Sec. iii] THE BURIAL SITE OF KHURAB 119
some ten years before by villagers of Muhammadabâd from the other side of the river. The general appearance of the site was far from promising. But when our guide from that village took us to the spot where hollows in the ground marked the reported previous burrowings, it was easy for me to realize from the plentiful potsherds strewing the ground that we stood at a burial-ground of chalcolithic times, and that, though disturbed, it might yet offer a good harvest.
On the morning of March 12th work was started with the small number of labourers it had been possible to collect on a small patch of ground ( Fig. 36), slightly raised above the surrounding bare clay which appeared to have undergone wind erosion. A trench first cut here from north to south and gradually extended for some 45 feet brought to light, at a depth of only a foot or two and in different places, two large jars, unpainted, and a couple of broken bowls. One of the latter (Khur. A. 116, Pl. XVII) showed on the inside a painted design unmistakably chalcolithic, and inside one of the jars a cup, A. 117 (Pl. XVII), was found painted in a style familiar from Bampûr; so there could be no doubt about the character of the site. Scattered fragments of human bones and more broken pottery of the same type indicated that funeral deposits previously disturbed had been struck here. Among this debris three fragments of plain glass bangles, black and pale green (Khur. 033-35), were picked up. Neither here nor during the subsequent excavation were such deposits found at a depth anywhere greater than 2 feet from the surface. Hard clay met at one point in A, and subsequently also in other trenches, suggested remains of walls of stamped clay or mud bricks, and hence that burials had taken place here on ground previously occupied by dwellings.
When subsequently, on arrival of more labourers, the excavation was extended by other trenches over the closely adjacent ground, it was not long before we came upon undisturbed funerary deposits. The first, B. i, in trench B, seen in Fig. 37, contained altogether sixteen closely packed pottery articles, some pots stuck together in nests of two or three. There were little earthenware cups with diminutive foot (B. i. 128; Pl. XVII) familiar to me from Balûchistân sites;' several plain bowls like B. i. 127 (Pl. XVII) ; painted jars like B. i. 119 ( Pl. XIV) ; a small alabaster bowl with a broad and flat rim (B. i. 129; Pl. xxxii) ; and on the top of a large pot in the centre there lay the fragments of a bronze plaque with a slightly raised rim (B. i. 130; Pl. XVIII) . Among fragments of painted vessels B. i. 122 (Pl. XVII) was of interest as it shows a row of horned mountain sheep arranged in the principal zone, as frequent in the decoration of Bampûr painted ware. In the same trench there was subsequently discovered a still larger collection of sepulchral furniture, B. ii, seen in Fig. 38. It lay at
1 See N. Balûchistân Tour, Pl. VII.
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