A recent survey of the fortified site of Takht-i-Sulayman situated some distance south of Tabriz and near the northwest comer of Iran has brought to light architectural remains of the Parthian, Sasanian and Islamic periods? A plan of the entire area is given in FIG. 2. Among the numerous ruined structures are two buildings of the Parthian period; the larger of them has already received brief mention by earlier visitors to the site. These two buildings can now be described in detail and an attempt be made to establish their place in the history of architectural development.

Students no longer seriously regard the Chinese civilization as unitary in origin–as derived, in other words, from any single source. It appears rather to have developed out of the interaction, over a long period, of several antecedent cultures. Certain of its elements, past or present, are northern, even circumpolar, in distribution Others appeared first in the distant West, and only reached China (overland, not by sea) considerably later. Others still originated in southeastern Asia itself. Among traits of the last-named class are the two forming the subject of the present paper.

1. NUZI AND THE HURRIAN:S the excavations at Nuzi (Kirkuk, Iraq) and their contribution to our knowledge of the history of the Hurrians. By Robert H. Pfeiffer. (From the Smithsonian Report for 1935, pp. 535–538).

2. ONE HUNDREDN EW SELECTE NUZI TEXTST. ransliterated by Robert H. Pfeiffer. With translation and commentary by E.A. Speiser. (Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, vol. XVI. New Haven, 1936).

3. NUZI: report on the excavations at Yorgan Tepa near Kirkuk, Iraq. By R. F. S. Starr. Volume 11. Plates and plans. Cambridge, Mass., 1937.

4. NOTES ON HURRIANH PHONOLOGY. By E. A. Speiser. (Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 58, no. I, pp. 173-201).

If one were asked to indicate the best contemporary products of English research in the field of historical studies, using the term ‘historical’ to include also archaeology, one would certainly put the publications of the English Place-name Society near the top of the list. It is characteristic of English methods that so much of our best work in these subjects should be subsidized by voluntary contributions; for though the EPNS receives a small annual grant from the British Academy, the greater part of its work is unpaid, and the most expensive item, the annual volume, is entirely paid for by the subscribers. One can think of half a dozen other comparable undertakings, all organized on a voluntary basis. This state of affairs cannot logically, however, be used as an argument against the State endowment of research (though it sometimes is so used), because it cannot be proved that, if thus endowed, work of this kind would be done less well. Indeed, to those who know the individuals responsible, the mere suggestion is fantastic and absurd. One has only to refer to the Reports of the Royal Commissions on Ancient Monuments (particularly those for England) which are wholly subsidized by the State, to see that the work of government officials is not necessarily or always bad; and other instances may occur to our readers.

The village of İznik, north-east of Brussa, and far from all traderoutes, is today the mere ghost of what was once an important city. It is quite hidden within the ancient circumvallation, and occupies scarcely a third of the former area of the town. The wall itself, one of -the most impressive and best-preserved Byzantine monuments of Asia Minor, forms an irregular polygon (plan, FIG. I). The lacus Ascanius washes it on the west, while the other sides are bordered by a green, well-wooded plain, gradually giving place on the north-east to the slopes of Elmali dagh. A charming view of the village and walls can be abtained from a small knoll about 300 metres east of the city, with the lake shimmering in the distance and the fields shaded with cypresses, planes, walnut and other fruit-trees. The description of Catullus still holds good (Nicaeaeque ager uber aestuosae, 46.5): nature here is inexhaustible, and gives in abundance of the finest fruits to anyone who tills the earth. From May to October the weather is nearly always good, and in the height of summer the heat can be unbearable. Certainly the air is no longer pure and healthy as it was in Byzantine days; neglected water-courses and pools of subterranean water have brought malaria in their train. Nor is the sea alive with boats, for there is no fishing. Yet within recent years an improvement has taken place in those conditions which gave older travellers reason for feeling melancholy or annoyance, and it begins to look as if the village were slowly awakening from its long sleep.

The lofty expanse of heather, bog and bare granite which forms the region under discussion in this paper, contains a numerous and in many ways unique group of prehistoric antiquities. Although Devonshire archaeologists have for many years been doing good work in this district, it has never, to the best of my knowledge, been comprehensively dealt with in the light of modern methods and experience. Consequently, the prehistory of Dartmoor still presents something of a mystery. After describing the material at our disposal, I shall here make a few tentative suggestions which seem to resolve some of the difficulties encountered in the interpretation of the archaeological evidence, and which may throw some light on the prehistory of the rest of southwest England.

Archaeologists in general and students of ceramics in A particular largely live in an ancient world of their own creation. They have built up the background of the period they study by means of the material objects available to them, and they have filled in the gaps largely by hypothesis, analogy and guesswork. This, after all, is part of the game. They have decided that they have no alternative. Rarely and with caution they draw comparisons between living and dead primitive cultures. Usually they draw back in alarm, for aboriginal Australians and Bushmen have the irritating habit of not always coming up to the desired level of similarity when comparisons are made between them and men of Neolithic or earlier cultures. And so the archaeologists are driven in on themselves. Perhaps it is just as well.