284 carnegie institution 



Recommendations. 



[Since Turkestan is under the control of the Minister of War and 

 much of its frontier is closed to travelers, it is necessary to have 

 the permission and good will of the government in order to pursue 

 investigations. To inaugurate any extensive plan of archeological 

 excavations will require tactful negotiation at St. Petersburg. I 

 have good reasons for believing that the desired concessions can be 

 had on a basis of division of objects found, and with a sufficient 

 time allowance for the study of all the material. Such a plan 

 should include both town sites and large and small tumuli. Of 

 the town sites I would recommend, as points to begin on, in the 

 order stated. 



Town sites. — Afrosiab (Samarkand), Ghiaour Kala (Old Merv), 

 Paikend (west of Bokhara), Aksi (on the Sirdaria). The high 

 ruins seen several miles to the north of Ghiaour Kala. A very high 

 one seen from the railroad a few miles west of the Aum-daria. 



Ttimuli. — Both the tumulus mentioned at A.nnau, near Ashkabad, 

 and another lying a short distance from it. Others west of Ashka- 

 bad, north of Old Merv, near Djizak ; also many of the mounds of 

 small size which seem to have a different significance. 



As bearing on the age of the tumuli, it is important that the rela- 

 tion of the base of the mound to the surrounding earth be studied 

 to determine by how much, if any, the level of the plain has been 

 built up since the first occupation of the site, and to see also by how 

 much the mound has shrunken in size at its base, as it certainly has 

 n horizontal section at the top. In connection with the question 

 of age of the tumuli and in relation to the last expansion of the 

 Aralo-Caspian seas, it would be very desirable to determine the lower 

 altitude limit of distribution. I did not see any below 250 feet above 

 the Caspian. 



Similar observations are needed on the west coast of the Caspian, 

 where De Morgan found no 'antiquities on the lowlands in the 

 Lenkoran country, but at a higher level abundant tombs of the 

 bronze period and of the transitionfto iron. 



As further connected with the relation of human occupation to 

 the formerly expanded water area, there is needed a determination 

 of the altitudes of the Manytsch divide between the Caspian and 

 the Black sea, and of that between the Aral and the Arctic ocean. 

 Both of these are now not far from railroad bases. 



