Three
years ago (1902) the British Museum resumed excavations at Kuyunjik, the
site of Nineveh. The work was begun and carried out under the direction
of Mr. L. W. King, but since last summer has been continued by Mr. R. C.
Thompson. Last year, too, excavations were reopened at Sherghat by
the Deutsch-Orient Ge-sellschaft, at first under the direction of Dr.
Koldewey, and afterwards under that of Dr. Andrae, by whom they are
at present being carried on. This renewed activity on the sites of the
ancient cities of Assyria is already producing results of considerable
interest, and the veil which has so long concealed the earlier periods
in the history of that country is being lifted.
* For the texts and translations of these documents, see
Budge and King, Annals of the Kings of Assyria, pp. iff.
Shortly before these excavations in Assyria were set on foot an
indication was obtained from an early Babylonian text that the history
of Assyria as a dependent state or province of Babylon must be pushed
back to a far more remote period than had hitherto been supposed. In one
of Hammurabi's letters to Sin-idinnam, governor of the city of Larsam,
to which reference has already been made, directions are given for
the despatch to the king of "two hundred and forty men of 'the King's
Company' under the command of Nannar-iddina.
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