76 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



implements of flint abound, but no arrowheads or indeed any w^eapon 

 of offense or of the chase was found in the lower division. In the 

 upper 15 feet there appear remains of objects of copper and lead. 

 Copper without a trace of tin is shown in the only analysis made as 

 yet ; other analyses will follow. 



These two divisions are also sharply distinguished by a change in 

 the technique and painted decoration of the interesting pottery. 



The southern j-ounger tumulus shows also two culture periods. 

 Its founders were already acquainted with the potter's wheel, and all 

 the pottery was made on the wheel. There was little painted ware, 

 and that was of inferior decoration. Of the 75 feet thickness of 

 culture-strata, the lower 63 feet show a fully developed bronze 

 culture. The upper division, 13 feet thick, is marked by the pres- 

 ence of iron objects and by a well-defined change in the character 

 and technique of the pottery, and, further, in the burial customs. 

 A peculiar form of burial existed through both of the culture periods 

 of the older tumulus and through the bronze period of the younger 

 tumulus — burial in a "contracted" position under the floors of the 

 dwellings. The twenty-eight skeletons studied bj^ Mr. Warner were 

 of very short stature ; whether of children or of adults remains to be 

 determined by a stud}' of the skeletons. This custom seems to have 

 stopped with the advent of the iron culture. 



Professor Pumpelly suspected in 1903 that these tumuli were 

 older than the present surface of the surrounding plain. The exca- 

 vations of the present year show that their bases stand buried, 

 respectively, at least 27 feet and 23 feet deep in the younger strata 

 of the plain. 



In order to stud}^ the relation between the progress of natural 

 events and the growth of these tumuli and their cultures, numerous 

 shafts were sunk both in the plain and to the bottom of the tumuli 

 and of the city, and Mr. R. W. Pumpelly made surveys and studies 

 bearing on the local phj-siograph}' in relation to the archeolog)'. 



It was found that of the 27 feet of growth of the plain the lower 

 12 feet were due to natural river sediments and the upper 15 feet to 

 irrigation sediments ; but a surprising result of the study is the 

 proof that this whole growth was a relatively late episode in the life 

 of the tumuli. Only a brief outline of the histor}' can be given here. 



The streams that rise in the high mountains of northern Persia 

 in emerging onto the Turkoman plains spread out and lose their 

 velocity and deposit their silt, forming fan-shaped deltas, covering 

 many square miles, and each making an oasis. The water is now 



