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

CHAPTER XI.

DEPTH OF THE GLAZED WARE IN THE CULTURE OF AFROSIAB,
ANCIENT SAMARKAND.

As I was requested to ascertain the depth of glazed ware in the culture of Afrosiab, the site was examined in July and again in November. In almost all quarters the site is furrowed by steep-sided gullies, many of which cut through the culture into the underlying loess; and though in some of these gullies a certain amount of digging would be necessary to determine accurately the total depth of culture, their sides give ample opportunity to measure the depth of glazed ware.* In the second examination, also, data were obtained in trenches dug in the summer of 19°4 by Dr. Barthold.

The surface is so complex and the systems of gullies are so numerous that without the map of Afrosiab it will be impossible to designate here the loci of observations. Therefore, a general statement of findings must do, with a number of illustrative measurements.

In neighboring gullies on the east side of the high middle ground that extends towards the citadel f were noted: (r) Depth of culture, 15 feet 7 inches; depth of glazed ware, 3 feet. (2) Depth of culture, 9 feet 7 inches; depth of glazed ware, 3 feet 2 inches. (3) Depth of culture, 35 feet + ; depth of glazed ware, 4 feet II inches.

Near the east wall : Depth of culture, 9 feet + ; depth of glazed ware, 5 feet.

On the west side of the middle ground: (I) Depth of culture, 21 feet; depth of glazed ware, 3.3 feet. (2) Depth of culture, 25.5 feet ; depth of glazed ware, 2 feet Io inches. (3) Depth of culture, 13 feet 5 inches; depth of glazed ware, 3.5 feet.

Dr. Barthold 's shallow trench at the west of the citadel does not show the bottom of culture. Along its sides the lowest fragments of glazed ware noted were from 2.75 feet to 3.5 feet deep.

The culture, which from the bottom up contains broken unglazed pottery (often in large quantities), shows great variations in depth. Glazed ware, on the other hand, shows but slight variations in its extreme depth at different points. But all fragments found at a depth of more than 3 feet or so were isolated in culture containing many fragments of unglazed ware; and it should be added that, compared with the quantity of unglazed pottery, glazed ware was nowhere found in abundance at much more than a foot below surface. Here, perhaps, is evidence that glazed ware, as we might expect, continued for some time after its introduction to be extremely rare.

* In places, however, care was needed not to mistake for culture a thin coating of mud which, having washed down the side of the gully from the surface, sometimes contains bits of glazed ware at points below the occurrence of such ware in the culture proper. My first note here in July recorded as lying in culture 16.25 feet below the surface a fragment of glazed ware which I was afterwards convinced must have been embedded in surface-wash.

f On the citadel itself no relevant data can be obtained without digging, and the same is true of the modern Sart cemetery in the southeast corner along part of the south side, where the condition of the surface ground is very different from that in the anciently abandoned quarters.

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