国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

186   FROM KERMAN TO BANDAR ABBAS   [Chap. VI

this possibly be ascribed to a gradual subsidence of the coast-line on the Persian side of the Gulf, for which the alluvium brought down by the drainage from the

mountains within comparatively recent historical times would not have sufficed to compensate? My observations along the coast as far as Bushire furnished no definite archaeological evidence to support such an explanation. But the possibility of a change of the coast-line having taken place since prehistoric times deserves consideration, and I propose to revert to the question farther on."

After moving our camp back to Minâb town I proceeded to visit a ruined site to the south-west, the only one I could learn of in a direction where remains

connected with the old port, apart from those already examined, might be looked

for. Guided by the obliging officer commanding the local police, we moved down the broad river-bed to the village of Nasariyeh, ensconced among orchards

and date-palm groves on the right bank. Then turning in a westerly direction,

the way led past low gravel ridges, with water-logged stretches between, to a wide belt of low ground, which suggested an ancient river-bed, now grass-

covered and receiving the terminal overflow from irrigation canals. After

crossing this diagonally we arrived at the site known as Tump-i-surkh, the `Red Mound', close to the south of the small hamlet of Gishna, girt by date-

palms. There, between marshy beds, stretches what looks like a natural terrace measuring some 380 yards from north to south with a maximum width of about 200 yards, and varying in height from 10 to 15 feet. The distance in a direct line from Minâb town is a little over 7 miles.

The surface of the mound is covered with fragments of burnt brick, rough stones, and coarse potsherds. These, as well as the few small pieces of glazed

ware and of coloured glass picked up, had all been affected by the salinity of the

ground. Wall foundations built of large unhewn stones were found here also as at the sites near Kumbil, and occupation may be ascribed approximately to the

same Islamic period. Whether the wide marshy bed passing to the east of the Tump-i-surkh is somehow connected with the khûr, or creek, running inland beyond Burchik and Kalâtun or the remnant of another old channel could not be determined without a close survey of the whole ground. So much, however, seems clear from the Survey of India Sheet No. 25. A, that this bed is quite distinct from the creek which boats ascend to Shah Bandar and Tiab.12

11 See below, pp. 236 sq.

12 It is possible that the information collected for Sir Henry Yule by Colonel Pelly, then British Resident at Bushire, about `the ruins of Old Hormuz' refers to this site. This is suggested by the distance of `about 6 or 7 miles from the fort of Minao' indicated, and the mention that the

Minao river, or its stony bed, winds down towards them. `The ruins are said to stand several miles up a creek, and in the centre of the present district of Minao. They are extensive ( though in large part obliterated by long cultivation over the site), and the traces of a long pier or Bandar were pointed out to Colonel Pelly'; cf. Yule, Marco Polo, i.