488 SKELETONS EXCAVATED IN NORTH KURGAN.
fewer evidences of deliberate burial than any others excavated up to that time. In general the trend of the body was southwest and northeast. The broken skull lay on its face, with a slight lean to the right, the knees were so bent that the lower leg bones stuck up to a height that would have brought the feet, had they been present, above the level of the top of the skull. It seems as if the body must have fallen in such soft material that it was partially buried at once and a support thus given to the feet and lower legs. Just beneath the skull was a large fragment of the bottom and side of a great earthen jar. Filling the cavity of this inverted fragment was a greenish-white slag partly fused with ashes; and under both potsherd and skeleton was a layer of rough charcoal and wood ashes. (See fig. 538.)
Skeleton No. 7.—In terrace II also, and on a level with the skeleton just described, I uncovered the first adult remains we had seen. The skeleton lay contracted on the right side, with the knees drawn up to a right angle with the main axis, which was southeast and northwest. The left arm lay extended down along the body, but the right was bent enough to bring the hand opposite the pelvis. (See fig. 539.)
Although the bones were too fragile to admit removal without elaborate gluing, and this was not thought advisable, the cranium showed the sutures well closed, and the teeth were worn flat and dull. The extreme length of the skeleton in position was S3 inches and the extreme width 15.5 inches.
Skeleton No. 8.—The next burial we came upon was in terrace viii at -F 25.5 feet above the established datum. The bones were those of a young child and, though much lacking, it was possible to determine the main axis of the body as southwest and northeast. It was lying contracted on the right side with
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