IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Explorations in Turkestan : Expedition of 1904 : vol.1 |
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| Water-basin found in Outer Digging I. |
Citation Information
194 ARCHEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT ANCIENT MERV.
SPECIAL FINDS.
The determination of the character of the exposed culture layers is dependent wholly upon two groups of finds—the pottery and the discovered coins. Both will here be treated more fully than the other special finds.
(a) POTTERY.
It has been already remarked that the pottery fragments found in the upper and outer diggings belong to one and the same ware, for the greater part a light, grayish-greenish-white pottery of very common workmanship and made on the
wheel. With it occur red clay vessels with a light-yellow or greenish-white slip. The most common forms are kettles, cups, and pitchers, with a sharp and, in part, rich profiling. Frag
ments of handles of different forms are numerous.
The decoration of this simple pottery consists of incised or impressed ornamentation. In the larger vessels it consists of oblique or vertical lines, with con t i g u o u s parallel crescent-shaped lines, which are pressed in with a sharp instrument and are broader and deeper in the
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middle, running out to points
Fig. 426.—Water-basin found in Outer Digging I. towards the surface on the ends.
This motif is shown also on the large pithoi of the outer digging II and on the fragments with inscriptions, although in coarser execution; and in very fine workmanship on smaller and more delicate vessels. Besides this, there is a band of wavy lines which is produced with a comb-like instrument. The following illustrations of separately observed vessels will give a general representation of this pottery :
G.K. 107 (plate 49, fig. i), from outer digging r, between 4 and 9 feet—a small jug with a broken margin, height ro cm.
Plate 49, fig. 2, from the upper digging, between 9 and Da feet—a high, slender jug with shoulder handle; height 23.5 cm.
G.K. 144 (plate 49, fig. 3), from outer digging r, between II feet 6 inches and 14 feet 4 inches—a small vase or pot without handle; height 7.4 cm.
G.K. 164 (plate 49, fig. 4), from outer digging I, between 14 feet 4 inches and 17 feet—an egg-shaped pitcher with a small foot and a shoulder handle; height 13.5 cm.
G.K. 176 (plate 49, fig. 5), a small pitcher with a narrow throat, height 10.4 cm., from the same point as the one above.
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