Further, when Alexander entered Babylon more than 2000 years ago 10,000 men were employed for several weeks in clearing away the rubbish and laying bare the foundations of the building.

It is quite possible that a conical mass of crumbled brick may have been removed from the top of the mound at this time.
The difficulty remains that the Babil mound is on the same side of the Euphrates with the ruins of the Great Palace, whereas Herodotus makes the two buildings balance each other, one on the right and the other on the left bank of the stream.

Now here it is in the first place to be observed that Herodotus is the only writer who does this.

No other ancient author tells us anything of the relative situation of the two buildings.

We have thus nothing to explain but the bald statement of a single writer--a writer no doubt of great authority, but still one not wholly infallible.