Note 22 — Chapter II · —EXCAVATIONS

It has been argued that the burnt condition of human remains discovered in Mesopotamia is in all cases to be regarded as the effect of a general conflagration, and that in fact cremation was never practised. But if such be the case, then the pottery buried with the burnt human remains would similarly bear the marks of burning. In many cases the pottery apparently affords no definite evidence for or against the theory, but Dr. Koldewey informs me that the vessels containing the burnt remains of human beings at Surghul, showed no trace of their having been in the fire themselves, so here at all events we have clear and incontrovertible evidence of the practice of cremation in Babylonia.