Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 March 1916 — IS IT BABEL TOWER? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IS IT BABEL TOWER?

Ruins in Euphrates Valley Interest Archeologists. Many Believe Tower Famous Structure Mentioned in the BibleBuilt of Colored Brick In Succession of Stages. It is doubtful If there is any place in the world so rich in ancient remains as the valley of the Euphrates, in Mesopotamia. The result is that to archeologists and scholars the place is a veritable “Tom Tiddler’s ground,” and new "finds” are constantly being reported. When it is remembered that tradition places the site of the Garden of Eden here, while amongst its many ruins are those of ancient Babylon, the promising nature of the valley to the scientific excavator becomes apparent. It is near the ruins of Babylon that we find what many scholars believe to be the remains of the Tower of Babel —an immense cube ot brick work

called by the natives Birs Mimrud. Recent exhaustive examination of the strange pile and its site .Jias revealed the fact that the towe/ which once stood here consisted of seven stages of brick work on an earthen platform, each stage being of a different color. The tower boasted of a base measurement of nearly six hundred square feet, and rose to an unknown height. Even today the ruins rise some hundred and sixty feet above the level of the surrounding plain.—Popular Mechanics. ‘

A Lonely Pile, Worn by Ages of Weather Is the World’s Only Claimant to the Honor of Being to Tower of Babel.