EXCAVATIONS AND FINDS AT THE NORTH KURGAN. 91
Thus on March 31, after the removal of bake-ovens a and b and the accompanying child's grave, the red polished ware was still predominant among the " mixed " pottery ; but on the following day, when the excavation entered the layer of the older pots, c and d, and the still deeper level of the second skeleton, the "mixed" ware consisted principally of the painted group y, while there was a rare occurrence of the monochrome x. Very different, however, appeared the character of the finds on April 5, when the layer of the older pots c and b had been removed and the terrace had been sunk to between + 27 and + 25 feet. The monochrome variety x was entirely lacking; there appeared only the group y. This corresponded with the finds in the " galleries, " where to a depth of + 22 feet the only fragments found were those of the pottery of group y.
It was already possible to draw the conclusion that the monochrome variety x was the younger. Considering the manner of its occurrence, it was also probable that it belonged to the same culture as that to which the walls, bake-ovens, kettles, and skeleton of terrace I belonged, for the feeding-cup which was buried in the child 's grave is of the same kind as the great mass of monochrome pottery of the upper layers. The question, to which period of house-construction the red monochrome ware was to be referred, was completely solved by the discovery of the quadrangles (see p. 87), for the pottery fragments with which the walls of these cabinets were incrusted were of this characteristic ware. The only doubt possible was in regard to the gray ware, which technically is far superior to the red. The occurrence of the older varieties of vessels of group y in the upper layers is, however, sufficiently explained when we consider that the inhabitants of these layers must have materially disturbed the older layers, including their pottery, in establishing their own dwellings. As a matter of fact, no pure layer of either group was found in this transitional level of unmixed and monochrome ware, and such a pure layer appears not to have existed.
Terraces IV and V (see figs. 28 and 29, plan and vertical sections of terraces Iv to viii).—The finds in terraces iv and v correspond to the finds in terrace I. Soon after the débris of the older excavations was removed and the undisturbed earth of the hill was attacked, a child 's skeleton (r) was found in contracted or Hocker position, and lying on its right side (cf. special report of Warner, No. o) . Its position is designated as in terrace iv. The horizontal layer of terrace v, corresponding to the location of the exposed skeleton r, has almost wholly disappeared, as the original surface of the hill there falls off abruptly to the south. In terrace v there occurred first in situ a pot (e) of the kind found on the northern half of the hill. To the east of this pot, and a little below the level on which it stands, several skeletons were found lying in a heap (a, No. 0; cf. special report of Warner) ; and farther east, near these, were the remains of a deeper-lying pot (f) in situ, of which the lip was'destroyed (see fig. 3o).
This stratiform succession of pots and skeletons resembles closely the finds in terrace I. The levels are as follows : Skeleton, terrace Iv +36 feet ; lip of the upper pot (e), terrace v, +34.5 feet; skeleton heap 8 (cf. Mr. Warner's special report No. o'), +34 feet, near pot e; preserved edge of lower pot (f), + 33 feet.
IIIF Color HighRes
