Brick, Burned Thoroughly, for Stone, and Slime for Mortar
The first thing that Ron found was a section of extremely old baked-brick wall. But what was so exciting was the fact that the bricks were 70 cm. X 70 cm (about 28 " by 28") and a little over 5 ½ inches thick. As far as we have been able to find, the largest baked bricks found to date are about 20" x 20", 8" smaller than these. The mortar between the bricks is black asphalt or tar mixed with what appears to be sand. So far, these things agreed with what we are told about the construction of Babel. This section of structure is angled upward, not straight like a vertical wall. He obtained samples of a portion of a brick, some mortar and some clay from the area for comparison. See color photos.
Artifacts
He also found several artifacts which indicate the time of the occupation of the site in comparison with other sites
in the region. He found several "shaped" stone objects which appear to be some sort of tools. One, with a hole in it, is termed a "palette" by archaeologists though we aren't sure what it was used for. It has a shaped hole through it and Ron believes it was perhaps used for starting fires- by twirling a flint or other object in order to get a spark, flammable materials such as twigs or dry grass placed underneath the hole were ignited while stray sparks were prevented from flying outward. Just a theory- we haven't tried it yet since it's been so damp here.
Other objects found were made of pottery material and one we think was a shuttle used in weaving. If placed in a little bag attached to a thread, it could have pulled that through the vertical strands. Another object has the appearance of a small wheel such as have been found in the same
general region attached to small carts probably pulled by oxen. Ron's specimen matches, in color and size, several complete carts found in the same general region (within about a 70 miles radius). Those features in AA, vol XXXVI, p. 165-171 are all made of a pale, buffish white clay with wheels from 7.5 cm. to 8.5 cm.- Ron's is made of the same material of a light reddish buff and measures 7.75 cm. Because of the number of these found, it has been suggested that these early people had a belief similar in concept to some found in Voo-doo; that by fashioning small models of objects, they had a certain power over the true object the figurine represented. (EB, vol vii, p. 691). This may have been true to some degree that we do not understand because we know that the Egyptians believed that after a person was dead that their "spirit" needed certain objects to return to after "flying around", such as statues of the dead person. They also believed that a person's name, written on the wall of their tomb, was insurance against being cast into oblivion. When people wanted to "curse" someone already dead to this sort of doom, they would chisel away their name. They also knocked off the noses of the statues of those deceased because they believed their "spirit" entered the statue through the nose. So, perhaps these models of carts represented some paganistic belief concerning things related to commerce or farming.
However, the wheel(?) also resembles whorls used for spinning. One author, when writing of these same objects found in the same region, states: "Spindle-whorls of stone, baked clay and bone and impressions of textiles on pottery are found in many sites... Spindle-whorls are indeed commonplace at ancient sites all over the Near East; and one common type is shaped like a miniature wheel and made of pottery.... The function of these small wheels is not always certain; they have bilateral hubs, giving them the appearance of belonging to model carts. Such carts are known from a number of sites in or near the Early Trans-Caucasian zone, and discs of hubbed form are even more widespread, occurring at sites in [Soviet] Georgia, Armenia, the Nakhichevan region, and eastern Anatolia.... The very number of the discs, however, mitigates against their invariable interpretation as parts of model carts or wagons.... It seems improbable that these people spent so much of their time making toys. Though some of these discs belong to model vehicles, most of them could perfectly well have served as one type, though not the only one, of spindle-whorl." (PH, p. 74). What is at question here is whether these model carts were toys or for cultish purposes.
The most important fact we learn here is that these forms are the most widespread in the area that Noah's family originally lived in. This indicates that this object, whether spindle-whorl or cart wheel, was brought to the Babel area from the original home of Noah's family. And by "brought" I mean the "knowledge and use of" was brought here, not the actual object.
