ach sign consisted was gradually diminished, so
that in the time of the Assyrians and the later Babylonians many of the
characters bore small resemblance to the ancient Sumerian forms
from which they had been derived. The reading of Sumerian and early
Babylonian inscriptions by the late Assyrian scribes was therefore an
accomplishment only to be acquired as the result of long study, and it
is interesting to note that as an assistance to the reading of these
early texts the scribes compiled lists of archaic signs. Sometimes
opposite each archaic character they drew a picture of the object from
which they imagined it was derived. This fact is significant as proving
that the Assyrian scribes recognized the pictorial origin of cuneiform
writing, but the pictures they drew opposite the signs are rather
fanciful, and it cannot be said that their guesses were very successful.
That we are able to criticize the theories of the Assyrians as to the
origin and forms of the early characters is in the main due to M. de
Sarzec's labours, from whose excavations many thousands of inscriptions
of the Sumerians have been recovered.

The main results of M. de Sarzec's diggings at Telloh have already been
described by M. Maspero in his history, and therefore we need not go
over them again, but will here confine ourselves to the results which
have been obtained from recent excavations at Telloh and at other sites
in Western Asia. With the death of M. de Sarzec, which occurred in his
sixty-fifth year, on May 31, 1901, the wonderfully successful series of
excavations which he had carried out at Telloh was brought to an end. In
consequence it was feared at the time that the French diggings on this
site might be interrupted for a considerable period. Such an event would
have been regretted by all those who are interested in the early history
of the East, for, in spite of the treasures found by M. de Sarzec in the
course of his various campaigns, it was obvious that the site was far
from being exhausted, and that the tells as yet unexplored contained
inscriptions and antiquities extending back to the very earliest periods
of Sumerian history.

[Illustration: 150.jpg FRAGMENT OF A LIST OF ARCHAIC CUNEIFORM SIGNS.]

Opposite each the scribe has drawn a picture of the object
from which he imagined it was derived. Photograph by Messrs.
Mansell & Co.

The announcement which was made in 1902, that the French government had
appointed