回复：另一问题：In the center was a great old iron urn省略了

In the center was a great old iron urn, higher than a man is tall, but even it was crumbling into red dust it was so old.  

Yes, Crawl was right. Here is a more detailed explanation:

1. "In the center was a great old iron urn" is a what-we-call "inversion sentence." The writer placed it in an inverted order because he/she wanted the adjective modifier "higher" to be close to "urn" the word to be modified.

2. "Higher" is a postpositive adjective modifier modifying the word "urn."

3. "Higher than" is a phrase that can be followed by a sentence, hence "higher than a man is tall. " For example. "He is better than I am." 

Hope this helps!