Innermost Asia : vol.2 / 488 ページ（カラー画像）

0488	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

to the position of Sīstān between Susa in the west, Anau in the north-west, and the sites of Balū-
chistān and the lower Indus valley in the south-east—all localities which have yielded up remains
of a closely allied prehistoric civilization.

Similar We do not know whether it was as a result of migration of races, conquest, or peaceful inter-
cultures in course that the sites of Sind (Mohenjo-daro), the southern Panjāb (Harappa), and Balūchistān (Nal)
Transcaspia now reveal the existence of a culture strikingly akin in various aspects, on the one hand to that of
and Sind. pre-Sumerian sites of Mesopotamia and Susa, and on the other to that of the earlier strata at Trans-
caspian Ānau. But it is certain that the routes indicated by nature and most likely to have been
followed by those movements pass through Sīstān. Reference to the map will show that the present
Helmand delta lies approximately half-way between Anau and Mohenjo-daro, the direct distance
measured from Nasratābād being a little over 500 miles to the former and a few miles less to the
latter site. The resemblance of the Sīstān prehistoric pottery in forms, technique, and painted
ornamentation to that brought to light by the Pumpelly expedition from the older strata of the
Kurghāns of Anau,¹⁰ is particularly close, as has been fully recognized by Mr. Andrews. The
evidence which the association with it of stone implements and fragments of bronze affords at both
places is similarly concordant in general. But it must be borne in mind that at the Sīstān sites
it is impossible to determine stratigraphic succession for any class of finds.

Relations to The close relations which geographical conditions have created and maintained to the present
early re- day between Sīstān and what are now the territories of Sind and British Balūchistān must lead
mains of us to expect an equal, if not even greater, degree of affinity between the chalcolithic culture indicated
Sind and by the relics of the southern Helmand delta and that which the excavations now proceeding at the
Balūchis- ruined sites of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa are revealing. Publication of the surprising results
tān. which these have already yielded has not as yet proceeded far enough to permit here more than
a general reference. But it can already be safely asserted that the resemblance in respect of the
painted ceramic wares is very great, and particularly as regards the older layers reached by the spade
in the Indus valley. There Sir John Marshall and his helpers from the Indian Archaeological
Survey are systematically excavating extensive structural remains left by a civilization which
through its inscribed seals and other relics can now definitely be co-ordinated with that which in
Mesopotamia preceded the earliest Sumerian period. It is on the results of these explorations on
the Indian side that we may at present base the main hope of likewise determining some chro-
logical limits for the prehistoric remains of Sīstān.

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