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

REMAINS OP PLANTS PROM THE NORTH KURGAN, ANAU.   473

with the clay. Further, this occurrence en masse of the remains of cereals shows that these grains were cultivated ; otherwise it would not have been possible to have used such quantities of straw and chaff.

The state of preservation of the plant remains permits the further inference that the piece has been exposed to fire. The carbonaceous substance is burnt. The piece offers no evidence as to whether the burning was accidental or not. Lastly, it is to be remarked that the seeds of some weeds were contained in the brick and have left their impressions in cavities.

APPENDIX.*

Potsherd from North Kurgan, West Shaft I, 23 to 24 feet below the plain.—This consists of a light-yellow clay. Casts of glumes of wheat are rare ; those of the stalks are somewhat more frequent. Barley, on the other hand, is especially well represented in numerous remains of beards.

Potsherd from North Kurgan, West Digging.—This shows very few casts of glumes of wheat, also very few of the stalks and beards. Only a very little chaff was used in mixing the clay of this pot.

Potsherd from North Kurgan, North Digging.—Glumes of wheat and beards of barley are present in great abundance; both in about equal proportion. The separate parts of the glumes and beards are best preserved in this specimen.

Remains of wheat and barley are present in all three of these potsherds. The barley belongs, at least in part, to Hordeum distichum. The species of the wheat can not be accurately determined.

* Since receiving Professor Schellenberg's report I have examined in Berlin the potsherds from the oldest cultures at Anau, and have found that chaff and straw were invariably used in making one, and apparently only one, of t he varieties of pottery used during the life of the two oldest settlements of the North Kurgan. This variety forms the large pots, of coarse texture and painted designs, peculiar only to culture I, and is represented in plate zo, fig. i.

This pottery is found in all the layers from the bottom to the top of the oldest culture. As the bottoms of these pots are from one to two inches thick it is probable that the piece examined for this report was from one of these.

I sent to Professor Schellenberg, from Berlin, a piece of this pottery, from the lowest four feet of culture-strata of the oldest culture of the North Kurgan-23 to 24 feet below the surface of the plain—in N. K. West Shaft I; and two from higher strata of the same culture. Professor Schellenberg writes the results of his examination of these three potsherds as follows.—R. P.