A scholarly lecture reports systematic excavations at the Bel temple in Nippur, situating the work in the alluvial Mesopotamian plain and describing its seasonal floods, ruined settlements, and local ecology and inhabitants. It outlines field methods and stratigraphic observations, documents architectural remains, surface features and material remains, and discusses the condition of canals, mounds and temple strata. The account is illustrated with numerous plates and a map and interweaves archaeological description with contemporary landscape and biblical imagery.