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

But this negative evidence assumes a definite antiquarian interest when con-
sidered in the light of another observation. I refer to the fact that wherever we
found mounds, whether adjacent to present cultivation or not, it was from qanāts
that the water for irrigating land near them is likely to have been obtained, just
as it is now. From this it seems safe to conclude that cultivation dependent on
the system of underground canals, widespread and old as it is in Īrān, was not
yet known in chalcolithic times. That it was fully established in the Arsacidian
period and then already considered of ancient date is proved by an interesting
passage of Polybios which connects its introduction in certain parts of Western
Asia with the very beginning of Achaemenian rule.² If we take into account the
presence of chalcolithic sites low down both on the Bampūr river and also, as we
shall see, on the Halīl Rūd, it seems justifiable to conclude that the complete
absence of remains of chalcolithic times in the intervening area points to qanāt
irrigation not having been known as yet in that period, and further that this area
bore even then a distinctly desertic character. Considering the importance which
the qanāt system has had for the greatest part of Īrān all through historical times,
the indication thus furnished of a definite terminus post quem may claim special
interest.

The ground traversed by the route we had followed may claim interest also
from the point of view of historical topography. For there can be little doubt
that Alexander's line of march from the capital of Gedrosia towards Karmania
lay across this area and probably along this, the nearest and most practicable,
route. We have seen that the Gedrosian capital where Alexander rested his
army after the terrible march through Makrān must have been situated some-
where in the neighbourhood of Bampūr. That his way to Karmania, the present
Kermān, led past Jīruft, the fertile tract on the upper Halīl Rūd, is made
certain, as I shall have occasion to show farther on,³ by the indication which
Arrian's Indikê affords as to the position of the place where Nearchos found
Alexander encamped after having started in search of the king from Harmozeia,
the present Mīnāb.

From Arrian's account of Alexander's move into Karmania it is clear that
after the army's arrival at the capital of Gedrosia its sufferings had come to an
end.⁴ We may account for this partly by what Arrian tells us about the timely
help which Alexander's worn-out force had received in the matter of transport.
We are told of Stasanôr, the satrap of Areia and of the Zarangians (i.e. Herāt
and Sīstān), and Pharismanês, son of Phrataphernês, the satrap of Parthyaea and
Hyrkania (i.e. the provinces south and south-east of the Caspian), that 'in
setting out to join Alexander they took with them a multitude of beasts of