EXPLORATION SHAFTS. 19 
of these were sunk in the North Kurgan, 3 at the South Kurgan, and 4 in the 
city of Anau. Of the remaining 15 some were placed to determine the later rela- 
’ tions of culture-strata to natural and irrigation sediments, while others pierced the 
plain at what were thought to be desirable points. R.W. Pumpelly undertook the 
study of the details of structure shown in these shafts, as he had also assisted in 
deciding as to where they should be placed, and in his report in this publication is 
given the full description of his observations. He also treats at length the subject 
of oases in connection with the general physiography of Turkestan. The informa- 
tion obtained from these shafts is of the greatest interest, and it was a cause of 
much regret that we were not able to sink more of them. The intense and increas- 
ing heat made work very difficult; and added to this was the vast quantity of 
grasshoppers, which accumulated in the pits so rapidly that they at last forced the 
abandonment of work. 

oo — > ———— — . ——e——E———EE_ 


Fig. 8.—The Mosque at Anau. 
The shafts sunk within the North Kurgan (‘‘east’’ and ‘“‘west galleries,’’as well as 
north digging 11) penetrated the underlying natural alluvial formation at a depth 
of 20 feet below the level of the plain. But North Kurgan west shaft I, over 200 
feet west of the kurgan, after sinkirg through 7 feet of irrigation sediments, passed 
through culture in place, with standing walls and pottery of the earliest strata of 
the kurgan, to the depth of 28 feet below the surface of the plain. It was, there- 
fore, clear that the settlement had started on an eminence raised somewhat above 
the surrounding country. It was found that the North Kurgan stood on a loess- 
like formation with interbedded alluvial strata characteristic of the delta structure. 
The indications were clear that the delta-plain had been dissected before the kurgan 
settlements were started. At the South Kurgan, shafts A and C, sunk through 
the culture-strata and into the underlying natural formation, found the base of 
