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Printed: LIBERTÉ·ÉGALITÉ·FRATERNITÉ
Printed: RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE
Printed: MINISTÈRE DES AFFAIRES ÉTRANGÈRES PARIS
of these catastrophes were followed by a period during when the town was deserted by its inhabitants. / The region of Malatya still constitutes a seismic centre today constantly threatened. / Our own work was hampered by an earthquake that occurred a few weeks before our arrival and following which the labour force of the whole region was mobilised by the public authorities.
Thus it is probable that some of the destructions recorded in the stratified layers of the mound do not bear witness to the capture of the town by enemy forces, as our predecessor admitted, but are the consequence of natural catastrophes, notably earthquakes. / The comparisons attempted by Delaporte between the levels of devastation encountered in the mound with certain notable episodes of Assyrian history call for re-examination.
The reconstruction of the history of the site is complicated on the other hand, by the fact that the tepe Arslan or Lion Mound, explored so far, constitutes only part of the ancient site. / Indeed, about 850 metres further south, there is a second mound currently called Ali Tépé, of equal dimensions. The two mounds form the centre of an oasis with luxuriant vegetation fed by a powerful spring which gushes all year round, with a remarkable flow, from the foot of the arid mountains south of Malatya. / As is the case with the present village of Orduzu, whose farms are buried in the greenery of the oasis, the ancient site must have consisted of two quarters, separated by a slight depression. Furnished with gardens, this depression is drained by an ingenious system of channels
65 figures hard to readstruck struck outadded written in above” jug ditto, and what it repeatsword reading not certain