EXCAVATIONS AND FINDS AT THE NORTH KURGAN. 97 
technique and form to the older ceramic group y, and are particularly valuable on 
account of the remains of painting which they bear. To the same layer (+ 24.75 
feet) is to be referred the broken pot of ordinary technique and probably also 
the erect stone mortar whose lip stood at +25 feet 10 inches. Whatever occurs 
below this must equally belong to the older culture; therefore the four skeleton 
graves, together with their burial gifts of copper and bead ornaments, are of especial 
value as being the first burials of the older culture to be found. 
The only ques- 
tion that could arise 
is whether the pottery 
fragments found in 
the succession of 
layers may not inval- 
idate their evidence. 
In terrace II, as well 
as in terraces I, IV, 
and v, the upper layer 
abounded in frag- 
ments of the red and ° 2 - IS FEET 
gray monochrome Fig. 32.—Plan of Terrace III. 
ware of group x, and 
fragments of the y 
group were relatively 
Fare. As we dug 
deeper the relation 
between these two 
varieties changed, 
until at last they were 
reversed. The red 
monochrome ware 
occurred only in iso- 
lated cases below + 26 
feet. Still, it is re- 
markable that in 
terrace II this isolated 
occurrence of the 
group x reaches some- Pa 5 10 FEET 
what deeper than in 
terraces I and Iv, and 
the group disappears wholly only below +22 feet 5 inches. This circumstance 
might be explained by the accidental falling of fragments during the excava- 
tion; but it is also possible that in ancient times they by chance became 
buried deeper here than elsewhere. A third explanation would be that the skele- 
tons at +22 feet 5 inches were younger than the pithoi im situ. In this case the 
skeleton graves with their burial gifts would have to be assigned to the younger 



Fig. 33.—Vertical Section and Projection of Finds, Terrace III. 
