Ixvil Archeological Survey Report. 
cut it glistens, and has a bluish tint. From whence was this clay 
obtained? ‘There is none now anywhere near the place, the soil being 
generally light and sandy. Can it have been found here formerly, 
or was it brought from a distance ? 
164, In the outer line there are only four large barrows, the most 
northerly, marked L, being 20 feet in height, and the other three, 
marked K, J, and R, being each 30 feet. The last mound R, which 
is the most southerly of this line, has also been excavated for the 
sake of its stiff white clay, which is similar to that of mound Q of 
the middle line. Between J and R I traced seven small mounds, of 
which the largest, marked O, is only 83 feet in height. I made an 
opening in this mound down to the ground level, but without any 
result, except that it proved the mound to be formed of common 
hard earth, and not of the indurated glistening white clay which 
forms the masses of the two barrows Q and R. 
165. There is another question regarding these barrows which is 
perhaps quite as puzzling as that of their origin, namely, from whence 
was the earth for so many large mounds procured, for there is not a 
single hollow or excavation of any kind in their neighbourhood ? 
On three sides of the huge mound of Navandgarh the tanks still 
exist to show from whence its material was obtained, but with respect 
to the material for the tumuli we are left entirely to conjecture. 
Between the mounds and the village of Lauriya there is the dry bed 
of an annual flood stream called the Zurkdha Nala, but its soil is 
light and sandy, excepting only in the deeper pools, where the water 
lies for several months. It seems scarcely possible that the earth 
could have been taken from this sandy channel, and yet it is equally 
impossible to say from what other place it could have been obtained. 
166. The lion pillar of Lauriya N avandgarh stands to the north 
of the mounds A and B, at a distance of less than 500 feet from 
each. Its shaft is formed of a single block of polished sandstone, 
32 feet 91 inches in height, with a diameter at base of 35.5 inches 
and of 26.2 inches at top. The capital which is 6 feet 10 inches in 
height, is bell-shaped, with a circular abacus supporting the statue of 
a lion facing the north. The abacus is ornamented with a row of 
Brahmani geese pecking their food. The column has a light and 
elegant appearance, and is altogether a much more pleasing monument 
than the stouter and shorter pillar of Bakhra. The lion has been 
