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.