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By Leon Barkho Associated Press
UMM
AL-AJARIB, Iraq -- Iraqi archaeologists are striving to
bring to light what they describe as Mesopotamia's largest
"city of graves," where the Sumerians buried their
dead nearly 5,000 years ago.
The
scientists are stunned by the size of cemetery, which could
hold hundreds of thousands of graves, and say it could yield
clues to ancient times.
"We
have never excavated anything like it before. It is unprecedented,"
said Fadhil Abdulwahid, a Baghdad University archae- ologist.
Remote
and desolate, the site was long the target of grave robbers
who the scientists say pilfered gold ornaments, statuettes
and cylinder seals made of precious stones. Ancient Iraqis
usually buried their dead with their most valued possessions.
Chief
archaeologist Donny Youkhanna could not say how many artifacts
were stolen nor estimate their significance, "but the
damage is certainly big."
When
he started excavations with 40 diggers last year he brought
along armed guards.
Previously,
he said, few dared to approach the ancient mound because
of the large number of scorpions that lived among the graves,
which prompted the locals to name it Umm al-Ajarib or "Mother
of Scorpions." Shells, bowls, beads and handsome earthenware
and statues dot small lanes in the cemetery situated 250
miles south of Baghdad.
"It
is the largest graveyard of Sumer. Nowhere in ancient Iraq
have we come across so many graves," Youkhanna said.
Until
now, experts had designated a cemetery at Eridu in southern
Iraq as the largest Sumerian burial ground. There, scientists
uncovered 1,000 graves in an area of about half a square
mile.
Umm
al-Ajarib is many times larger. The whole site is about
two square miles, with the cemetery occupying the largest
portion, and Youkhanna said it may hold hundreds of thousands
of graves. A better estimate will be available once the
diggers remove debris and count the graves in a square they
have targeted.
The
Sumerian civilization appeared in southern Mesopotamia as
early as the fifth millennium B.C. By 3000 B.C., Sumer had
developed considerable power based on irrigated agriculture,
fine arts and cuneiform, a special writing system that is
probably the earliest in human history.
The
burials at Umm al-Ajarib are chiefly in coffins of brick
laid in bitumen as mortar. The graves are regularly arranged,
like cemetery lots, with streets and lanes.
William
Hayes Ward was the first Western traveler to visit the site,
in 1886. Little work had been done at the site since Ward
noted that Umm al-Ajarib must have been a sacred burial
ground for the Sumerians in the same manner the present-day
holy city of Najaf is to Muslim Shiites.
"The
Sumerians looked after the dead. Funerary rituals were of
great significance because they believed if the dead were
not buried properly their souls will return and haunt the
living relatives," archaeologist Marwan al-Adhami said.
When
a Sumerian monarch conquered a city, the first thing he
would do was to "open the graves and release the souls"
to chase away any enemy soldiers who escaped the sword,
he said.
Umm
al-Ajarib is now arid land covered with sand dunes, a featureless
expanse of sand with no vegetation and shrubs. But in antiquity
it was part of a territory comprising gardens, palm groves
and fields of barley and wheat, Youkhanna said.
Youkhanna's
main task is to prove the city's sanctity. He has already
dug up a small part of a tripartite temple with huge walls
rising up to 3 yards. The temple is built of sun-dried bricks.
A clay tablet provides a list of quantities of food rations
-- wheat, barley, dates and oil -- given to temple servants.
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