1948

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III. Areas of Research.

A. Babylonian Area - Drs. Legrain, Kramer and Steele.

Three seasons of excavation during the next five year period are recommended, preferably at Isin in Iraq, Central Tigris-Euphrates Valley, or at a site of similar age and extent if Isin is not practicable.

Isin is a low compact mound covering about 200 acres; it is located in central Babylonia due south of Nippur. Some four thousand years ago it was the capital of one of the most important dynasties in Babylonia, a dynasty which ruled for over two hundred years. There is good reason to hope that the uncovering of the ruined temples, palaces, and private houses of this period, will bring to light all sorts of archaeological finds, including considerable inscriptional material, which will prove to be of epoch-making importance for the Babylonian civilization dating from the end of the third and beginning of the second millenniums B. C.

But it is not for this period alone that the excavations at Isin should prove productive. There is evidence to show that Isin was settled in the earliest days of Sumero-Babylonian civilization, perhaps as early as six thousand years ago, and that it continued to be inhabited at least in part up to the middle of the first millennium B. C. Extended excavations at Isin should help furnish a cross section of Sumero-Babylonian culture from its earliest beginnings to its closing days.

Many factors such as the physical nature of the site, labor supply, agreements with the Department of Antiquities in Iraq, questions of division of objects and probable preservation of materials must be taken into consideration before settling definitely upon a specific site. For that reason a preliminary survey of site in the area by Dr. Kramer and the Field Director, prior to the actual excavations is recommended. This survey should take place in the Summer of 1948 and should require approx- … continues