64 OLD SITES IN THE SALT RANGE AND SHAHPUR DISTRICT [Chap. II
about 45 feet; it is occupied on its top by a mosque and the habitation of a faqir. The mound, which is thickly covered with potsherds, consists wholly of debris accumulations from houses built with sun-dried bricks. The remains of walls from such dwellings are clearly traceable at different points in the deep ravines which erosion has cut into the slopes of the mound on the east and south. At the foot of one wall thus disclosed a row of burnt bricks, measuring 15 x 10 x 2 inches, formed a foundation. In a hollow just below this there was found a terracotta mould (B.A. 46), apparently meant to represent an enthroned figure.
Two small stones carved in relief were brought to us by the faqir as having been similarly found where rain had laid them bare on the mound. One of them ( B.A. 1; Pl. II) shows a well-modelled small figure floating in the air and evidently meant for a Gandharvi, as often represented in Graeco-Buddhist sculpture. The fragment appears to have adjoined the halo of a larger relief. The other stone is a slab (B.A. 047; Pl. II) about 6 inches square, divided into nine squares. Within these are shown in relief two birds and two open lotuses, while each of the four corners is decorated with a four-petalled clematis-like flower, a motif very common in Gandhara reliefs. The subjects and style of these carvings leave no doubt about the mound having been occupied down to late Buddhist or Hindu times. This conclusion was supported by the evidence afforded by the relief-decorated pottery (B.A. 14, 15, 23, 25, 28, 33; Pl. II) on which were frequently to be noted patterns formed by rosettes within pearl borders and concentric circles and concentric oblongs. But there appears also reason to believe that occupation of the site started from an earlier period; for a considerable proportion of the painted pottery picked up (B.A. 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 16, 20; Pl. II ), with varied patterns in black over red and pink bands, showed a distinct resemblance to the painted ware which I had found on the mounds of Dera Ismail Khan surveyed in 1927 along the foot of the Takht-i-Sulaiman Range and in Northern Balûchistan, and which may safely be ascribed to late prehistoric or early historic times.9 There were picked up also fragments of shell bangles and a piece of glazed ware (B.A. 34) which may be ascribed to the eighth to tenth century A.D.
At a distance of about 240 yards to the east there is the still larger mound, B, extending for more than 700 yards in length and about 300 yards across where widest. Owing to repeated digging for manuring earth the height of the mound has been reduced to a maximum of 25 to 27 feet in the west, while elsewhere it is much less. The excavations have in many places laid bare walls of dwellings built with sun-dried bricks. The plentiful relief-decorated and painted potsherds showed close agreement in types with those found on mound
9 Cf. Archaeol. Tour in N. Balûchistân; pp. 8 sqq., 82 sqq., Pls. I—III.
IIIFカラー高解像度
