Sec. iv] THE SITE OF CHAH HUSAINÎ 129
found at various chalcolithic sites (Kulli, Mehl, &c.) ; a hone; also a human skull, very brittle and crushed, together with other bones apparently of small animals. Around lay ashes and charred fragments, but the bones were not burnt. Layers of ashes and burnt earth were laid bare at varying levels from about 12 to 16 feet. Among the miscellaneous finds in the trench were also numerous fragments of alabaster cups like Hus. 39, 106, and marble, Hus. 56, 74; a few slinging stones; shaped fragments of shell; also fragments of a fine-grained soft stone worked apparently into flat plates. Hus. 101 (Pl. XIX) is a stone slab bearing a curious resemblance to a human sole. What deserves special mention is the association observed throughout of well-painted good pottery with coarse handmade ware and worked stones.
Two smaller trenches were also opened, one, B, about 100 yards to the northeast on a low level, and the other, C, to the south-east on a level of about 15 feet. At both places burnt earth and plentiful fragments of good plain ware on the surface suggested use of the ground for kilns. But these indications extended only for a foot or two from the surface. In B there were found, among many pieces of well-painted ware, the large bowl 508 (Pl. XIX) and several fragments large enough to permit of reconstructing the vessels of which they had formed part ( see, e.g., 472, Pl. XIX) . The trench C yielded among miscellaneous finds numerous flint blades; a small bronze fragment; pieces of alabaster and sandstone cups; several stone pestles and a stone mortar, 539 (Pl. XIX) ; a stone quern and roller; and from a level of 13 feet the fragment of a glass bangle, Hus. 553 (Pl. X) with coloured inlay closely resembling that found in A. A few small fragments of copper also turned up.
Subsequently, before our departure on March 20th, I had a small mound, D, in the detached debris area across the dune ridge to the east probed by excavation in two places. Little of painted pottery was found here apart from the complete tumbler, 585 (Pl. XIX ), showing a herring-bone pattern painted in black over a red slip below the rim. There was found here also a large vessel of coarse hand-made pottery, 19 inches wide at its mouth and 17 inches deep to its flat bottom, filled partly with small stones and charred fragments.
Before turning to the subject of the painted pottery, which is of special interest at this site, I must mention a curious observation bearing on its physical aspect. I found the surface around the mound, where clear of drift sand, uniformly strewn with an abundance of small pieces of black stone which suggested debris of lava or some other eruptive material. Its presence on the gravel ground can well be accounted for, as the extinct volcano of the Kbh-i-Bazman rises some 56 miles to the north of Chah Husain. We could sight its snow-capped summit, 11,470 feet above the sea, on the morning of our departure. The gravel glacis
IIIFカラー高解像度
