A Sumerian Palace and the "A" cemetery at Kish, Mesopotamia

TOPOGRAPHY OF KISH AND HARSAGKALAMMA 81
dential quarter. There are numbers of large houses situated, chiefly, in the
southern part of the mound. This mound is surroimded on all sides by cultiva-
tion, except to the east, where it is bounded by an ancient canal. Its highest
part is south and west and this portion rises faii'ly steeply from the cultivation
to a height of nearly 5 m (4.80 m) above our datum line. The summit of the
mound is far from level. It is studded irregularly by small knolls which cover
the larger buildings that lie beneath. These knolls range in height from 1 to 2 m
above the more level portions of the mound. Toward the north and east,
the mound gently descends until it is lost in the cultivation or the canal. The
mound may be described as roughly pear-shaped with its apex pointing toward
the west. This latter portion is thickly covered with numbers of broken bricks,
some of which were overfired in the kiln. From the quantity of these bricks I
am inclined to think that this part of the mound was at one time devoted to
brick-making. The level of the cultivation around mound "W" averages 1.50 m
above our zero level.
The tliree canals which divide "W" from the complex of mounds locally
known as Ingharra are of varying periods. The western one is the most recent.
It appears to have been cut after the "W" quarter was built; for, it will be
noticed, it bends to avoid the mound, opposite which the bed of the canal averages
3.14 m above datum line. The unequalness of the bed, especially of that
portion which curves round the mound, suggests that then, as so often now,
houses were crowded too close to the canal. I would ascribe the date of this canal
to the Neo-Babylonian period. Tall heaps of the silt thrown out from its bed
during repeated clearances line its banks, which in places still stand over 3 m
high above the bottom of the canal.
The two canals to the east of the one just described are in various stages of
obliteration. The middle one is still clearly defined, but is not so prominent as
the canal close to "W," and the eastern one is almost entirely denuded away.
It is impossible in the present state of our knowledge to assign a period to these
two ancient waterways.
The reason for these three canals being so close together is as follows: After
a canal has been in use for some time, and has been repeatedly cleared of silt,
the latter forms great mounds on either side of it, so that it becomes increasingly
difficult to remove the silt. Wlien this state of affairs is reached, it is more eco-
nomical to construct a new canal alongside than to go on clearing out the
older one.
Crossing the remains of the three canals, we reach mound "A," of which the
greater part has now been excavated. Only the lower and flatter portion to the
west remains unfinished. This part, however, is strewn with quantities of late
pottery and bricks, whose fused surfaces show them to be throw-outs from a kiln
or kilns. I am inclined, therefore, to think that this part of the moimd was
concerned solely with works of utility.
The highest portion of "A," in the centre and slightly to the east, was
5,84 m above zero level and the northern slopes of the mound were considerably