The foundations or lower portions of some structures were constructed with large stone blocks. As such stone was not common in Babylonia, this expensive building material had to be imported to the capital. Because large stones were much more expensive than baked and sun-dried bricks, they were less commonly used. To date, two inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II (Nbk. 3–4) are known on this medium. These come from the North Palace (Nbk. 3) and the Ištar Gate (Nbk. 4). Due to the size and weight of these blocks, these inscribed objects were left in the field by their excavators.
Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser
Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser, ' Stone Blocks (only Nebuchadnezzar II) ', RIBo, Babylon 7: The Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2024 [/ribo/babylon7/RINBE11Introduction/SurveyoftheInscribedObjects/StoneBlocksonlyNebuchadnezzarII/]