EXCAVATIONS AND FINDS AT THE NORTH KURGAN. 103 
or plane separating the different kinds of earth and coinciding with the plane 
that would represent the downward continuation of the wall of Komorof’s trench. 
It was thus found that Komorof’s trench continued in depth and extended much 
deeper into the middle of the hill than the level at the time of our arrival gave 
us reason to expect. This central and deepest part of the trench had been filled 
in by General Komorof, thus bringing into these depths earth from different 
ages of the kurgan, together with modern iron articles. This discovery com- 
pelled us to abandon all excavation in the trench bottom, confining ourselves 
to the shafts sunk from the galleries. In spite of this precaution there appeared 
from time to time pieces of pottery such as we had been accustomed to find only 
in the upper layers of the kurgan. Thus, in the shaft between —1 foot and — 14 
feet 8 inches, we came upon three fragments of gray ware, among them being 
a lip-piece, a hollow foot, and between — 24 feet 7 inches and — 29 feet, as repre- 
sented by the workmen, another piece of gray ware. Farther on, in the east 
gallery shaft, as represented by the workmen, there occurred between —6 feet 
and —8 feet some fragments of red and gray monochrome ware; but these were 
in all cases accompanied by the ordinary painted ware of the middle layers, which 
occurred throughout in the lowest culture-strata of the kurgan. Only in the 
shaft of the west gallery, between — 14 feet 8 inches and — 24 feet 7 inches, did 
we find the fine painted ware of group m, such as was found in the north digging 
between — 13 feet and—19 feet. It must, therefore, have only a relatively small 
and transitory importance in connection with the culture of the lower layers. 
The mixing of these old finds with the red and gray monochrome ware, in these 
deeper layers of the east and west gallery shafts, can, as stated, be of only second- 
ary origin; for in the terraces mixed layers were, as a rule, observed no deeper than 
+25 feet,at which level the strata of the older culture began. We must, therefore, 
explain the occurrence of younger pottery in the gallery shafts as being due to the 
contact of the earth raised from the shafts with the débris of which the bottom of 
Komorof’s trench was composed. 
There is still an important find to be mentioned. At the level of —8 feet, 
in the shaft of the east gallery, there occurred two skeletons, one with bead orna- 
ments (plate 4o, fig. 7) as burial gifts, and the other, according to Warner, with 
two flint knives and two spin-whorls (cf. Warner’s special report). They are 
a sure proof that the inhabitants of the lower strata practised burials within 
their dwellings, and they thus supplement the data afforded by the skeleton 
graves of north digging 11. 
OTHER FINDS—CHARACTER OF CULTURE—RELATIVE CHRONOLOGY. 
The pottery enables us to distinguish older and younger epochs in the history 
of the development of the kurgan, and its forms and decoration permit us to 
form an opinion as to the artistic powers of the inhabitants of the settlements; 
but it does not enlighten us concerning the quality of the civilizations nor the 
culture character of the finds. Our information on these points is obtained from 
the whole culture equipment, and from all the special finds of metal, clay, and 
