23 MARCH 1929, Page 3

The discoveries of the Oxford Expedition to Ur " of

the Chaldees," were described by Mr. C. Leonard Woolley in the Times of last Saturday. The expedition has established the existence of human occupation dating back to 5000 B.C. The geological strata indicate that between 1000 and 3000 B.C. all but a small element of the inhabiting race were submerged by a tremendous flood. Alluvial deposits show that the low-lying parts of the island were buried, perhaps more than once, under huge layers of clay before and after the culmination of Sumerian civilization. The discoveries make it tolerably certain that the flood of Genesis was historical. The Sumerians were indeed the first people whose legends included the flood story. •