little progress has been made in the
publication of the material already accumulated. In fact, the leadership
in American excavation has passed from the University of Pennsylvania to
that of Chicago. This progressive university has sent out an expedition,
under the general direction of Prof. R. F. Harper (with Dr. E. J. Banks
as director of excavations), which is doing excellent work at Bismya,
and, although it is too early yet to expect detailed accounts of their
achievements, it is clear that they have already met with considerable
success. One of their recent finds consists of a white marble statue of
an early Sumerian king named Daudu, which was set up in the temple of
E-shar in the city of Udnun, of which he was ruler. From its archaic
style of workmanship it may be placed in the earliest period of Sumerian
history, and may be regarded as an earnest of what may be expected to
follow from the future labours of Prof. Harper's expedition.

[Illustration: 165.jpg WITHIN THE PALACE OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR II.]

At Fara and at Abu Hatab in Babylonia, the Deutsch-Orient Gesellschaft,
under Dr. Koldewey's direction, has excavated Sumerian and Babylonian
remains of the early period. At the former site they unearthed the
remains of many private houses and found some Sumerian tablets of
accounts and commercial documents, but little of historical interest;
and an inscription, which seems to have come from Abu Hatab, probably
proves that the Sumerian name of the city whose site it marks was
Kishurra. But the main centre of German activity in Babylonia is the
city of Babylon itself, where for the last seven years Dr. Koldewey has
conducted excavations, unearthing the palaces of Nebuchadnezzar II on
the mound termed the Kasr, identifying the temple of E-sagila under the
mound called Tell Amran ibn-Ali, tracing the course of the sacred way
between E-sagila and the palace-mound, and excavating temples dedicated
to the goddess Ninmakh and the god Ninib.

[Illustration: 166.jpg EXCAVATIONS IN THE TEMPLE OP NINIB AT BABYLON.]

In the middle distance may be seen the metal trucks running
on light rails which are employed on the work for the
removal of the debris from the diggings.

Dr. Andrae, Dr. Koldewey's assistant, has also completed the excavation
of the temple dedicated to Nabu at Birs Nimrud. On the principal mound
at this spot, which marks the site of the ancient city of Borsippa,
traces of the ziggurat, or temple