EXCAVATIONS AND FINDS AT THE NORTH KURGAN. 99 
panying it and surrounding it do not differ in specific character from those of the 
terraces. Here, too, the fragments of pottery found on the surface and imme- 
diately under it were chiefly of the red and gray monochrome group, with very 
little of the painted variety of group y. At the level of the skeleton, on the other 
hand, there occurred almost exclusively the last-named variety, and under this 
only the ‘‘unmixed”’ culture layers containing pottery of group y. 
Terrace VI (see figs. 28 and 29).—Near terrace v the trench, descending the 
southern half of the hill, bends a little toward the southwest, on account of the 
irregular form of the surface. Just here a shallow basin-shaped depression was 
observed on the surface, the explanation of which appeared in the deeper layers. 
In the northern wall of the trench there came to light at the level of + 31 feet 
a broad and extended hearth filled with ashes. Near it, but below its level, there 
was extracted a modern and 
but slightly rusted iron nail; 
and the digging soon exposed 
a great hole which, in the form 
of a roomy passage, extended 
into terrace v and could be 
followed underneath a wall 
which was discovered there at 
the level of +28 feet. Pre- 
sumably this passage was the 
work of some animal, and be- 
longs with other tunnel-like 
passages which appear in the 
walls of Komorof’s trench and 
which need especial attention 
during excavation. This pas- 
sage had at one time had an 
opening on the surface, and 
the basin-like depression was Fig. 35.—Pithos in Terrace III. 
caused by itscavingin. Where such occurrences have taken place, the layers must 
necessarily have become mixed and afford no basis for trustworthy inferences. 
About 1 foot below the level of the hearth a child’s skeleton was exposed 
in the western wall of the excavation (see special report of Warner); and on the 
opposite side of the terrace, at +25 feet, an accumulation of potsherds was found, 
together with fragments of different large pithoi. Here, therefore, begin the 
older culture layers of group y. The upper mixed layers also contained a predomi- 
nating quantity of the older pottery. Nevertheless, if we follow the order of 
succession observed in the layers elsewhere in the hill, we must assign both the 
hearth and the child’s skeleton found in this terrace to the younger culture and 
recognize a causative relation between them. They correspond to the flat stones 
(+ 32.5 feet),orthesomewhat lower-lying ash layer (+30 feet 7 inches),in terracev. 
The excavation of the deeper layers in terrace vi was rendered difficult and even 

