er history, so also have the excavators of
the ancient sites in the Mesopotamian valley made, during the last few
years, far-reaching discoveries, which have enabled us to add to and
revise much of our knowledge of the history of Babylonia and Assyria. In
Palestine and the Sinaitic peninsula also the spade has been used with
effect, but a detailed account of work in Sinai and Palestine falls
within the limits of a description of Biblical discoveries rather than
of this book. The following chapters will therefore deal chiefly with
modern discoveries which have told us new facts with regard to the
history of the ancient Sumerians themselves, and of the Babylonians,
Elamites, Kassites, and Assyrians, the inheritors of the ancient
Sumerian civilization, which was older than that of Egypt, and which, as
we have seen, probably contributed somewhat to its formation. These
were the two primal civilizations of the ancient world. For two thousand
years each marched upon a solitary road, without meeting the other.
Eventually the two roads converged. We have hitherto dealt with the road
of the Egyptians; we now describe that of the Mesopotamians, up to the
point of convergence.

CHAPTER IV--RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA AND THE DAWN OF CHALDAEAN HISTORY

In the preceding pages it has been shown how recent excavations in Egypt
have revealed an entirely new chapter in the history of that country,
and how, in consequence, our theories with regard to the origin of
Egyptian civilization have been entirely remodelled. Excavations have
been and are being carried out in Mesopotamia and the adjacent countries
with no less enthusiasm and energy than in Egypt itself, and, although
it cannot be said that they have resulted in any sweeping modification
of our conceptions with regard to the origin and kinship of the early
races of Western Asia, yet they have lately added considerably to our
knowledge of the ancient history of the countries in that region of the
world. This is particularly the case in respect of the Sumerians, who,
so far as we know at present, were the earliest inhabitants of the
fertile plains of Mesopotamia. The beginnings of this ancient people
stretch back into the remote past, and their origin is still shrouded in
the mists of antiquity. When first we come across them they have already
attained a high level of civilization. They have built temples and
palaces and houses of burnt and unburnt brick, and they have