J.E.Taylor, in 1854, visited many of the huge mounds that were scattered throughout Southern Mesopotamia in much larger numbers than in the north, while his compatriot, William K.Loftus, a few years previous had begun excavations, though on a small scale, at Warka, the site of the ancient city of Erech.

He also conducted some investigations at a mound Mugheir, which acquired special interest as the supposed site of the famous Ur,--the home of some of the Terahites before the migration to Palestine.

Of still greater significance were the examinations made by Sir Henry Rawlinson, in 1854, of the only considerable ruins of ancient Babylonia that remained above the surface,--the tower of Birs Nimrud, which proved to be the famous seven-staged temple as described by Herodotus.

This temple was completed, as the foundation records showed, by Nebuchadnezzar II., in the sixth century before this era; but the beginnings of the structure belong to a much earlier period.

Another sanctuary erected by this same king was found near the tower.