TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. ll^T 



a horse. A few feet further on, an upright flag, 4 feet high, and the breadth of 

 the shaft, was placed over the entrance of a tomb cut out of the calcareous clay. 

 The opening faced the east by an arched door, 24 inches wide and 32 high. The 

 tomb was of a semicircular 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 re- 

 moved 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 2000 

 years ago — to contemplate its use, and to behold the effect of twenty 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 didnot 

 exceed the size of the palm of the hand, but on the undisturbed 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, were also distinct. 

 On each niche a body had been placed, and the coflSns, crumbled into powdei-, had 

 fallen 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 Paradise. Some fibulee and common ornaments, 

 valuable on account of their antiquity, were also found. Continuing my researches 

 in the same locality, 1 came upon other similar shafts, at the end of which were 

 the bones of a horse, and then the large flagstone closed the mouth of 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 labourers 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 amphorse, containing each the skeleton of a 

 child. Adjoining 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 brokeft amphorae, 

 fragments of wine jars, the inside 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 to, but on 

 amuch larger scale than the descent into the arched tombs. As the hill was removed, 

 platforms were scarped on the sides, on which the earth was thrown up, a man being 

 placed on each platform ; and as I descended into the shaft, similar platforms of wood 

 were slung from above. On the twelfth day we reached a depth of 16 feet in the 

 shaft, the portion of the hill removed being 38 feet in length, 20 in depth, and 12 in 

 breadth. The mouth of the shaft hewn out of the rock, 3 feet in thickness, was 18 feet 

 long by 12 broad. It then took on a bell shape, thediameter of which was 22 feet, cut 

 out in dark consistent clay, a depth of nearly 7 feet. Beyond this the size of the 

 shaft became a square of 7 feet, cut out of successive layers of sandstone and calca- 

 reous clay. When we had attained a depth of 30 feet in the shaft, the labour of 

 raising the earth became very great ; but by means of a block and shears, which Capt. 

 Commerell, of Her Majesty's ship ' Snake,' very kindly fixed over the descent, the 

 work was much facilitated, the earth being slung up in baskets, and the men ascend- 

 ing and descending in the same manner. A few feet beyond the bones of the horse, 

 and exactly in the centre of the shaft, the skeleton of an adult female appeared 

 enveloped in sea-weed. Under the neck was a lacrymatory, and on the middle 

 finger of the right hand a key-ring. Three feet further we met a layer of humar; 

 skeletons, laid head to feet, the bones being here in excellent preservation, — as, indeed- 



