国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

1 92   ARCHEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT ANCIENT MERV.

of pottery fragments down to the depth of 4o feet 4 inches belonging to the same ceramic group as regards forms and technique. Therefore we can not avoid referring all four periods of construction to the same culture epoch, concerning which the coins will give us more exact information.

A culture-stratum of 4o feet thickness is no longer surprising, since we found in the kurgans at Anau numerous periods of a uniform development superimposed

upon one another.

LOWER DIGGING.

The sinking of the lower digging contributed nothing to the solution of the problem of the upper digging (fig. 424). After a terrace 9 feet wide had been established at a depth of 8 feet 7 inches the work entered, at I2 feet, on the south side of

the pit, a bed of sand which extended with increasing depth more and more to the north; that is, it was a sandhill such as belong to the dunes of the desert. On account of this, further examination in depth was left to be done by shafts.

- OUTER DIGGING I.

At a slight depth below the surface, at the level of 2 feet (fig. 425), there was uncovered the edge of a square construction built of square bricks set on edge. Near it there was exposed, oppo

site the longer side, a clay pipe

standing erect and in connection

o 5 ~o ~s 20 zs 30 FEET   with a cavity. The suspicion

that we had here to do with a

    well and water basin was con-

Fig. 424.—Plan and Vertical Section of Lower Digging in Inner City.   firmed on the following day.

The well was of the most primitive construction. The shaft is a simple cylindrical pit, only 7 feet 8 inches deep, the walls of which are not even curbed with stones. The pipe which leads into this is surrounded by square bricks and fragments of bricks, which are stuck in edgeways and both support the pipe and close the well at the top (fig. 426). There is nothing to show in what manner the basin was connected with the pipe. The basin stands without foundation immediately upon the earthen floor. The burnt bricks used in its construction, 8 by 8 by 1.5 inches, are made of greenish-white clay. Both the bottom and the sides are formed of a single thickness of brick, set with a mortar or cement with which the whole interior is plastered over. The whole border was originally surrounded with square red bricks laid flat upon the earthen floor and flush with the inner edge of the basin. The basin has a discharge passage at the short northwest