DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11610#0169
THE ART OF EXCAVATING
157
there a steep edge to it around ? Then there was a
wall, either of the town or of some one large build-
ing which forms the whole ruin. Is there a ring of
mounds with a central depression ? Then there was a
temple or large permanent building, with house ruins
around it. Is there a gentle slope up one side, and a
112. Forms of Rdbbish-HEAP, and of Ruins of Building.
sharp fall on the other? Then it is a rubbish mound.
Is the mass high above the general soil ? Then several
successive layers of habitation may be expected.
So, even from afar, some ideas may be gleaned before
setting foot on a ruined site.
When we reach our town and walk over it, much
more can be seen of what is beneath. Very likely it
seems all irregular, hillocky, dusty ground, and who
can say what it may cover ? In one place, however,
we find that there are no chips or potsherds lying
about: track around, and find the space of this clear-
ance, probably it runs along for some distance; you
are on the top of a mud-brick wall, denuded down
to the level of the rubbish in which it is buried.
Follow the clear space, and you will outline the forti-
fications of the city or its temple. Or perhaps you
notice a difference in the vegetation—no plants will
grow on particular ground ; here is probably a mass of
hard mud-brick or stonework, without moisture or
nutriment, and you will thus find the walls. Or there
is a hollow or old pit met with ; here the modern
natives have been digging out stone masonry, and
157
there a steep edge to it around ? Then there was a
wall, either of the town or of some one large build-
ing which forms the whole ruin. Is there a ring of
mounds with a central depression ? Then there was a
temple or large permanent building, with house ruins
around it. Is there a gentle slope up one side, and a
112. Forms of Rdbbish-HEAP, and of Ruins of Building.
sharp fall on the other? Then it is a rubbish mound.
Is the mass high above the general soil ? Then several
successive layers of habitation may be expected.
So, even from afar, some ideas may be gleaned before
setting foot on a ruined site.
When we reach our town and walk over it, much
more can be seen of what is beneath. Very likely it
seems all irregular, hillocky, dusty ground, and who
can say what it may cover ? In one place, however,
we find that there are no chips or potsherds lying
about: track around, and find the space of this clear-
ance, probably it runs along for some distance; you
are on the top of a mud-brick wall, denuded down
to the level of the rubbish in which it is buried.
Follow the clear space, and you will outline the forti-
fications of the city or its temple. Or perhaps you
notice a difference in the vegetation—no plants will
grow on particular ground ; here is probably a mass of
hard mud-brick or stonework, without moisture or
nutriment, and you will thus find the walls. Or there
is a hollow or old pit met with ; here the modern
natives have been digging out stone masonry, and