TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/103089/10308900.010

Text File | 1990-09-18 | 6KB | 114 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."