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

420 EXPLORATIONS IN lilllLE LANDS
square and about 4 inches thick. What was the nature of
this ancient structure? "It was a long, narrow cell, 5 feet
9 inches long, 1 foot 7 inches wide, and 1 foot 1 inch high,
a grave covered by a gable roof made of similar bricks,
which rested on the sides of the low wall and met in an
imaginary ridge-pole like the letter A." The tomb contained
nothing but
the crumbling remains
" of a medium-sized
adult
and a broken vessel
of coarse pottery."
A corbelled arch
of crude bricks and
" a vaulted cellar of
burned bricks," the
latter about 1 2 by
8 feet in length and
breadth, were discovered
somewhere
at " a low level " in
the same mounds.
From general indications,
I
should ascribe
them to about 2500 b. c. They give evidence to the
fact that arches and vaults were by no means uncommon
in ancient Nippur, but as accurate details have not been
given by the excavator, we must be satisfied
statement.
illed
Arch or" Crude Bricks
About 2JOO B. C.
with this simple
In August, 1893, Haynes began a search for the original
bed and embankment of the Chebar. He accordingly cut
a long trench into the narrowest part of the depression
marked V on the plan of the ruins (p. 305), and directed
it from the middle of this open area to its northeast boundary
and along the latter. At a depth of twenty and a