After encountering difficulties of every kind, M. de Morgan, accompanied by a number of colleagues, among whom we must mention one of the most eminent of contemporary Assyriologists, Père V. Scheil, arrived at the site of the ruins of Susa on the 16th of December, 1897, and commenced work there. The first results sent to Paris formed a special exhibition at the Grand Palais des Champs Elysées, in the spring of 1901, and occasioned great surprise and admiration. These remains consist of immense numbers of inscribed bricks, of bas-reliefs, of stelæ covered with cuneiform writing of most archaic appearance, and of works of art of a style hitherto unknown. Thus, in beginning the publication of these monuments, and the translation of the texts, M. Scheil could write without exaggeration or hyperbole: “It is here that the history of the country of Elam begins”; and he then proceeds to deal with those great problems of history, of which the solution had become the question of the moment. What were the earliest civilizations of the East, and to what period do they carry us back? To what ethnic groups do the Elamites belong? What connection is there between Elam, Anzan, and Susa, the three names given in the original texts to Susiana? Did there actually exist in that country a combination of institutions, political or religious, of a distinctive and independent character? What languages and what races of mankind met in that region which adjoins the land of the Semites, the Arians, and perhaps the Turanians? These are questions of deep moment, and they have obtained from the early excavating campaigns a hesitating and partial reply, which does not satisfy our thirst for the whole truth regarding the origins of the earliest civilizations. “The proto-archaic texts,” says M. Scheil regretfully, “will show how limited is our knowledge both of the origins, which are continually becoming more remote, and of the primary factors of civilization, the number of which is steadily increasing.” We can only give a general sketch of the archæological results obtained up to July 1905, the date of the inauguration at the Louvre of the gallery devoted to the objects discovered up to that time. The work is still proceeding, and we may hope that it will be brought to a conclusion without interruption. Between January 1, 1897 and April 15, 1905 M. de Morgan has dug more than 280,000 cubic metres of earth and débris of all kinds, and he estimates further that it will be necessary to remove 1,280,000 cubic metres in order to bring the excavations to a final conclusion. Working at the rate of 35,000 cubic metres yearly, the archæological excavations at Susa will occupy not less than 35 years.[104] § II. CHRONOLOGY OF THE RUINS ACCORDING TO RECENT DISCOVERIES.