1907. From the Persian Building a long exploration trench was carried
through the western quarter, December 1906–March 1907; the eastern ends
of the two mud walls in front of the Ninmach Temple were excavated,
June-October, and a small piece of the outer wall near Babil, June-July.
In October the southern quay wall of the canal south of the Kasr was
followed up farther and the excavations in Merkes were begun, which with
varying degrees of activity have been carried on up to the present time,
May 1912.
1908. The main work lay in Merkes. It led _inter alia_ to the uncovering
of the earliest strata that have yet been reached and that belong to the
period of the earliest Babylonian kings. In February, as a lengthy
secondary piece of work, the opening up of Sachn was begun at the Tower
of Babylon and lasted till June 1911. Also in July a cut was made
through the quarter to the west of Sachn, which brought to light the
Arachtu wall and the Nabonidus wall at this place.
1909. The main work still lay in Merkes, where the strata of the
dwellings of Nebuchadnezzar’s period were laid bare in large connected
areas.
1910. In January the main work was transferred to the north-east strip
of the Kasr, where the northern ends of the two walls that flank the
Procession Street were brought to light, that now—May 1912—are almost
finished. Here also the lengths of wall that project eastwards were
opened up. As an additional piece of work the following up of the
Arachtu wall from the Kasr to Amran was begun with the embankment walls
of Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus that lay in front of it, April
1910–January 1911; this led to the discovery of the stone bridge over
the Euphrates, August-November. The researches in Merkes were carried on
with the opening up of more private houses and the Temple of Ishtar of
Agade, November 1910–October 1911. Also, as a secondary piece of work,
the outer walls of the temple of Esagila were identified, December
1910–July 1911.
1911. The main work on the north-east corner of the Kasr was continued,
and the great stone wall with the inscription of Nebuchadnezzar emerged
in April. The secondary work of the previous year was, as we have
already said, carried farther; for example, a considerable part of the
network of streets in Merkes towards the south was traced.
1912. Besides proceeding with the digging at the north-east corner of
the Kasr and at Merkes, the excavation was begun of the buildings with
the great surrounding wall in the west of the Southern Citadel which had
been cut by the exploration trench of 1907.
The digging is carried out by the general administration of the Royal
Museums in Berlin, present Director-General His Excellency W. Bode, in
conjunction with the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, President His
Excellency von Hollmann, under the patronage of H.M. the Emperor of
Germany.
For many of the translations of inscriptions I am indebted to the
kindness of Professor Delitzsch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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