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

DURING 19 CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 523
were built up in crude bricks to a height of nearly twenty
inches from the apparent floor level, and on an average were
about one and a half feet wide. Two of the rooms (Nos. i
I
Northeast Portion of the Temple Library at Nippur
Surveyed and draivn by Gcere
Ay
B. Excavated groups of rooms and galleries
7, 2, J. Rooms ivitk clay ledges ivhtch produced especially large
numbers of cuneiform tablets
4, J.
Terra-cotta drains belonging to late graves
and 3), yielded tablets and fragments by the thousands,
and are among the largest thus far excavated in " Tablet
Hill." To preserve the fragile " books " from dampness,
the clay shelves were probably covered with matting or
with a coating of bitumen.
According to the report of the