Innermost Asia : vol.2 / 486 ページ（カラー画像）

0486	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

archaeologist of many centuries hence who should come upon this 'culture stratum' covered up
by alluvium, if the Helmand were to shift its bed for good to this part of its present desert delta!

Site of
Shahr-i-
sōkhta.
The other site of prehistoric occupation, and that an important one, lies far away, near the
northern extremity of the ancient delta. To the NE. of Hauzdār the steeply scarped edge of the
gravel-covered plateau of the 'Dasht' curves round a large bay liable to inundation from the
Hāmūn. Where the south-western end of this ancient lake shore breaks up into spits and detached
island-like Mesas, there extends along the top of one of the former the debris-covered area called
Shahr-i-sōkhta, 'the burnt town'. Its direct distance from Hauzdār is about 7 miles, and as it
lies quite close to the line which the caravan route to the south follows during the annual flood
season of the Hāmūn, the locality is well known to wayfarers. The site of Shahr-i-sōkhta stretches
for about 800 yards from NE. to SW. with a maximum width of about half this distance. The
plateau tongue occupied by the site rises from about 35 to 40 feet above the plain of bare clay to
the south which marks a former extension of the Hāmūn. Past the southern foot of the plateau
tongue there sweeps a well-marked depression suggesting a bed which a branch of the Rūd-i-
biyābān might have followed at some earlier period. A narrower branch, about 150 to 200 yards
across, branches off from this depression near the head of the plateau tongue and turning to the
NW. divides it from the wide expanse of the Dasht. The whole of the debris-strewn area on the
top is furrowed by small Nullahs, caused by the action of drainage. But the sides of these, as well
as the outside slopes to the very foot of the small plateau, are everywhere strewn with a profusion
of potsherds. There is thus reason to believe that the debris-strewn area on the top must have
formerly been even greater than it is now. Even in its present extent it indicates an ancient settle-
ment much larger than any of the prehistoric sites previously described, and one which, in spite of
the total absence of structural remains, may well deserve the designation of 'town' as implied by
the local name of Shahr-i-sōkhta.

Masses of
pottery
debris.
The whole of the pottery debris, enough to fill many railway trucks, consists of fragments, both
plain and painted, of unglazed chalcolithic ware, as shown by the specimens described in the List.
Fragments of stone cups and bowls, mainly of alabaster, all apparently lathe-turned, were also
to be found,⁶ᵃ as well as stone beads. A broken lignite seal, S.S. 089, shows an incised kind of
key-pattern. S.S. 055, 091 are specimens of small bronze fragments. In the course of my prolonged
inspection I failed to find a single piece of glazed pottery of any kind, conclusive evidence, I think,
that the site was not occupied again after its abandonment in chalcolithic times. The probing
of the ground in half a dozen places was attended by some instructive observations. Underneath
the surface layer of pottery debris and fine gravel there was always found a soft stratum of loose
disintegrated clay. This soil was often of a reddish colour as if it had been exposed to fire, which
accounts for the name Shahr-i-sōkhta, 'the burnt town'. Bone fragments seemed to be frequently
mixed with this soil, and in places I noticed what appeared to be the smell of decayed animal or
vegetable matter. At a depth varying from 12 to 18 inches we came upon the very hard clay or
sīr, which seems to underlie the 'Dasht' everywhere to the south of the Helmand.

Prolonged
prehistoric
occupation.
The most probable explanation that occurred to me of the conditions here observed was that
human occupation prolonged for a very long period had caused the top of this island-like plateau
to be covered with thick 'culture strata', consisting largely of decomposed mud walls or sun-dried
brickwork, kitchen middens, and other refuse. The fine sand, i. e. the particles of alluvial or eroded
soil that the north wind blows across Sīstān, being caught on occupied ground loess-fashion, may
have added its quota to these ingredients. Wind-erosion combined with deflation has been at work

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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

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