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

498 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
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to southeast, and fairly represents the
direction of Ur-Gur's rampart. Apart
from their fragmentary height, the excavated
portions are in almost perfect condition.
Though uninscribed, the crude
bricks of which they are composed in
size, color, and texture are identical with
those in the centre of the ziggurrat, and
therefore may safely be ascribed to the
great royal builder from Ur (about 2700
b. c). The exposed northwest section is
a little
over 750 feet long and 25^ feet
thick. Its exterior is effectively broken
up by eighteen i
buttresses, which average
in width eleven feet,' 2
and project two feet
from the face of the wall.
The spaces or
panels between them, as a rule, measure
almost thirty feet. The inside surface of
the structure is not nearly so well preserved
as the exterior, but there is evidence
that buttresses were also used to
some extent, similar to those on the outside.
Both faces of the wall were covered
with a thin plaster of clay which protected
the sloping 3
sides against storm and rain.
The highest part of Ur-Gur's ruined
Northwestern Section of
the Northeastern City Wall
b\ Fisher
1
We found only seventeen, but the eighteenth can
be restored with certainty. It stood in the deep cut
(marked No. 2 in the zinctype), through which the
latest inhabitants passed out of the ruined enclosure
into the open plain.
2
The second from the pre-Sargonic gate is an exceptionally
wide buttress, which measures 13^3 feet
in width.
3
The slope or batter of the wall was in the proportion
of 1 to 3.