MESOPOTAMIA
[See the diagrams of flint implements, [Illustration II]; pottery and brick–forms, [Illustration XIV]; cuneiform signs, and other scripts [Illustration XV]].
Illustration XIV: Mesopotamian Pottery, Seals, etc.
Illustration XV: Cuneiform and Other Scripts
Mesopotamian antiquities are nearly always found in Tells, or artificial mounds, which are the sites of ancient towns or temples. The surrounding plain for a distance of several hundred yards out, whether steppe–desert or untilled land, will usually be found to be productive of antiquities, either a few inches or few feet deep or, in the case of the dessert, actually lying upon the surface. These are usually the result of rainstorms washing out antiquities from the tell itself. Each tell or ganglion of connected tells usually has a number of small subsidiary tells round about it, the sites of small isolated buildings or villages connected with the central settlement. Originally the settlements were built upon natural rises of the ground which stood up as islands in the fen–country.
Visitors should give the local names of tells in Arabic characters, when possible, so that mistakes in transliteration into English may be avoided. Antiquities bought in the neighbourhood of a tell should be noted as coming from that neighbourhood. Depredations by Arabs (or by others!) should be noted, and reported to the nearest Political Officer or Inspector of Antiquities. The barbarous practice of forcibly dislodging inscribed bricks from walls, as trophies and 'souvenirs', which has unhappily been common during the war, should never be imitated and always discountenanced as much as possible.
Other good spots for antiquities than tells are rare. In the mountainous and stony country of the North we may meet with rock– sculptures, as at Bavian, and these should always be recorded by a traveller, even if he is not certain that they have not been remarked before: something new may turn up at any time. Antiquities acquired in the neighbourhood of such monuments should be noted, and their precise place of origin ascertained, if possible, as in this way the site of some ancient settlement adjoining the monument may be identified. The open ruin–fields, or Khurbas , characteristic of Palestine are not usual, except in the case of Parthian or Sassanian palace ruins such as Ctesiphon, Hatra, or Ukheidhir, which were often abandoned almost as soon as they were built, so that no later population could pile up rubbish–heaps or graves above them.
In order to aid the visitor to get some idea of the age of a tell or other site from the antiquities found on its surface and its neighbourhood, and so to be able to give some idea of what is likely to be found in it, the following hints have been drawn up.
In the first place, most of the surface remains, are, as elsewhere, pottery sherds. These should tell us their date by their appearance. It must be said, however, that our experience on the subject of the development of Mesopotamian pottery is limited. Owing to the attention of Assyriologists having been so long focussed on the study of the cuneiform records, to the neglect of general archaeology, we have nothing like the knowledge of these things that we have in Egypt or in Greece. Such minutiae of information as our common knowledge of ceramic development in Egypt or in Greece gives us with regard to these countries, enabling us to date sites with great accuracy, are not vet available for Mesopotamia. And if for this reason all possible information as to the objects found on archaeological sites is desirable, it is also impossible yet to give the visitor any absolute guide to the distinctive appearance of pottery at every period. The main periods are known. The 'prehistoric', the Sumerian, the late Babylonian, and the Parthian styles are easily distinguishable. If a visitor is able to tell us that such–and–such a mound is prehistoric or is Parthian, or that settlements of both periods existed on it, this is what we want. One of the most general of criteria with regard to pottery is whether it is glazed or not. If glazed, it is, generally speaking, late. Other things besides pottery are of course found, and the presence or the absence of metal, and the occurrence of stone implements, are important. But it must be remembered that stone was used long into the 'Bronze' Age, and contemporaneously with copper. There is no sudden break between the two periods. Fragments of shell and mother–of–pearl, often with incised designs, are very characteristic of the earliest period. Coins are of late date; a tell with coins on it is certain to contain buildings as late as the fourth or third century B.C. (though it may also contain far older buildings as well). One of the most useful criteria of age is: Bricks. The form of the brick is a very good guide to date. The Babylonians used both kiln–baked and crude bricks. The oldest type, whether baked or crude, is plano–convex in form, and uninscribed. The mortar is bitumen. Later on rectangular bricks, often square, made in moulds, were introduced. These usually bore the name of the royal builder. Later on bricks became generally oblong and much like our own. In the sixth century the square shape was revived. Both shapes were in use at the Nebuchadnezzar period. Glazed bricks were then common. Under the Persians mortar took the place of bitumen. Under the Parthians and Sassanians, bricks were yellow, oblong, small, and very hard. Details will be found below, The names of various excavated sites are given in brackets as the 'classical' sources of information on certain points, and as the places from which type–antiquities have come to our Museums. Ancient names are in capitals; museums in italics.
I. PREHISTORIC (?) AGE: Chalcolithic (aeneolithic) period , before 3500 B.C.
Until quite recently no traces of the Stone Age had been discovered in Babylonia other than a few possible palaeoliths lying on the surface of the desert: all traces of a Neolithic Age were supposed to have been buried beneath the alluvium of the valley. In Assyria, however, neolithic traces in the shape of obsidian flakes had been discovered by the late Prof. L. W. King in the course of his excavation of the mound of Kuyunjik (NINEVEH), besides fragments of painted pottery resembling those from the earliest deposits in Asia Minor and those found by the American geologist Pumpelly in his diggings in the kurgans of Turkestan, (to which he assigned an extremely remote date B.C.). In Persia, and about the head of the Persian Gulf, somewhat similar pottery was discovered by de Morgan and the other French excavators at Susa, Tepé Musyãn, Bandar Bushir, and other places: here again the dates were put at a very remote period. With the exception of a few flint saw–blades from Warka [1], Fara, Zurghul, and Babylon [2], no similar remains had been found in Babylonia until, in 1918, Capt. R. Campbell Thompson, exploring on behalf of the British Museum, discovered flint and obsidian flakes and painted pottery lying on the surface of the desert at Tell Abu Shahrein (ERIDU), and also at Tell Muqayyar (UR). The continued excavations carried out by Mr. H. R. Hall for the Museum in 1919 have produced more of the same evidence from both places, besides a new 'prehistoric' site at Tell el–Ma'abed or Tell el–'Obeid near Ur. It seems that these antiquities date from the very end of the neolithic, or rather to the succeeding 'chalcolithic', age; whether they are really prehistoric, as regards Babylonian history, must until more evidence from stratified deposits is found remain undecided. They prove the occupation of the head of the Persian Gulf at the beginning of history by a people whose primitive art was closely akin to that of early Elam, and distinct from that of the Sumerians.
[1] Found by Loftus in 1854: their early date was not recognized at the time.
[2] Koldewey, Excavations at Babylon, E.T., p. 261, fig. 182. Koldewey curiously speaks of the saw–blades as 'palaeolithic.' They are, of course, nothing of the sort.
Characteristics: flint, chert, obsidian, green and red jasper, and quartz–crystal flakes, arrowheads, cores, and saw–blades. Chert and limestone rough hoe–blades (easily mistaken for palaeolithic implements; they are, however, much flatter); polished serpentine or jasper celts; lentoid (lentil–shaped), amygdaloid (almond–shaped), and discoid beads of cornelian, crystal, obsidian, &c., unpolished; nails of translucent quartz and obsidian (obviously imitations of metal types); hard grey pottery sickles, pottery cones of various sizes, and pottery objects like gigantic nails bent up at the ends; pottery painted with designs in black, usually geometrical (see [Illustration XIV], Fig. 1), but sometimes showing plant–forms or even animals. This ware is often very fine, so much so as to look as if wheelmade. The shapes are chiefly bowls (often closely resembling early Egyptian stone bowl types), pots with suspension–handles or lugs, and spouted 'kettles'. All these objects are at Shahrein and el–'Obeid found lying on the desert surface at the distance of 50 or 100 yards from the tell; they are supposed to have been washed out of the lower strata of the latter by rains. Objects of this kind should be recorded from any site, and the neighbourhood of a desert tell should always be searched for them.
II. EARLY BRONZE (Copper) AGE: First Sumerian (pre–Sargonic) Period; c. 3500–3000 B.C. Earliest Sumerian civilization.
Typical sites. Older strata at Telloh (LAGASH); Fara (SHURUPPAK); Tell 'Obeid (ancient name as yet unknown); Shahrein (ERIDU).
Characteristics. Writing. First appearance of script, already conventionalized from pictographs. Cut on stone and incised on clay tablets and bricks of characteristic early style. Brick buildings, with crenellated walls (until the discovery of Tell 'Obeid supposed to date only from the later Sumerian period) of typical plano–convex bricks , baked or crude, usually with thumb–mark down length of convex side (Shahrein), or with two thumb–holes (for carrying the brick when wet?), or vent–holes ('Obeid); at first uninscribed, later with long inscriptions; measuring 10 x 6 x 2–2 ¼ ins. (Shahrein), and 8 x 6 x 2–2 ¼ ins. ('Obeid); poorly shaped and baked (see [XIV], Fig. 3). Bitumen used for mortar; laid very thick. Hard white stucco on internal faces of crude brick house walls, often decorated with red, white, and black painted horizontal stripes (Shahrein.) Pottery. Wheel and hand–made; drab, fine or coarse paste, unpainted and usually undecorated. Typical shapes: (see [XIV], Figs. 2 abc) mostly handleless vases, and cups, and spouted 'kettles' (again often resembling early Egyptian types).
Metals: Copper. Extensive use: large copper figures of animals, heads cast, bodies of copper plates fastened by nails over a core of clay with a mixture of bitumen and straw; the figures have eyes, tongues, and teeth of red and white stone and nacre (Tell 'Obeid); goat's head with inlaid eyes of nacre (Fara). Otherwise ordinary treatment of eye shows a number of wrinkle lines round it, and it is always disproportionately large (bull's heads, Tell 'Obeid and Telloh). Small fragments of copper or bronze on the surface of a tell should never be neglected, as there may be enough in any fragment to give an idea of possible archaic remains within the tell.
Silver. Rare. Fine engraved vase of Entemena (Telloh, Louvre ).
Gold. Not uncommon. Copper nails with gold–plated heads (Shahrein).
Stone. Portrait figures in round (Bismâya, Telloh, &c.), usually representing men, with face and head shaven; very prominent large curved nose; usually squatting with arms crossed, sometimes standing; only garment a kilt apparently made of locks of natural wool. Usually inscribed in archaic characters on back of shoulders. Material: a grey or a white limestone most usual; tufa and dolerite also used. Reliefs: large stelae (Stele of the Vultures; Telloh, Louvre , fragment in B. M. ), completely inscribed; small relief plaques, inscribed (Telloh, Louvre ). Flint carved and engraved cylinder– seals, of limestone, black basalt, jasper, diorite, &c. Vases, bowls, and cups (usually fragmentary), of white and pink limestone and breccia. Maceheads of breccia, granite, &c., of same type as the early Egyptian (Shahrein).
Shell. Very largely used for decoration; small plaques of nacre often engraved with scenes of men worshipping, &c. (Telloh); tessellated pillars with nacre plaques ('Obeid). Seal–cylinders of shell.
Wood. Rarely survives; small beams plated with copper ('Obeid).
Burials. Pottery coffins with lids, mat burials; bodies contracted; funerary furniture, copper, stone or pottery drinking cups held near mouth: copper weapons, fish–hooks, net weights; beads of agate, lapis, shell (unpolished); colour–dishes, (Fara). (The idea that the Babylonians ever burnt their dead is now discredited; the supposed 'fire–necropoles' at Zurghul, &c., are not substantiated.)
The burials are hard to distinguish from similar contracted interments of later date, except that the furniture is more abundant in early times and mat graves are unusual in later days Mounds of this age may be known by the occurrence on the surface of scraps of oxydized copper, nails, &c.; shell–fragments; undecorated light drab sherds; and the typical small plano–convex bricks.
III. MIDDLE BRONZE AGE. 1. Early Semitic or Akkadian (Sargonid) period; c. 3000–2500 B.C.
Characteristics. Less crude style of art: development of writing (see [XIV], Fig. 1); first inscribed clay tablets of usual style; beginnings of cuneiform, developed from the archaic semi–pictographic character. Bricks still plano–convex; stamped inscriptions begin. Stone maceheads of same type as earlier. Large and well–cut cylinder–seals of fine limestone, lapis, diorite, granite, and shell are characteristic of the period: they are generally of an easily recognizable form (reel–shaped) with sides showing a marked concavity (see [XIV], Fig. 5). The great development of art is shown by the stele of Naram–Sin ( Louvre ) found at Susa. Not many mounds of this period have been dug.
2. Later Sumerian (Gudea) and early Semitic Babylonian (Hammurabi) periods; c. 2500–1800 B.C.
Characteristics. Typical 'Gudea' style of sculpture, in round and relief (Telloh, Louvre ); materials hard diorite, dolerite and basalt as well as limestone: characteristic treatment of eye with heavily marked brows: elaborate tiaras and head–dresses of female figures, &c. Very high development. Regular use of cuneiform on clay tablets and cones (see [XV], Figs. 13–15); non–cuneiform character (in a developed form) still used in brick stamps ([XV], Fig. 10) and on stone monuments. Bricks ([XIV], Fig. 4) now rectangular and well made, either square (14 ins., usually, by 2 ½ ins. thick) or oblong (11 ½ x 8 x 2 ½ ins., or 10 x 5 x 2 ½ ins.) with stamps or incised inscriptions of Ur–Engur, Dungi, Bur–Sin, Gudea and other kings ([XV], Fig. 10), from Ur, Shahrein, Telloh, Niffer, &c. Bricks of Bur–Sin from Shahrein often have inscription–stamps also on the smaller sides (thickness). Great buildings of crude and baked brick (Telloh, Ur); temple–towers (ziggurats) of crude brick faced with burnt brick (Ur, Shahrein, Niffer). Town ruins of Hammurabi's age (Babylon): crude brick: plans always confused and haphazard. Bitumen still used for mortar. Burials, contracted, often in double pots (mouth to mouth), sealed with bitumen. With the bodies are found large numbers of agate and cornelian beads, unpolished.
Mounds of this period may be recognized by the typical square or oblong bricks (often with thumb–holes), with stamps of kings' names, &c., in non–cuneiform characters, or with hand–incised inscriptions in early cuneiform, made while the clay was wet; clay tablets or cones inscribed in early cuneiform; copper nails (those with gold– plated heads found at Shahrein may also date from this time); drab or black pottery sherds with impressed or incised designs, generally rough and evidently made with a piece of stick or the thumb–nail; rough stone quern–slabs with rubbers, grinding and hammer–stones, &c.; and the burials described above (these, however, also occur in later times).
IV. LATER BRONZE AGE: Kassite, Middle Babylonian, and Early Assyrian periods; c. 1800– 1000 B.C.
Characteristics. Stabilization of Babylonian art; typical 'Kassite' cylinder–seals with straight sides ([XIV], Fig. 6); disappearance of old non–cuneiform character with gradual disuse of Sumerian; early stone–cut inscriptions in cuneiform (see [XV], Fig. 16; an Elamite inscription). Occasional and rare appearance of glazed pottery (imitation of Egyptian), and multi–coloured glass; early Assyrian sculpture (those unversed in minutiae of Mesopotamian art will only be able to tell this earlier work from the later by the earlier style of the accompanying inscriptions). Not many mounds of this period have been dug.
V. EARLY IRON AGE: 1. Late Babylonian and Assyrian periods; c. 1000–540 B.C.
Characteristics. Flourishing period of Assyrian art and writing (for details see the archaeological books, which are very full on this period). Mounds may be known by the occurrence of fragments of granite or basalt bowl–querns, often with feet; pieces or whole vases of the multi–coloured opaque glass usually called 'Phoenician' (which are already found in the preceding period); alabaster pots; straight– sided cylinder seals (see [XIV], Fig. 6); Syrian conical seals of steatite ([XIV], Fig. 7); small and rude clay figures of deities, such as Ishtar or Papsukal (the guardian of buildings), and animals, such as horses, sheep, doves, ducks, &c.; bronze pins, often with birds on the heads; baked clay tablets of the fine Kuyunjik type (see [XV], Fig. 12; script, Fig. 17); pottery lamps with long protruding curved nozzles; pottery vases simple and undecorated save by incised lines, as for many centuries past (for types see [XIV], Figs. 9 a b c d); light–blue glazed ware introduced from Egypt towards end of period; polychrome glazed ware with designs of rosettes, chevrons) &c., somewhat earlier; large pots without feet common for storage of grain and oil, sometimes for tablets: mouth often closed with a brick. Stone pithoi are also found. Vertical drains or sinks, made of a number of pottery cylindrical drums, fitting on top of or into one another, are found everywhere on town–mounds of this period; visitors should avoid tumbling into them, as they are often open or only covered by a very thin crust of earth. Usually they are perforated to allow of soaking into the surrounding earth, and are, when excavated whole, generally found capped by, a beehive–shaped perforated cover. Sometimes these drains were made of old pots with their lower parts broken off, and fitted into one another. Secular buildings were of burnt brick; sacred buildings usually of crude brick, from religious conservatism. Crude bricks nearly always oblong; burnt bricks square (14 ins.) or oblong (9x6x3 ins.). The burnt brick of Nebuchadnezzar's time is extraordinarily fine and hard, and the bitumen–mortar so finely spread as to be almost invisible (Babylon). Walls of this reign have a rock–like solidity and tenacity that should make them easily recognizable. Those of immediately preceding reigns show the bitumen far more clearly, and the bricks are usually not as finely made as Nebuchadnezzar's; at Babylon the latter's work is thus at once distinguishable from that of Nabopolassar. A typical brick– inscription of Nebuchadnezzar is illustrated above, [XV], Fig. 11. It is in the revived archaic script, always used for this purpose by the late Babylonian kings. Use of coloured glazed brick is characteristic of period; often relief figures of animals are made up of glazed bricks each specially moulded for its proper position and numbered (Ishtar Gate, Babylon). Royal palaces were often decorated with reliefs depicting conquests, &c., carved on slabs of alabastrine marble placed along the brick walls, with great statues of human– headed bulls ( Cherubim ), &c. (Nimrud (CALAH), Kuyunjik (NINEVEH), Khorsabad. Brit. Mus. and Louvre ) Burials usually in drab clay pot–coffins (larnakes) with covers; bodies still contracted; funerary furniture scanty, consisting chiefly of pins, beads, an occasional cylinder–seal, and a few pots ([XIV], Figs. 9 a b c d). Ribbed pots with blue (weathered green) glaze, often pitched both within and without, were also employed towards the end of the period, inverted over the bodies. Also anthropoid pottery sarcophagi, an idea imported from Egypt. Child burials in bowls. Iron objects sometimes buried with the dead; often found in palace–ruins (weapons, horse–furniture, &c.). Bronze commonly used for gates, door, bolts, &c. (Gates of Shalmaneser's palace; Brit. Mus. ).
2. Persian (Achaemenian) period: c.540–330 B.C.
This period is distinguished from the former by the less frequent use of bronze, the introduction of coinage, and the development of the simplified Persian cuneiform writing (never on tablets, only on stone monuments; see [XV], Fig. 18). Bitumen ceased to be used as mortar in buildings. Persian walls (e. g. the Apadana at Babylon) are easily distinguished by the use of clay mortar, and the unusual thickness of the mortar–courses between the bricks. Burials in shallow trough–like pottery coffins, with the bodies at full length, but with the knees slightly flexed (these continued during the next period).
VI. MIDDLE IRON AGE: 1. Greek and Parthian periods; c.330 B.C.–220 A.D.
Characteristics. Sudden degeneration and disappearance of the ancient native civilization and art; imitation of Greek culture, Greek buildings (theatre at Babylon), and inscriptions; Greek legends on Parthian coins; Parthian kings call themselves 'Philhellenes'; Graeco–Roman architecture imitated (Hatra). Graeco–Roman terra– cottas, pottery lamps, pilgrim–flasks and bone–carvings; classical seal gems; Roman glass; fragments of imitation of classical sculpture in marble (the material being adopted as well as the style); and, of course, coins—these are characteristic remains found on mounds of this period. About l00 B.C. the use of cuneiform was given up; clay tablets were no longer used. Aramaic became the usual form of writing; ink used on sherds; wax tablets. Small bowls often found with ink–written incantations in Judaeo–Aramaic (see [XV], Fig. 19). Mounds of this period are perhaps most easily recognized by the quantities of deep–blue glazed sherds found lying about on them. The glaze is rather thin, laid on a coarse drab ware, and is often cracked. The blue is very fine, rivalling the old Egyptian. Burials of this period are often found in (besides the shallow pottery coffins mentioned above) rectangular oblong boxes of thin coarse ware with light friable blue glaze (Babylon), or (later) in slipper–shaped coffins (possibly Sassanian) of the same ware, rudely decorated with human figures (warriors) in relief, on panels (Warka). The blue glaze has often changed to a dark green, especially in the case of the Warka slipper–coffins. The lids are cemented to the coffins. Internments are now full length, the old custom of contraction having been entirely abandoned [1]. Gold ornaments and pieces of gold leaf, gold fillets, &c., are not unfrequently found with the bodies, besides armlets, toe and finger rings, &c., of silver and bronze, the finger–rings usually of ordinary Roman types; pottery, lamps, and glass vessels. These coffins are often in brick vaults, usually placed haphazard in the ground, as in earlier times. Bricks small, hard, and yellow.
[1] The western custom of cremation was never adopted, in spite of the Hellenization of culture. It offended both Babylonian and Iranian sentiment, although the Parthians were never very orthodox followers of Ahuramazda, and venerated (at least platonically) the most popular deities of the Greek pantheon.
2. Sassanian Period; c.220–650 A.D.
Characteristics. Reaction towards Oriental motives in art: a typical antîka of the period is the Sassanian seal of cornelian, chalcedony, or haematite, in shape sometimes a ring, more often a flat sphere with one–third cut off to form a seal–base, perforated for stringing (see [XIV], Fig. 8), and inscribed in Pehlevi (see [XV], Fig. 20) a script that to the unitiated looks very like Cufie Arabic: the language is Old–Persian, which was spoken by the court officials at Ctesiphon, the language of the people being Aramaic. Sculpture barbarized, but with a picturesque character of its own (Nakhsh–i– Rustam, Tak–i–Bostãn), sometimes reminiscent of Indian work. Architecture: Parthian–Roman traditions (Ctesiphon). Pottery usually glazed blue (thicker glaze). Unglazed bowls with Hebrew and Mandaitic magical inscriptions. Bronze no longer used except for coins. Objects from mounds very like those of preceding age, but less of Roman origin. Not much known of burials; the Warka slipper–coffins usually regarded as Parthian may possibly be of early Sassanian age.
VII. LATER IRON AGE: Muhammadan Period; c.650–1500 A.D.[1]
Characteristics. Development of art under Persian influence till Tartar conquest in thirteenth century: the destruction and depopulation of the country at that time brought all real artistic development to an end. Flourishing period: the 'Abbãsid Khalifate: ninth century: Hãrûn al–Rashîd. Ruins of the ancient city and palaces of Samarrã: halls with modelled and painted plaster–decorations, not only geometrical but also (Persian heterodox influence) representing trees, birds, &c. No more sculpture in round or relief of human figures or animals. The only survival of classical tradition would appear to be to some extent in architecture: Greek architects.
Coins: thin gold, and silver, with Cufic inscriptions only (see [XV], Fig. 21). Mounds of this period may be known by fragments of marble–carving with Cufic inscriptions, plasterwork, Arab and Persian vase and tile fragments in thick blue, green, yellow, or brown glaze, metallic lustre–glaze, &c., variegated glass bangles, and rings; bits of cloudy white glass (from lamps); fragments of wood, carved and inlaid with bone, nacre, &c., in geometrical patterns; textile fragments, (which are naturally not commonly found in older mounds), &c.
Nothing is said with regard to burials as these may not be touched.
[1] The limit of age which constitutes an 'antiquity' for legal purposes is fixed in most antiquity–laws at 1500 A.D.