The following is an account of a short investigation carried out under the auspices of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago at Al-‘Ubaid in January 1937.

Excavations on this site have previously been undertaken by other institutions; some explanation is therefore necessary of the origin and circumstances of our short campaign.

In the course of the Oriental Institute's exploration of the Dyala region, not only was the existence of early Sumerian civilization established at several sites in this comparatively northern part of Babylonia, but successive stages in its development were revealed and could be studied in detail. At Khafaje it was with this problem that we were mainly occupied for seven successive seasons.

The uniformity of the material culture as found at these sites and at others located in Sumer proper soon became apparent, and was confirmed by innumerable cases of obvious resemblance between individual discoveries. It, therefore, seemed not unreasonable to expect a similar uniformity to appear in contemporary architectural remains.

The series of silver coins struck at Aradus in the last two centuries B.C. contains, in the letters added to the reverse type, rather more information upon the relations of the successive issues than is commonly to be derived from Greek coins: and a study of the specimens in the British Museum and Oxford collections, with the aid of casts from Berlin, Copenhagen, and Paris, has suggested that there may be a profitable field for investigation of the organization of this and the neighbouring mints. The statistics collected have therefore been recorded here as a starting-point.

The carat-weight, approximately 3 grains, has by tradition been derived from the seeds in the pod of the Ceratonia siliqua L., the carob, Arabic ḫarrūb or ḫurnūb. The word comes from the Greek κεράτιον, which is both the seed of the carob, and the equivalent of the Latin siliqua, carat, and κεράτιον in its turn is derived from κἑρας, a horn, from the crescent-shaped pods of the tree. These pods have been traditionally called St. John's Bread, having been supposed to have been eaten by St. John in the Wilderness, and they are also considered to have been the husks eaten by the Prodigal Son. (Enc. Brit., 11th ed. XVI. 859, s.v., ‘Locust-Tree’).

I Possess two copies of this qmaha. The differences between the two are slight, though one is a recent copy and the other is dated 1273 A.H., and I surmise that both are derived from an older document in priestly possession. Mistakes in this earlier and already corrupt manuscript are reproduced as conscientiously as the rest of the text, and of mistakes and obscurities there are not a few. It is natural that these should occur, especially as the ancient language has long ceased to be used by the people. Priests, however well intentioned, miss out lines or, still worse, edit passages which they find incomprehensible, and, moreover, the practice of employing a fellow-priest to dictate the text ordered by a client is a common one and leads to misspelling and faults.

As for the original composition, I assume it to have been made somewhere about the time of the priest Ramuiia, who collected most of the ritual prayers into one volume, since the whole qmaha is based on the prayer given in that volume: ‘I prayed, lifting my eyes’. The ‘ancient roll’ mentioned by the copyist at the end of the qmaha may have been this original, or it may not. Ramuiia's date is probably to be placed during the first years of the Arab conquest.

Fragments of a cuneiform description of Babylon, containing the names of the town, its temples, and gates, have been published by Prof. E. Unger in W.V.D.O.G. XLVIII, pl. 82 and in his book Die Stadt Babylon, 229 ff. Notes on these tablets have been published by B. Landsberger in Z.A. XLI. 287 ff. There are seven fragments: 1. V.A.T. 13101 (Photo W.V.D.O.G. XLVII, pl.82);2. V.A.T.554(Reisner, Hymne No.5, Photo W.V.D.O.G.XLVIII, pl. 82); 3. B.M. 34878 (Photo W.V.D.O.G. XLVIII, pl. 82); 4. V.A.T. 13200 (Matouš, L.T.B.A. 1, No. 72, Photo Z.A. XLI, pl. VIII); 5. K. 3089 (P.S.B.A. XXII (1900), 559); 6. V.A.T. 401 (Photo Z.A. XLI, pl. VII); 7. K. 15122 (King, Suppl.).

The three tablets of the Ashmolean 1924–846, 1924–810, 1924–849 are partly duplicates, but fill large gaps. 1924–849 is a duplicate of V.A.T. 13101, col. I. V.A.T. 13101, col. I, fills the gap in 1924–849, obv. It contains the various names of Babylon, and according to its colophon it is an extract of the first tablet of the series, TIN-TIR(ki). This proves that V.A.T. 13101 is not the fifth tablet of the series TIN-TIR(ki), but that its colophon means— as B. Landsberger has already suggested in Z.A. XLI. 288—that five tablets have been written on a single one. V.A.T. 13101 does not give the whole series, but only extracts of five tablets.

After stone was abandoned as the material for the manufacture of weights in favour of base metals such as lead or bronze, specimens of ancient weights which have survived are too corroded to be of value for the determination of standards. We are dependent upon the weights of gold or silver coins for such knowledge as we possess. These coins have been in circulation and therefore subject to wear, whilst silver coins during their long burial in the earth have been in addition exposed to corrosion. They have lost weight. The method of fixing the standard of weight has in consequence been to select such coins as appear to have suffered little loss and draw conclusions from them. The weights of such coins, however, are variable, and no principle can be laid down to determine the particular coin which represents the true standard. For stone weights a sufficiency of specimens of which we know fairly accurately the original weight is often available to enable the problem to be solved statistically, but unworn coins are rare. In this paper an endeavour is made to draw conclusions as to the average loss of weight of worn coins from observed data so that statistical methods can be applied. This is done by means of an hypothesis for which an experimental verification is adduced from modern English coinage. From the hypothesis a formula is obtained connecting the original standard weight of a given series of coins with the mode derived from a statistical investigation.

On p. 90 of Iraq, 1937, a Prize was offered for an essay on some archaeological or ethnographical subject (not mainly linguistic or literary) connected with Prehistoric or Pharaonic Egypt.

The Committee reports that it is very gratified at the response, the following ten essays having been sent in. They came from England, America, France, Egypt, and the Sudan, and are listed in the order in which they were received.

Among the Assyrian letters of the Quyunjiq Collection of about the end of the eighth century, or first half of the seventh century B.C., of which the texts were published by R. F. Harper (Assyrian and Babylonian Letters), and the translations by Leroy Waterman (The Royal Correspondence of the Assyrian Empire), No. 586, K. 1102, is peculiarly interesting. Dr. R. Campbell Thompson, at my suggestion, has re-examined the tablet and has made a few slight alterations in Professor Waterman's translation. The tablet would appear to run as follows:

‘[Greetings, perhaps covering seven lines, broken away, but certainly addressed to the King] … peace to the overseer (or, arrangements) of Ishtar of Commands.

‘Concerning that which the King (my) lord sent me, thus “Of thy certainty send (answer)”. I will tell the final (decision) to the King, my lord.

‘The inflammation wherewith his head, his hands (arms), feet (legs) are inflamed, is due to his teeth. His teeth must be drawn: it is on this account that he is inflamed; he will reduce (it(?)) through internal (channels)( ?). Then will all be well…’