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

446 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
covered with earth than if inadequately examined and exposed
to the furv of the elements. This expedition was
sent out to endeavor to understand Nuffar as a whole, not
to remove large mounds of debris merely for the sake of
finding portable antiquities and tablets by the bushel and
to count their market value in dollars and cents. I was
personally despatched to solve scientific problems and to
interpret the ruins. The more essential topographical
questions once having been settled, it would be a comparativelv
easy task for the committee to have the single
mounds excavated one after another by somebody else, if
necessity arose, who was less
familiar with the ruins and the
history of their exploration than the present writer, who had
been connected with this undertaking from its very beginning.
Everv trench cut henceforth — and there were a
great many — was cut for the sole purpose of excavating
structures systematically and of gathering necessarv data for
the history and topography of ancient Nippur. It these
trenches yielded tangible museum results at the same time,
so much the better ; if they did not, I was not troubled by
their absence and felt just as well satisfied as if I
several thousand tablets, or perhaps even more so.
had packed
But in
order to state this expressly here, antiquities were found so
abundantly in the pursuit of the plan described, that the
principle was established anew that a strictly scientific
method of excavating is at the same time the most profitable.
The number of workmen was increased and maintained
until the middle of April, when many of the native Arabs
began to quit the trenches to harvest their barley and to
look after their agricultural interests. Haynes retained full
charge of the men in the field
under my general supervision.
Fisher and Geere were instructed to make a complete survey
of all
excavated
the remaining walls, buildings, drains, pavements, etc.,
by the second, third, and fourth expeditions, and