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

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98 A SUMERIAN PALACE AND "A" CEMETERY, KISH zontal ribbing roughly notched to represent a rope. The vat had a rounded base and measured 112 cm in diameter and 75.50 cm in depth. Its average thickness was 2 centimetres. As the rim was 12 cm above the level of the footing, it must have been on a level with the mud pavement which was missing in this portion of the chamber. There was apparently some danger of people falling into this vat in passing through this room, and this was obviated by building a thin wall, whose base rests partly on the footing, to act as a guard. Room 51 measured 6.60 by 3.80 m and was paved with burnt bricks of two sizes, averaging 24 x 16 x 3.50-4 cm and 20 x 13.50 x 3-6 centimetres. The former is the size of the bricks used in the building of the original palace, and it is clear that the builders of the annex did not hesitate to use material taken from buildings of an earlier date. The floor of this room slopes noticeably toward the north, the drop being as much as 20 cm in the width of the chamber. The doorway in the north of this chamber seems to have been a later addition. For some reason or other chamber 46 does not communicate with chamber 47, as one would expect. I should imagine that originally there was a doorway between the two and that it was subsequently blocked up, an entrance to chamber 46 being made from 51 in- stead. This new doorway must have been cut from chamber 51, for the mistake was made of cutting partly into the wall between rooms 46 and 47—an error probably due to miscalculation. Owing to the bad state of the brickwork it was impossible to detect any signs of the blocking up of the old door, and the presence of a burial of later date in the wall between chambers 46 and 47 further confused matters. The dimensions of chamber 46 are 9.10 m by 3.70 m and it shows no features of interest with the exception of its doorway. The adjoining chamber (47) is of the same size. It is entered from 48, which is a little wider (4 m), though of the same length. This latter chamber is entered from 49, which is 9.30 by 6.90 metres. This fine room and Nos. 46-48 would appear to have been used as store-rooms, for the floors of the whole series are of unbaked brick. It is an open question whether these four were ever supplied with doors. If so, the doors must have been of the simplest nature. A peculiar feature of rooms 47-49 was that numbers of bones of oxen were found in them at a level above the footing. Quantities of ash were found with these bones, though none showed any signs of having been burnt. The fact that these bones, from all parts of the body, were mingled pell-mell in the chambers would preclude their being ordinary interments. Whether they belong to the same period as the building is difficult to say; but burial 55 was found lying above them, which proves that the deposits of bones are of earlier date than the graves, which are dated to about 3000 B.C. Proceeding to the east from chamber 49, a narrow passage (41) is reached, which is 2.60 m in width. Into this passage chamber 54, which measures 6.50 by 4.40 m in the middle, opens from the south. This chamber is slightly out of the square, as is also room 53, though not to such an extent. This is due to their northern and southern walls not being parallel. In chamber 54 a pottery jar was found, 54 cm in diameter, with a thick rim and no neck. This jar was in an
THE SUMERIAN PALACE AT MOUND "A," KISH 99 upright position with its rim 16 cm below the base of the footing, itself 190 cm below the datum level. Nothing whatever was found in the jar, and its position can be explained only by its being at one time used to supply water to the builders of the annex and then left in its original position. Unfortunately, owing to a mistake on the part of the pickman who cleared this room, this jar, which fell to pieces when extracted, was not brought to the camp to be drawn. Chamber 50 is a trifle askew and measures 5.90 by 4.90 metres. Its walls are exceptionally well preserved, especially on the northern side, the outline of each brick showing clearly after the plaster covering had been removed. The bricks are of the usual size, 20.50 x 13.50 x 4-6.50 centimetres. At a level with the footing, a quantity of white plaster was found, which may once have formed a pavement, or have fallen with the roof when the latter fell in; in any case, it was too thick to have come from the walls. Chamber 40 measures 5.60 by 5.20 metres. The thinness of the wall that separates it from room 50 is unusual. It may be that the two rooms were originally one, which was subsequently divided to make two smaller ones. If this be so, the building of the annex had not advanced sufficiently to prevent this wall having the usual footing. The long portico numbered 42 on the plan is, as far as is known at present, unique in Sumerian architecture. Its inner portion measures 19.60 by 3.10 metres. It was open to the air on the eastern side, where there were four massive columns, constructed entirely of unbaked mud brick, for the support of the roof. Such a piece of architecture proves beyond doubt that the Sumerian realized the value of the column as a decorative feature as well as for its utility. The columns were in a remarkable state of preservation, although denuded down to but a small fraction of their original height. Their average height is now 70 cm above the level of the footing upon which they stand. Each column was constructed of sun- dried bricks, rhomboid in shape, measuring 17 by 24 centimetres. The smaller end of each brick is 14 cm wide, and its thickness 3.50 centimetres. As in the case of the pillars of the hall (45), the wider end of each brick is slightly curved to adapt it to the curvature of the column. Each column is 1 m in diameter, and the bricks of each layer were arranged in an outer ring of eleven, inside of which was another ring of five, and the space in the middle was filled in with a single brick. This arrangement can be seen clearly in Plate XXXII, Fig. 3. The cement used was the same mud as was used to make the bricks, and this, combined with the heavy weight of the column, has compressed bricks and mortar into a practi- cally homogeneous mass, from which separate bricks are extracted with difficulty. The face of each column was coated with thin mud plaster, and it was noticed that, when this had undergone a certain amount of weathering after the excavation of the columns, the outlines of the bricks were clearly distinguishable. It would seem that the plaster with which the columns were faced was carefully rubbed into the interstices between the bricks and not their faces, thus giving the columns the appearance of being of brickwork^an appearance which can be given to sun-dried bricks as well as to baked bricks, though in a lesser degree.
Page 2: LIBRARY >A. \^ Class\\ 4^
Page 10 and 11: PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AME
Page 12 and 13: 68 CONTENTS Lipped Flat-based Potte
Page 14 and 15: LIST OF PLATES XXL Plan of Palace "
Page 17 and 18: PREFACE This volume contains the fi
Page 19 and 20: A SUMERIAN PALACE AND THE ''A" CEME
Page 21 and 22: INTRODUCTION 77 Only three burials
Page 23 and 24: TOPOGRAPHY OF KISH AND HARSAGKALAMM
Page 29 and 30: THE SUMERIAN PALACE AT MOUND "A," K
Page 41: THE SUMERIAN PALACE AT MOUND "A," K
Page 49 and 50: — THE SUMERIAN PALACE AT MOUND "A
Page 73 and 74: THE "A" CEMETERY, KISH (Continued)
Page 83 and 84: POTTERY This chapter deals with the
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THE "A" CEMETERY, KISH (Continued)
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TOOLS AND WEAPONS A considerable nu
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PERSONAL ORNAMENTS MEDALLIONS Plate
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STONE VESSELS Plates XXXVIII, No. 1
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NOTES 215 " A very similar dish to
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FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. AN
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FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. VA
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FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 24
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I FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.
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Field museum of natural history. AN
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A Sumerian Palace and the "A" cemetery at Kish, Mesopotamia

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