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

Following down the ravine which passes across Dōband along the caravan
track from Jam, the gorge of Kunārak is entered where it cuts through the outer
hill chain. There, at a distance of about half a mile above the north-western
extremity of the Sīrāf site, three small rock-cut caves are to be seen on almost
perpendicular cliffs to the west, at a height of about 200 feet above the bottom of
the gorge. They are now inaccessible owing to a rocky ledge which seems to
have run about 8–10 feet below them, having almost completely crumbled away.
Their carefully cut entrances, about 3 feet wide and 4 feet high, clearly distin-
guish them from the grottoes seen in Shilau. The middle one has a porch retain-
ing some white plaster on its sides; the one to the south is adjoined by a small
room with a narrow window to admit light. In the third cave a raised platform
could be made out along the back wall. There can be no doubt that all three
caves were intended to serve as dwelling-places, perhaps for recluses. At the
bottom of a rocky gully descending along the cliffs there are a large ruined
cistern and a deep well still holding water.

Having now completed my account of the remains I was able to examine at
Sīrāf, I may briefly describe the characteristic types represented among the frag-
ments of decorated ceramic ware which were collected in plenty among the ruins
of the site. These relics derive distinct archaeological interest from the
chronological limits indicated by the fact that the records above quoted prove the
once flourishing great emporium to have already entered on its period of decay
by the last quarter of the tenth century, while by the beginning of the thirteenth
it had become almost completely deserted. Among the glazed ware (Pl. XXVII),
pieces coloured in varied shades of bluish-green are by far the most abundant.
Relief decoration is particularly frequent among them. It consists mainly of flat
ribbing, usually strengthened by the darker shade of the glaze lying thickly in
the grooves (Tah. 87, 105, 106) and often combined with some cable ornament
incised (14, 15) or raised (64, 107). Imbrication in relief occurs along with sunk
geometrical patterns (112); elsewhere the latter appear alone (123, 140, 149).
Among relief motifs, wave lines combined with pearl borders (65, 67, 69, 70) are
special favourites. Of rosettes applied in relief 72 is a pleasing specimen. Pearls
are frequent elements in decorative relief patterns too fragmentary for reconstruc-
tion. In all this glazed ware the body is a thick creamy clay, glazed both inside
and outside. The same applies to the rare fragments (78, 92) with plain light
blue glaze outside and slightly raised flowing design in a stronger blue inside.

Among other glazed pottery of the Sīrāf site interest may be claimed for
pieces showing incised floral scrolls or other geometrical patterns under splashed
or mottled browns, yellows or light greens (26, 30, 31, 37, 80–2). Their type
of decoration is identical with that of the glazed ware found at the site of Gīti