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

peremptory order of the Naib before the men had removed more than about 8 or
10 inches of soft clay or dust covering the slope. In view of this unwarranted
interference and the humiliation it incidentally involved, I found it necessary
to forgo further attempts at trial excavations until the effect of the representa-
tions addressed to Tehrān could make itself felt. Judging from the official
attitude previously observed at Kermān, a return there appeared to involve the
risk of indefinite delay. This might have meant our reaching the mouth of the
Gulf too late for the programme of field work to be carried out along its trying
coast during the short period of comparatively favourable climatic conditions.
So I decided to continue the journey there and reluctantly to restrict myself to
surface observations until arrival at Bandar Abbās. There I could hope for a
change of escort and the removal of the obstruction imposed from Kermān.

The materials we were able to collect at Tal-i-Iblīs are fortunately ample
enough to prove that the site marked by the mound and the debris area around
was occupied during the chalcolithic period and during that only. This is proved
on the one hand by the type of the painted pottery remains and on the other by
the total absence on the mound or in its immediate vicinity of any glazed ware
or other objects that could be attributed to later times.⁶ The pottery, with the
exception of a few coarse fragments which look hand-made, was all wheel-
made. The body varies considerably in colour, various shades of cream,
light pink, grey, and brown being represented. A fine well-levigated clay is
found in a number of dark-grey pieces and in the fragment Ibl. 142 (Pl. XXIV)
of a thin-walled jar of deep terra-cotta colour. Some pieces of grey and cream
ware (105, 167, 184) belong to small vessels having a ring foot. Another and
larger piece (104; Pl. XXIV) belongs to a flat-bottomed base. The painted
designs are practically all monotone and applied without a slip. The colour
used for the patterns varies from black to brown and brownish pink, the
difference being probably due to the varying strength of the paint. In one
fragment (121; Pl. XXIV) part of the design appears in a dark brown and
another part in a reddish brown, but no polychrome effect appears to have
been intended.

The designs, all geometrical, show remarkable variety in their motifs, as
shown by the specimens reproduced in Pl. XXIV. Simple wave lines, whether
by themselves (87, 132) or combined with other elements (139), are common;
so also are zigzags, as in the design of 40, 90, and hachures (52, 124, 141, 142).
More elaborate patterns are formed with lozenges (58, 95, 168, 175), mostly
hachured, or triangles placed between or outlined by plain bands (16, 108).