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

Sec. iii]   THE BURIAL SITE OF KHURAB   121

obviously made for funerary purposes only, like similar cups found at Shâhitump.3 Three painted jars, D. 244, 249, 250, are seen in the same Plate XV, and a copper or bronze bowl with `disk' base, D. 247, in Pl. XVIII.

Excavation of trench E, cut parallel to B, yielded one burial with varied and plentiful furniture, as seen in Fig. 41. Here were found some thirty-two earthenware vessels mostly unpainted, including small cups of a characteristic shape, E. i. 253, 254 (Pl. XVI) ; two metal bowls (E. i. 251; Pl. XVIII); a curious bronze object resembling an axe-head surmounted by a seated camel, E. i. 258 (Pl. XVIII); a complete alabaster jar, E. i. 252 (Pl. VI), and a fine agate bead, 11 inches long, tipped with gold ferrules at both ends, E. 259 (Pl. x). One small bowl was filled with bone fragments which might have been human.

In the adjoining cutting F the objects found in an undisturbed deposit ( Fig. 40) were less numerous but also of varied interest ( Pls. XVI, XXXII) . They included, besides tall jars, like F. i. 266, 271, 273 and other vessels, mostly unpainted, a large alabaster cup, F. i. 262 (Pl. VI) ; a bronze dish, F. 298 (Pl. XVIII) , and a bronze spear-head, F. i. 261 (Pl. XVIII). The finding with these objects of a small cylindrical vessel of a dark-grey potstone, F. i. 263 (Pl. vi), deserves special notice as it conclusively proves that the use of such ware, incised with geometric patterns, and peculiar to the Bampûr basin, as attested by finds at Bampûr, Damin, Katukân, and elsewhere, must be considered contemporary with that of the chalcolithic pottery of these funerary deposits. A specimen of small painted bowls from two minor deposits exposed in trench F is seen in F. iii. 274 (Pl. XV).

The gradually increasing number of labourers allowed us, after the second

day of our stay at Khurâb, to make a trial excavation also at another small potsherd-strewn patch of ground about 120 yards to the south-west of the one first searched. Here three separate burials were traced. At one of them, L. i, the sepulchral furniture, found only a foot below the surface ( Fig. 42) , comprised not less than thirty-six pieces of pottery. Most of them were unpainted, but some among these showed unusual shapes. Thus may be noticed the high goblet, L. i. 278, raised on a tall stem and the chalice-like cup, L. i. 279 (Pl. XV ), both of `terra-cotta'. Among the large flat-bottomed vessels, L. i. 276, also of `terra-cotta' ( Pl. VI), has the shape of a flower-pot. Here, too, smaller vessels like L. i. 280, 286, 287 (Pls. xv, XXXIII) , all `terra-cotta', were found packed into large ones, some of the former being fragments broken in antiquity. The other two deposits were smaller and contained mainly unpainted vessels, some showing signs of having been exposed to fire. Among the painted ware comprised in them ( see L. ii. 293, 295 ; Pl. xv) I may mention two shallow bowls of thin grey fabric

3 See ibid., p. 102, regarding pieces like Sh. T. vii. i e; ix. i b; xiv. d, Pls. XVIII, XIX.

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