ERIDU), and also at Tell Muqayyar (UR). The continued
excavations carried out by Mr. H. R. Hall for the Museum in 1919 have
produced more of the same evidence from both places, besides a new
'prehistoric' site at Tell el-Ma'abed or Tell el-'Obeid near Ur. It
seems that these antiquities date from the very end of the neolithic,
or rather to the succeeding 'chalcolithic', age; whether they are
really prehistoric, as regards Babylonian history, must until more
evidence from stratified deposits is found remain undecided. They
prove the occupation of the head of the Persian Gulf at the beginning
of history by a people whose primitive art was closely akin to that
of early Elam, and distinct from that of the Sumerians.

[1] Found by Loftus in 1854: their early date was not recognized at
the time.
[2] Koldewey, _Excavations at Babylon, E.T._, p. 261, fig. 182.
Koldewey curiously speaks of the saw-blades as 'palaeolithic.' They
are, of course, nothing of the sort.

Characteristics: flint, chert, obsidian, green and red jasper, and
quartz-crystal flakes, arrowheads, cores, and saw-blades. Chert and
limestone rough hoe-blades (easily mistaken for palaeolithic
implements; they are, however, much flatter); polished serpentine or
jasper celts; lentoid (lentil-shaped), amygdaloid (almond-shaped),
and discoid beads of cornelian, crystal, obsidian, &c., unpolished;
nails of translucent quartz and obsidian (obviously imitations of
metal types); hard grey pottery sickles, pottery cones of various
sizes, and pottery objects like gigantic nails bent up at the ends;
pottery painted with designs in black, usually geometrical (see
illustration XIV, Fig. 1), but sometimes showing plant-forms or even
animals. This ware is often very fine, so much so as to look as if
wheelmade. The shapes are chiefly bowls (often closely resembling
early Egyptian stone bowl types), pots with suspension-handles or
lugs, and spouted 'kettles'. All these objects are at Shahrein and
el-'Obeid found lying on the desert surface at the distance of 50 or
100 yards from the tell; they are supposed to have been washed out of
the lower strata of the latter by rains. Objects of this kind should
be recorded from any site, and the neighbourhood of a desert tell
should always be searched for them.

[ILLUSTRATION XIV MESOPOTAMIAN POTTERY, SEALS, ETC].

[ILLUSTRATION XV: CUNEIFORM AND OTHER SCRIPTS].

II. EARLY BRONZE (Copper) AGE: First Sumerian (pre-Sargonic) Period;