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

I24.   THE ARCHEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN ANAU.

places. Such a conception is refuted by the very close relation and connection between the skeleton layers and the dwellings, as was shown in terraces I, Iv, and v in the North Kurgan, and in terraces B and C in the South Kurgan. Besides, the burial gifts of the skeletons belong unequivocally to the culture layers which were in each case exposed both above and below them. The only explanation is that the inhabitants buried the dead in their houses while they were occupying them.

Secondly, one might object to the term "dwelling" and look upon the constructions as burial or cult-houses and the hearths as former sacrificial places in connection with burial rites. But the special finds can be suitably explained only as objects of daily use. The culture equipment is throughout comparable in character to the finds brought to light in great quantities in other primeval settlements, which, like Troy, were occupied during many centuries. The great masses of animal bones, which were gathered in all layers of both hills, are only to be explained as the remains of the daily nourishment of the inhabitants. Moreover, food vessels, bake-ovens, and kettles are not easily associated with places consecrated to the honoring of the dead, even if one should throw burial feasts into the scale.

THE FINDS FROM THE NORTH AND SOUTH KURGANS.

After the excavations had enabled us to refer the finds from the two kurgans to three different epochs of the copper or bronze age and to one epoch of the iron age, the way was clear for a systematic presentation of the details.

The great mass of the special finds divides itself into separate groups, whether we consider their significance or group them according to material and form. These groups will be treated in the following pages in such a manner that the finds from the South Kurgan will, in each case, follow those from the North Kurgan.

First of all naturally comes the pottery, which was our guide in the separation of the superimposed strata and in a qualitative discrimination between the superimposed cultures themselves.

It would be natural to begin with the finds from the lower strata, but since our work with the spades exposed these to a limited extent only, it is desirable to begin with the middle layers. In this way we secure a firm foundation for the discussion of the finds from the upper as well as from the lower layers.

POTTERY FROM THE NORTH KURGAN.
MIDDLE STRATA, CULTURE I.

The material in hand consists almost exclusively of fragments of the pottery. Only a few vessels were found in situ and not one was whole. Nevertheless, the masses of fragments fall into two great groups—small vessels of finer technique and coarse vessels for common use and the storing of provisions.

(a) THE SMALLER VESSELS OF FINE TECHNIQUE.

Forms.—There was practically but one form in use—a deep cup with a margin without profile, more or less drawn in, and having a low, flat foot, a little concaved beneath (figs. 55 and 56). The foot is sometimes lacking and the under-surface