GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 385 



calcareous clay. The opening faced the east by an arched door, 24 inches 

 wide and 32 high. The tomb was of a semi-circular form, arched, 10 feet by 

 12 in diameter, and 8 feet high in the centre. Above the doorway a lintel- 

 stone was placed, on which the slab which closed it rested. The cavity was 

 cut out of the natural calcareous clay, which was firm and consistent, the 

 form and shape of the instrument by which it had been removed being very 

 distinct. The candle burnt brightly on entering. The floor was covered 

 with beautiful pebbles and shells, such as are now found on the shores of the 

 Sea of Azov. A niche was cut out of the walls on three sides, in which lay 

 the dust of what once was -human. It was a sight replete with interest to 

 survey this chamber to examine each article as it had been originally placed 

 more than 2,000 years ago to contemplate its use. and to behold the effect 

 of 20 centuries upon us proud mortals. There lay the dust of the human 

 frame, possessing still the form of man. The bones had also crumbled into 

 dust ; the space once occupied by the head did not exceed the size of the 

 palm of the hand, but in the disturbed dust, the position of the features could 

 still be traced. The mode in which the garments enveloped the body, and 

 the knots and fastenings by which these were bound, being also distinct. 

 On each niche a body had been placed, and the coffins, crumbled into powder, 

 had faUen in. At the head were glass bottles one of these contained a little 

 wine. A cup and a lacrymatory of the same material and a lamp were 

 placed in a small niche above. A coin and a few enamelled beads were in 

 the left hand, and in the right a number of walnuts, the wine and nuts being- 

 doubtless placed there to cheer and support the soul in its passage to Para- 

 dise. Some fibulse and common ornaments, valuable only on account of their 

 antiquity, were also found. Continuing my researches in the same locality. 

 I came upon other fimilar shafts, at the end of which were the bones of a 

 horse, and then the large flagstone closed the mouth of the tombs similar to 

 the last. I now resolved to make another attempt to explore the great shaft : 

 the only mode of effecting this being to remove entirely that portion of the 

 hill above it, I brought all my laborers to the spot, although the few days 

 that remained of our sojourn in Kertch would hardly enable me, I feared, to 

 complete the work. Placing my men in two gangs, each were made to 

 work half-an-hour without ceasing. On the third day we struck on two 

 large anaphoras, containing each the skeleton of a child between four and six 

 years of age. Underneath these were the tombs of two adults, and then 

 came the skeleton of a horse. 



There was now every indication that a great feast or sacrifice had been 

 held, for a few feet further on we came upon immense heaps of broken 

 amphora?, fragments of wine jars, the insides of which were still encrusted 

 with wine lees, broken drinking cups, flat tiles which may have served the 

 purpose of plates, beef and mutton bones, fragments of cooking pots still 

 black from the smoke, and quantities of charcoal. Descending still further, 

 we came upon what appeared to have been a workshop portions of crucibles 

 in which copper had been smelted, corroded iron, lumps of vitreous glass, 

 broken glass vessels, moulds, and other things being found. Five feet 

 deeper we exposed the excavation in the rock, and a shaft exactly similar 



IT 



