National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

A. GRAVES.

In the eastern part of Kohna-shahr very near the border of the present oasis we found five graves within a distance of 17 m. (cf. the plan Fig. 44). Owing to wind erosion the skeletons were lying very near the surface of the ground and were more or less incomplete.

Grave I with its poorly preserved skeleton   ,;

contained a large earthenware jug Pl. 35 : 4 and   'g 2   I I
two pairs of rectangular bronze fittings, Fig. 45, probably from a wooden box or the like. These objects were found above the head of the buried man, Fig. 46. The jug is of dark, nearly black colour and has a simple ornamental band running

round the shoulder; its age is hard to determine.   ~,,w _ 1
Graves 2 and 3 were much disturbed as seen from the plans in Fig. 46. They contained nothing o0

besides the bone fragments.   ' O► 4.

Grave 4, also disturbed, had an earthenware   tick3
vessel near the head of the skeleton, Pl. 35 : I. The

shape of the vessel is about the same as that from   g

Grave I, only rather slenderer, and the ware is

coarser and of inferior quality.

Grave 5 had the best preserved skeleton but the

skull was missing. The feet were lying 39 cm.

below the upper part of the cerebral column. No o    m
sepulchral deposit was preserved. Another group of graves was discovered N and Fig. 44. Chofarchan,graves Kohna-sha5hr. Plan

NW of the `tati' surfaces which mark the extension

of the Kohna-shahr. Two of them, Graves 6 and 7, were excavated by some temporarily engaged people without my knowledge, and the data from the examination are thus very poor.

Grave 6 contained bones of at least two individuals. The hest preserved skull was taken for examination, for which I must refer to Prof. BACKMAN'S report. The dead were buried in a pit, roughly 2.5x1.5 m., and 1.5 m. deep, and the pit had been roofed with a layer of round logs covered with straw matting.

Some fragments of a green woollen braid Pl. 32 : I0 were found on one of the skeletons and the bottom of a low clay bowl. Fig. 47, of the same type as other Char-chan bowls. There was also a part of a wooden vessel made of a hollowed-out trunk, Pl. 32 : 2, and having a very simply engraved figure of a deer( ?) on the outside, Fig. 48. The bottom must have been of leather and secured with strings in the holes along the lower rim. The main part of a wooden comb was also recovered and

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