POTTERY FROM CULTURE I, NORTH KURGAN. Tee 
slightly concaved (fig. 57). Very rarely one finds a steep lip bent inward (fig. 58). 
This cup may also have an open spout on the lip. Very rarely there occurs a pro- 
file with a notched lip. 
Technique.—The clay of these cups is, for the most part, washed fine and is a 
light or reddish-brown. It is almost always well-burnt, and to a great extent 
porous. The vessels were excellently well formed by hand; the potters’ wheel 
was as yet unknown. The raw clay was covered with a very thin coat of color, 
which gave a surface for the painted decoration. Now and then this ground 
covering shows different tones—probably an effect of the burning. It is especially 
remarkable that in many cases the vessel was polished before being painted. 
According to the ground color, we can distinguish three groups: 
(a) Vessels with different shades of brown or red ground covering (plate 23, 
figs. 1, 2, and 3; plate 28, fig. 1). 
(3) Vessels with whitish-green or yellowish-green ‘“‘slip.’’ This also showed 
now and then a slightly red tone produced in the firing (plate 23, figs. 
4, 5, and 6; plate 24, figs. 1 and 2). 
(y) Vessels with carmine-red or violet slip. This was laid on thicker than in 
the other groups and often flakes off. In many cases one can observe a 
whitish intermediate ground under the colored slip. This probably 
served for the better fixation of the slip (plate 24, figs. 4 and 5; plate 25, 
fig. 1). 
Techmque of the painting.—The color used most frequently for the decoration 
of the more delicate vessels was black, but bluish-black, violet-black, violet, and 
black-brown were also found. 
These colors were for the 
most part laid upon the very 
thin slip. Only in the case 
of the very common tech- \ 
nique is this special ground 
lacking. In such cases the 
colors appear directly upon 
the plain surface. The or- 
naments themselves remain 
mat upon polished ground. 
The kind and execution of 
the decoration indicate a full mastery of brush technique, and the many shades 
appearing in the ground tones prove that the decorators of the vases were very 
expert in the mixture of colors. 
The three groups of vases were also found numerously in the mixed layers. 
Fragments of groups / and 7 were especially noticeable in terrace v (April 4) above 
the level of +28 feet 5 inches, and fragments of #, exactly similar as regards 
technique and ornamentation, were found (April 6-7) between +20 feet and +18 
feet in terrace 11 and March 28-31 between +18 feet and +10.5 feet in the west 
diggings, 7. e., in pure and undisturbed layers of the older culture. Of the pottery 
occurring in the mixed upper layers we can refer to the younger culture only such 
as can not be found in the pure middle and lower layers. 
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