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0485	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

xvii, to the NW., and the next, R.R. xviii, which continues the protective border line in the same
direction, as seen on the map, both occupy the summit of mounds rising well above the level plain
and showing marks of prehistoric occupation. It deserves to be noted that the triangular bronze
arrow-head R.R. xviii. 01 (Pl. CXVI) was found among the broken masonry of the small post and
must hence be ascribed to the period when the latter with the rest of the border line was garrisoned.
The ruined station R.R. xix, about 3 miles from R.R. xviii, was the last I succeeded in tracing
at the north-western extremity of the line. Its remains, too, rise on a mound, but as the vicinity
of the Hāmūn here causes the slopes to be affected by salt efflorescence, but little pottery debris
could be found. It deserves to be mentioned that none of the mounds or plateaus here carrying
ruins of watch-stations rise quite as high above the plain as those previously described, R.R. v–xi,
to the S.E. of R.R. v. I am inclined to explain this difference by the fact that the ground near the
former generally shows a cover of light gravel, which had evidently retarded wind-erosion as com-
pared with the bare clay surface farther north. It is evidently due to the same protective covering
of gravel on the mounds themselves that the ruins which occupy them have not suffered more decay.
In spite of their considerable antiquity, as indicated by the evidence discussed below,³ the under-
cutting of the exposed masonry through wind-erosion amounts nowhere to more than 4 feet, and at
most points is much less.⁴

Along that portion of the ancient border line which was traced running to the south from
R.R. xii. a, prehistoric relics proved distinctly less abundant. The explanation may possibly lie
in the fact that the line here crosses a network of old outlets of the Rūd-i-biyābān, which, by their
deltaic shifts and inundations, perhaps made occupation more difficult for the people of the chalco-
lithic period. At the ruined post R.R. xiii fragments of painted pottery and stone vessels were
still to be found. But the sites occupied by the stations marked R.R. xiv, xx, xxi, lying on the
banks of old river branches, showed no such relics. About ½ mile to the SE. of R.R. xxi, however,
abundant slags with early pottery debris lying on a gravel ridge marked a kiln. When subsequently
I succeeded in picking up again a line of small ruined posts, R.R. xxii–xxv, running to the ESE.
on the Afghān side of the boundary, no objects were found during our hasty search which could
definitely be assigned to chalcolithic times.

There still remain to be mentioned two localities visited by me, both to the north of the border
line, where chalcolithic settlements are definitely proved. About 1½ miles to the NW. of R.R. v
a low mound, R.R. xv, bearing a small ruined structure on its summit, attracted attention. On
examination the ruin proved to be of late Muhammadan times, probably representing the remains
of a rest-house or the like. But the ground on which it stands is thickly strewn with pottery frag-
ments. Most of these were of the plain unglazed chalcolithic type ; of the worked stones usually
associated with this, a brief search of the surface sufficed to secure quite a representative little
collection (R.R. xv. 01–22, 26, 28, 30–1, Pl. CXII). It is noteworthy that this includes, besides
some well-worked arrow-heads of jasper and chert of neolithic type (03, 8, 26, 28), some very
rudely chipped points and a small ribbed 'knife-blade', 01 (Pl. CXII), exactly of the same type
as those found in great numbers on wind-eroded ground in the Lop Desert.⁵ Such 'blades' were
known in the palaeolithic period, but apparently survived also into neolithic times.⁶ Yet side by
side with relics of such antiquity and on the same surface level lay pieces of glazed pottery of modern
appearance, such as the specimens with Chinese pattern, R.R. xv. 024–5. It would puzzle the

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