National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

for a distance of about 6 miles. Kahnū comprises now only scattered hamlets of
mat-huts, besides a ruined fort tenanted down to modern times. Yet it must
have been a place of some local importance from an early period, since it is the
point where several routes leading from the coast at Mīnāb, the ancient Hormuz,
meet others towards Bam and Kermān. I could learn nothing of old remains in
the vicinity during the two days' halt imposed by regard for the rest needed
by men and beasts and for the collection of supplies. But the stay proved both
pleasant and useful owing to the help and information which the capable com-
mandant of the small local garrison, Sultān Nūr 'Alī Khān, kindly provided for
our onward journey.
This was to take us to Bam and thence to Kermān, where our operations of
this field season were to close. Reports about the numerous mounds to be seen
in the Jīruft tract stretching along the Halīl Rūd, together with the advantage of
gaining higher ground and thus coolness on the way by crossing the Jabal Bāriz
range, had previously induced me to choose this route. Instead, however, of
gaining Jīruft by the direct route leading north from Kahnū, I decided to move
first eastwards to Bijnābād beyond the Halīl Rūd, in order to examine a series
of mounds which were indicated in its vicinity both by the Survey of India map
and local information. Starting from Kahnū on April 6th, we struck the Halīl
Rūd once more after a march of 12 miles across a scrubby dasht and past the small
date grove of Shōdap. Where the river was crossed near the village of Jamālā-
bād we found its volume less than near Tumbut, but it still filled a channel about
100 yards wide to an average depth of 1–1½ feet. It was difficult to make sure
whether the diminution was due to the melting of the snow on the Jabal Bāriz
and the ranges towards Sardūyeh and Isfandaqeh having ceased, or to the fact
that several canals take off from the river some 13 miles higher up, and do not
return their water into the river until some distance below Bijnābād.
About a mile from the left bank of the river and to the north-east of Jamālābād
there extends a stretch of salt-encrusted ground measuring about 380 yards
from east to west and rising to some 10 feet in the middle. The numerous frag-
ments of painted grey ware, decorated with black designs (see Jal. 1, 3, 4, 11,
15; Pl. XX), together with pieces of alabaster cups and worked stones, clearly
indicated occupation in the chalcolithic period. Moving on for 5 miles, at first
over bare alluvial clay and then through a wide belt of fields cultivated in
different years, the cluster of hamlets collectively known as Bijnābād was
reached. Close to these, on the north-east side, there rises a conspicuous mound
to a height of about 25 feet in the centre. It measures some 320 yards from
north to south and about 380 yards across where widest.
By the side of plentiful plain pottery, much of it bearing a cream or greenish-