100 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 10 



taking its start evidently from Salavat, irrigated the territory of Old 

 Termez. On the left bank, in the middle reaches of the Surkhan- 

 Darya, traces have been found of very large irrigation canals leading 

 to the southeast, i.e., to the site of Airtam. These canals carried water 

 to Airtam, where traces have also been found of an irrigation canal 

 leading to the north-northwest to join, as it would seem, the canals 

 which have their source in the Surkhan-Darya. It must be observed 

 that the pottery collected on the left bank is very similar to that 

 found in the oldest levels of Old Termez and to the objects from 

 Airtam. These included thin-walled, engobe pottery, fragments of 

 gobletlike vessels, painted khmni, etc. The results of the investiga- 

 tions of this section and at Airtam give reason to affirm that the 

 irrigation structures on the left bank of the Surkhan-Darya River, 

 requiring large-scale organized labor for their preservation and upkeep, 

 fell into a state of disrepair and neglect about the middle of the first 

 millennium of our era, a fact which brought about a decline in the 

 life of Airtam and other populated points on the left bank of the river. 



Surkhan-Darya Expedition. — This expedition carried out archeo- 

 logical investigations in the Baisun district. During 1938 excavations 

 were made in the Teshik-Tash grotto at a distance of 18 kilometers 

 northwest of the district center, near Machai. A Paleolithic settle- 

 ment with artifacts of the classic Mousterian period was unearthed 

 here. The grave of an 8- or 9-year-old Neanderthaloid child was also 

 found here. The exceptional scientific interest of this discovery has 

 already been presented in numerous articles and reports and we shall 

 dwell on the 1939 work. The expedition made some preliminary 

 surveys in the vicinity of Baisun, which resulted in the discovery of 

 new artifacts, including some pertaining to the Stone Age. Two 

 corridorlike caves were found near Baisun in Kaflan-Dara and Dulta- 

 Khan, with large accumulations of bones of wild and domesticated 

 animals. Fragments of ancient vessels were found in one of the caves. 

 These caves evidently served large beasts of prey as places of refuge, 

 and the bones are the remains of their quarry. 



In the Ob-Angor grotto remains of ancient metalwork shops have 

 been unearthed including slag and a smelting furnace in the form of a 

 vessel 2.0 m. in height with openings in the sides for forced draft. 

 This site also produced fragments of tenth- and eleventh-century 

 pottery. Two cultural levels were found buried under stones in a cave 

 situated in the Kurgan-Darya gorge; these strata contained coal-ash 

 accumulations, remains of animals, and worked flints of Paleolithic 

 type. Excavations were conducted in an area of 40 sq. km. near 

 Machai in the Amir-Temir grotto, resulting in the discovery of three 



