woolley continued

Woolley Continued. Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894) -Born to a family of civil servants with family friends who were scholars and artists -Schooled in Italy -Worked in the office of his uncle a lawyer in London -Decided to go to Ceylon where his father had worked and where he could set up a law office of his own Layard Arrives in Assyria -On his way to Ceylon, Layard became fascinated with the antiquities of Mesopotamia-1841 -Abandoned plan to continue to Ceylon -Communicated with Botta, who sent him drawings of his findings at Khorsabad Nimrud -Layard goes to the site of Nimrud and begins excavations there -Finds remnants of a large city, palace of King Assurnasirpal II Nineveh -Layard returned to the mound known as Kuyundjik, convinced it was Nineveh, even though Botta still had found nothing there -Excavated from 1846-1847 -Found a great number of items, which eventually came to prove Layard to be correct Library of Ashurbanipal II -Layard?s most important discovery was an archive of tablets found in the Palace of Ashurbanipal II -Recounts many aspects of everyday life in the palace. Cuneiform -Name for the writing system used throughout Mesopotamian history -Note: this is the system of writing, NOT the language -Symbols formed by pressed a reed stylus into soft clay -Clay tablets preserved when buildings they are contained in are destroyed by fire End of Layard?s Excavations -Layard ends excavation in 1848 ships finds back to the British Museum -Continues to wander around Iraq, then becomes sick in 1851 and returns to England -Ends archaeological career, becomes politician