The Archaeological Expedition to the Ḫabur region of N. Syria, under the auspices of the British Museum and of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, undertook a second campaign in the spring of 1936.

The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, again provided generous grants, and we are indebted to the authorities of all the institutions concerned for their continued help and encouragement. The civil and military authorities in Syria gave us a cordial welcome on our return, and Monsieur H. Seyrig, the Director of Antiquities for Syria, gave his friendly co-operation in granting us all possible facilities for the continuance of our work. General Jacquot, in Der-ez-Zor, took a friendly interest in our activities, and we are much indebted to the practical help and kindness shown by his officers in Ḥasaka and Kamichlie.

The inscribed clay tablets found by Mr. Mallowan at Tall Chagar Bazar in the season 1936 were scarcely expected, and therefore the more welcome. They were, indeed, both few and small, but happily they proved to be only an earnest of a larger discovery in the subsequent year. The study of these latter tablets will no doubt amplify and correct the few observations which can be made here upon the dozen of specimens at present available.

These belong to two quite different periods, as shown not only by their own characters, but by the circumstances of their finding, described by Mr. Mallowan above. The earlier period is here represented by one complete piece and a fragment.

During the season 1930–1 of the British Museum excavations at Nineveh, which were generously financed by Sir Charles Hyde, when Mr. R. W. Hamilton was assisting me, one of the tablets found was a letter to the king describing an earthquake and its results. Since this text is complete in itself, I am publishing it here separate from a forthcoming edition of a selection of the tablets which we found during the four seasons from 1927 onwards. It is written in Assyrian, and measures 1¼ × 2½ in., and it came from above the unburnt brick foundation of the Temple of Ishtar (6 ft. below datum level) not far from the great slab of Ashurnaṣirpal, of which the base was in situ.