JÔKHA after Andrae
No excavations have yet been conducted on this site, but it was visited by Dr. Andrae in the winter of 1902-3. He noted traces of a large building on a platform to the north of the principal ridge, marked A on the plan. It appears to have formed a square, its sides measuring seventy metres in length, and a small mound rises in the centre of it. Quantities of square, kiln-burnt bricks are scattered on the mound which covers it, and on the south side traces of a rectangular chamber are visible.[12] Numerous fragments of diorite also suggest the presence of sculptures, and at the south corner of the building, at the spot marked with a cross on the plan, the Germans found a fragment of diorite with part of a carefully chiselled inscription in archaic characters. The occurrence of unglazed potsherds, flint implements, and plano-convex bricks on other parts of the mound are an indication that, like Fâra, the site contains relics of still earlier habitation. Moreover, it is said that for years past Arab diggings have been carried out there, and early tablets and three cones of the patesi Galu-Babbar have reached Europe from this site. In view of the promising traces he noted and of the important part which the city played in early Sumerian history, it is almost to be regretted that Dr. Andrae did not substitute Jôkha for Abû Hatab as a site for his subsequent excavation.
Other mounds in the same neighbourhood also suggest prospects of success for the future excavator. One of these is Hammâm, which lies about seven and a half miles W.S.W. of Jôkha and close to the bed of the Shatt el-Kâr. It consists of a group of separate mounds, on one of which are the remains of a rectangular building resembling a ziggurat or temple-tower. Its side measures thirty metres, and it rises to a height of twelve metres above the surface of the mound, which in turn is three metres above the plain. Clay, in which layers of reeds are embedded, has been spread between the bricks as at Warka. More to the north of it in the same mound are traces of another building, possibly the temple of which it formed a part. To the south of Hammâm, and a little over three miles to the west of the Shatt el-Kâr is Tell 'Îd, another site which might repay excavation. It consists of a well-defined mound, about thirty metres high at the summit, and is visible from a considerable distance. Unlike Hammâm and Jôkha, however, it shows no trace upon its surface of any building, and there are no potsherds, bricks, or other objects scattered on the mound to afford an indication of its date. Both Tell 'Îd and Hammâm stand on a slightly elevated tract of desert soil, some ten miles broad, which raises them above the marshes caused by the inundations of the Euphrates. On the same tract farther to the south are Senkera and Warka, which were examined by Loftus in the early fifties.[13]
Of the early sites in the region of the Shatt el-Kâr the mounds at Fâra have been the most productive of remains dating from the prehistoric period of Sumerian culture. Systematic excavations were begun here by Dr. Koldewey in 1902,[14] and were continued in the following year by Drs. Andrae and Noeldeke.[15] The accompanying plan will give some idea of the extensive area occupied by the mounds, and of the method adopted for ascertaining their contents without too great an expenditure of time. The Arabic numerals against the contour lines indicate their height in metres above the level of the plain. Roman figures are set at each end of the trenches in the order in which they were cut. Thus the first two trenches (I. and II.), running from north to south and from east to west respectively, were cut across the mounds by Dr. Koldewey to gain some idea of their general character. The subsequent trenches were all cut parallel to the second through the higher portions of the site, a few of them being extended so as to cover the lower detached mounds to the east. In the plan the trenches are marked as continuous, but actually each consists of a series of short sections, divided by bands of soil left uncut. These hold up the sides of the trench and leave passages for crossing from one side to the other.[16] Whenever a trench discloses the remains of a building it can be completely uncovered and the trench afterwards continued until another building is disclosed. In the plan the principal cleared areas are outlined, and the position of walls which were uncovered within them is indicated by fine lines.
FÂRA after Andrae and Noeldeke