TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/103089/10308900.010

Text File | 1992-09-23 | 6.4 KB | 127 lines

                                                                                SCIENCE, Page 80

The Golden Treasures of Nimrud


An Assyrian fortress city yields archaeological prizes of rare
delight

By Philip Elmer-Dewitt


    The ancient city now called Nimrud, located in what is
present-day Iraq, was once the military capital of one of
history's fiercest empires. When word first leaked out this
summer that Iraqi archaeologists had discovered a major find at
the site, scientists around the world were immediately
intrigued. The reports told of remarkable archaeological
treasures, including royal tombs heaped with gold jewelry of
exquisite quality. But reliable information about the site was
virtually impossible to obtain. The Iraqis refused to grant
visas to the press or let any outsiders photograph the jewelry.

    Until now. Through a series of extraordinary turns of fate,
and by the good graces of Iraq's Department of Antiquities, TIME
has obtained exclusive access to both the Nimrud site and the
treasures uncovered there -- including some 57 kg (125.6 lbs.)
of gold jewelry never before shown outside Iraq. The find, which
was made by Muzahim Mahmoud Hussein, head of the Iraqi team at
Nimrud, has turned out to be, by all accounts, one of the most
important in modern times. John Curtis, an archaeologist from
the British Museum, describes the treasure of Nimrud as the most
significant archaeological discovery since King Tutankhamen's
tomb was uncovered in Egypt in 1922.

    Because the treasure includes booty captured during
Assyrian raids, the discoveries may shed light on other cultures
as well. But beyond its scientific importance, the jewelry is
stunning in its own right. Some of it displays craftsmanship
that puts even Van Cleef's to shame. There is an intricate crown
woven from fine gold strands; a flask carved flawlessly from a
solid block of crystal; a pair of heavy cuffs set with stones
that look like large, startled eyes; a playful necklace
festooned with teardrop pendants. "It sets a magnificent
standard," says Georgina Herrmann, an archaeologist at the
British Institute of Archaeology. "The workmanship would be
difficult to duplicate today."

    The Assyrians, who first rose to power about 17 centuries
after the unification of Egypt, swept out of the fertile valley
of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to conquer much of the Middle
East, from roughly 900 B.C. to 612 B.C. They were known for
their ferocious cruelty. In addition to their biblical role as
the oppressors of Israel, there was the testimony of
Ashurnasirpal II, an Assyrian king of the 9th century B.C. who
boasted in cuneiform inscriptions of having rebellious
chieftains impaled on stakes, dismembered and skinned alive.
Ashurnasirpal made Nimrud, known in the Bible as Calah, his
capital. The fortress city on the banks of the Tigris was
dominated by an elaborate palace and a towering ziggurat and was
populated in part by peoples subjugated during military
campaigns.

    Nimrud's glory ended abruptly in 612 B.C., when the
Assyrians, badly overextended, were taken by surprise by the
combined armies of the Medes, the Babylonians and the Scythians.
Nimrud was overrun. The palace caught fire, and its ceilings
collapsed. Over time, the Tigris changed course, and the
glorious ziggurat was reduced to a formless mound.

    The jewelry uncovered this year gives a new perspective to
the Assyrian empire's brutish reputation. "What is surprising
is the amazing variety," says Herrmann. "It is not just the
gold, but the different colors and the use of polychromatic
stones." Agrees Curtis of the British Museum: "It revolutionizes
the idea we have of the Assyrian court. No one knew they
possessed this kind of wealth or that the craftsmanship could
be so fine."

    The Nimrud find is especially interesting because it was
made in sands that had been sifted and resifted by some of the
world's most accomplished treasure hunters. Nimrud created a
scientific sensation in the 1840s, when the British
archaeologist A.H. Layard uncovered the lamassu, colossal,
winged bull-men that guarded the palace entrances. One hundred
years later, the site was extensively re-excavated by Max
Mallowan, whose mystery-writing wife Agatha Christie kept an
office at the Nimrud Digs House and composed portions of an
Hercule Poirot novel, Murder in Mesopotamia, at the site.

    But the mysteries of Nimrud were far from solved. Last
year, exploring an inner room of the palace, a team of laborers
stumbled across a tomb that contained a small collection of
necklaces, earrings and gilded pins. In February, Muzahim was
granted permission to extend the explorations. Last April,
digging near the spot where Christie plotted her thriller, he
found what looked like a piece of pavement. When he and his
workers cleared off the dirt, they uncovered a small ceramic
pipe resembling an air vent. The "pavement" turned out to be the
arched roof of a small rectangular tomb. Inside: a dusty
sarcophagus. "I pried the top off with an iron bar," says
Muzahim. "There was more dust inside, but when I held up the
light, it was reflected back into my eyes by the gold."

    Much of that gold turned out to be priceless jewelry draped
around the skeleton of a young princess named Yabahya,
tentatively identified as the daughter of one of Assyria's most
renowned and feared kings, Sargon II. Nearby, still more jewelry
and gold ornaments were piled. Mingled with the dried bones were
dozens of delicately sculpted gold rosettes, scattered like
flowers over the body of the dead princess.

    In July, digging a few yards from the original find,
Muzahim discovered the roof of another tomb and sarcophagus,
which contained only dust. But near the sarcophagus were three
bronze containers filled with 22 kg (48.5 lbs.) of gold -- more
than 440 pieces in all. From cuneiform clues, archaeologists
believe these jewels represent the private collection of an
Assyrian queen, perhaps the wife of Ashurnasirpal himself.

    Now that the full magnificence of the Nimrud find is known,
Muzahim is intensifying his search, hoping to find the tombs of
Nimrud's all powerful kings. The hunt is not without its
dangers, however. Only after opening Princess Yabahya's grave
did Muzahim's team decipher the ancient cuneiform curse
inscribed on a marble tablet: "If anyone lays hands on my tomb
. . . let the ghost of insomnia take hold of him for ever and
ever."