Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990 TAG: 9006210061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
The relatively untouched site in Nippur gives researchers an opportunity to examine in greater detail the role of temples in politics, economics, medicine and social structure, said McGuire Gibson, a professor of archaeology.
"We really still don't understand a lot about Mesopotamian culture," said Gibson, of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute.
Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq and Syria, was the site of several ancient civilizations beginning some 8,000 years ago. Much of what is known about those times comes from clay tablets.
The research can supplement written information from clay tablets and show archaeologists "not what people say they did, but what they actually did," said Harvey Weiss, an archaeology professor at Yale University, who was not involved in the dig.
Nippur was the religious heart of Mesopotamia and the site of many temples, but Gibson and his colleagues were surprised by the size of this temple, believed to honor Gula, the goddess of healing.
Because of the temple's apparent importance in the city, Gibson and his colleagues hope to find new evidence about Babylonian medicine.
They have only uncovered about a sixth of the temple's foundation, estimated to be 100 yards long and 40 yards wide. But already they have discovered baked clay figurines in the shapes of humans and dogs inside the structure.
"One figurine shows a man clutching his throat; another shows a man holding his stomach," Gibson said. "They're obviously showing Gula where it hurts."
The dog figurines may have been left to honor the goddess, since dogs were associated with Gula, Gibson said.
There was a highly developed system of health care during the period in which the temple existed. Doctors prescribed herbs and when the herbs didn't work, there were magicians who performed exorcisms or other spiritual intercession, said William Biggs, a University of Chicago professor who studies ancient writing on clay tablets.
But that information is based largely on written information from early clay tablets, the equivalent of modern-day letters, said Biggs.
The best possible discovery would be medical texts, which might have been stored in the temple, he said.
Excavation of previous temples have unearthed "thousands" of texts related to the administration of the temple, including loans made to citizens, and the Gula temple's untouched status makes it a potential treasure chest of such finds, Biggs said.
Archaeologists also will explore the area around the temple to learn more about the daily lives of those who worked there.
by CNB