Archaeological Discoveries at Susa

The progress of oriental archaeology leads us from one surprise to another. Year after year discoveries are made in rapid succession, which we watch with breathless interest as they transform and elucidate some chapter in the history of those primitive civilizations from which our own is in part derived. Following the discoveries made in ChaldÃ"a, Assyria, and PhÅ"nicia, another region of the East now takes its turn in throwing light on the past--the country of Elam, or Susiana, a region hitherto almost unknown to us, although in the earliest ages of the world it played an important part. The ruins of Susa, situated at the north of Ahwaz, form a number of immense tells which cover an extent of four and a half to six square miles on both banks of the river Kerkha. The plain, which is dominated by these majestic mounds as far as the banks of the Karun, stretches far to the north, where it is bounded by the Bakhtiyari mountains. Southward it extends to the Arvand river (also known as Shatt) and Lower ChaldÃ"a.