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

from the last epidemic of small-pox in Leh, about a hundred years ago. These skulls
from the small-pox graves appeared to be decidedly brachycephalic, when compared with
those from the ancient grave. As dolichocephalic heads are a characteristic mark of the
Dards of Hanu, Da, and other Dard places of Ladakh, we are led to believe that the
people who built the ancient graves were probably of Dard stock ; at any rate they were
not of Tibetan, but of North Indian origin.

Besides human skulls, a head of a sheep, and a horn of an ox were also found in the
grave. These are apparently remains of a sacrifice, or gifts to the dead.

The grave contained also a number of bronze implements, some in fairly good pre-
servation (Plate XXIX, a). Most of them were, however, much corroded, and covered
with a thick layer of verdigris. First of all, I may mention small square leaflets of
thin bronze furnished with an embossed ring, of which we found hundreds. Whether
they were used for ornamental purposes, or as coins, I find it impossible to decide. Then
there were numerous bronze beads, of round as well as of oblong shape, small and large,
the largest thicker than a finger. Later on we discovered little pendants of bronze, of
bell-like form, with triangular holes and a ring at the top. They were probably inserted
between the bronze beads of the necklace. When we took photos of the bronze imple-
ments and other articles, we found a glass bead among the bronze beads. It was of
mother-o-pearl colour, and looked like Roman or Greek glass. Dr. Marshall informs me,
however, that this kind of glass is found all over Asia.

Once, when I had made arrangements to go to the grave and continue my exploration,
I was prevented from doing so by an attack of malarial fever. Then Mr. and Mrs. Reichel
of the Moravian Mission offered to go in my place, and they brought home several more
very interesting finds. In particular, there were a number of bronze buttons of various
sizes with a loop on the reverse. Some of them were of ordinary size, about half an
inch in diameter, but others were much larger, nearly two inches in diameter. The largest
had a scalloped edge, like an Indian one-anna piece. None of them contained an inscrip-
tion. The smallest were quite plain, the largest had an elaborate spiral ornament, and
those of medium size, a star ornament. I suppose that these buttons were worn by
ancient officials as a distinguishing mark of rank, just as is the case in China nowadays.

Some other round pieces of bronze may have served as mirrors, such as are still
found in Ladakh. Some fragments were probably the remains of bronze pots.

On the 28th August, three of our Christians went again to the graves of their own
accord. They found many more bronze implements, several of them in fairly good
preservation ; for instance, a can with a spout of excellent workmanship, though quite
plain and without any ornament ; a seal with a cross-pattern engraved on it ; an entire
bracelet with a pattern of little circles. Although we could trace decorative designs on
several fragments, there was no vestige of any script.

In addition let me say that fragments of iron implements came to light also, and
that Mr. and Mrs. Reichel discovered the only gold article that was in the grave. It is
of a shape similar to the mouthpiece of a trumpet, but its purpose is not known. Its
ornamentation is a curved form of the Greek key.