eriod are thus only covered by a few feet of debris and not
by masses of unburnt brick and artificially piled up soil. This fact
has considerably facilitated the systematic uncovering of the principal
mound that is now being carried out by Dr. Andrae.

[Illustration: 397.jpg ENTRANCE INTO ONE OF THE GALLERIES OR TUNNELS CUT
INTO THE PRINCIPAL MOUND AT SHERGHAT.]

Work has hitherto been confined to the northwest corner of the mound
around the ziggurat, or temple tower, and already considerable traces of
Assyrian buildings have been laid bare in this portion of the site. The
city wall on the northern side has been uncovered, as well as quays with
steps leading down to the water along the river front. Part of the
great temple of the god Ashur has been excavated, though a considerable
portion of it must be still covered by the modern Turkish fort at the
extreme northern point of the mounds; also part of a palace erected
by Ashur-nasir-pal has been identified. In fact, the work at Sherghat
promises to add considerably to our knowledge of ancient Assyrian
architecture.

The inscription of Tukulti-Ninib I, which was referred to above as
having been recently acquired by the trustees of the British Museum,
affords valuable information for the reconstruction of the history of
Assyria during the first half of the thirteenth century B.C.* It is seen
from the facts summarized that for our knowledge of the earlier
history of the country we have to depend to a large extent on short
brick-inscriptions and votive texts supplemented by historical
references in inscriptions of the later period. The only historical
inscription of any length belonging to the early Assyrian period,
which had been published up to a year ago, was the famous memorial slab
containing an inscription of Adad-nirari I, which was acquired by the
late Mr. George Smith some thirty years ago. Although purchased in
Mosul, the slab had been found by the natives in the mounds at Sherghat,
for the text engraved upon it in archaic Assyrian characters records the
restoration of a part of the temple of the god Ashur in the ancient city
of Ashur, the first capital of the Assyrians, now marked by the
mounds of Sherghat, which have already been described. The object of
Adad-nirari in causing the memorial slab to be inscribed was to record
the restoration of the portion of the temple which he had rebuilt,
but the most important part of the inscription was contained in the
intr