Identifier: archaeologyofcun00sayc (find matches)
Title: The archæology of the cuneiform inscriptions
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry), 1845-1933 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (Great Britain). General Literature Committee
Subjects: Cuneiform writing Civilization, Assyro-Babylonian Assyria -- Antiquities
Publisher: London : Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge New York : E. S. Gorham
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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It is true thatElam is not Babylonia; but one of the surprisesof M. de Morgans discoveries is that in the earlydays of Babylonian history Elam was a Babylonianprovince, and Susa the seat of a Babylonian governor.The same culture extended from Sippara on theEuphrates to Susa in Elam, and this culture wasBabylonian. Hence, in default of materials fromBabylonia itself, we may see in the history of culturaldevelopment at Susa a counterpart of that in Baby-lonia, at any rate during the period when Elam andBabylonia were alike under Semitic rule.1 At Susa the line of division between the prehistoricor neolithic age and the historical epoch is veryclearly marked. The prehistoric stratum lies twenty-five metres below the surface of the mounds, and isdivided by M. de Morgan and his fellow-workers into 1 For the archaeological results of M. de Morgans work, seehis Memoires de la Delegation en Perse, vols. i. and vii. Theeighth volume, which will also be devoted to archaeology, isin preparation.
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THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MATERIALS 47 two periods. The first is distinguished by a finethin pottery, with yellow paste, which is already madeupon a wheel. It does not exceed from two to sevenmillimetres in thickness ; it is polished, and decoratedwith black bands and various patterns in a browncolour produced by oxide of iron. The designs arenot only geometric, but also represent animal andvegetable forms. Among them are rows of ostrichesidentical with those found on the painted prehistoricpottery of Egypt. Indeed, the explorers were es-pecially struck by the resemblance of the pottery asa whole to that of Egypt in the prehistoric age,though it is difficult to see what connection there canhave been between the two countries at so remote adate, and the curious similarity between the rows ofbirds depicted on the vases must remain for thepresent an archaeological puzzle. There is also acertain amount of resemblance between the geometricpottery and that disinterred by M. Chantre at theearly Ass

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