anything unearthed in the strata
subsequent to the time of Ur-Gur," that he at first doubted
whether it really belonged to that ancient period. But soon
afterwards he obtained another red piece twenty-three feet
below the line of demarcation given above, and a small
fragment of a black cup of the same high degree of workmanship
three feet below that. It is a well known fact today
that similar vases occur also in the lowest strata of Susa
in
Persia and in the earliest Egyptian ruins.
We cannot close this brief resume of Haynes' activity in
the lowest strata
of the temple mound without mentioning
briefly that he found "a fragment of black 3 clay bearing
several human forms in relief upon its
curved surface," also
twenty-three feet below Naram-Sin's pavement, and another
i According to my estimate, the accuracy of which I cannot guarantee.
2
Comp., also, the illustration published in Hilprecht, " The Bab. Exp. of
the U. of Pa.," series A, vol. i, part 2, plate xxvii. It appears to have
been found in a fine state of preservation according to the photograph, but
according to Havnes' report it was "too much broken to be removed."
8
This seems to have been blackened bv fire.