CLASSIFICATION OF THE MERV KURGANS. PAPI 
hand, have sides that rarely slope less than 30°, and sometimes, where bits of old 
wall still remain, are almost perpendicular. On horseback they can be ascended 
only at the places where the ancient gateways appear to have been located, one 
gate in each mound. Most of the mounds do not seem to be old village sites, like 
those of Anau, built up aimlessly and slowly, through many centuries by the accu- 
mulations of generation after generation. On the contrary, many appear to have 
been constructed in exactly the opposite manner, by the rapid building of thick 
adobe walls of sun-dried bricks. The space within the walls was filled with mud 
and refuse until a broad elevated platform was produced. On this the builders 
dwelt; and there we find to-day bits of the pottery, bricks, glazed ware, glass, and 
stone, which formed the necessities or the luxuries of their daily life. 
CLASSIFICATION OF THE KURGANS. 
Throughout the kurgans there is such a degree of unity of form and structure 
that it seems legitimate to assume that all are the work of one people, or, at least, 
of people of one stock. There are, however, such marked differences, and such 
clear evidences of development, that it seems advisable to divide them, tentatively 
at least, into three groups. The basis of classification is, first and most roughly, 
outward appearance and amount of weathering and erosion; second, ground 
plan and orientation; and third, and far the most important, contents, such as 
pottery, bricks, glass, glazed ware, and stone. The first two criteria are, it is 
true, very untrustworthy, but they become of importance when it is found that 
they agree with one another and with the third criterion. 
A classification based merely on a hasty reconnaissance of the surface of the 
kurgans is, of necessity, highly tentative, but the principle of division is a true 
one. Even if many mounds should later be transferred from one class to another, 
or if the classes themselves should be modified, the present tentative grouping 
will at least be an aid to description, and will give some suggestion of the very 
interesting development that appears to have taken place during the centuries 
which must have intervened between the building of the first kurgan and the last. 
The accompanying table contains a classified list of 28 kurgans, with the most 
essential data as to their size, contents, and other peculiarities. The appearance 
of some of the kurgans and other ruins is shown in the series of photographs 
reproduced on plates 57 and 58. The two following plates, 59 and 60, show roughly 
the plan and cross-section of each kurgan. The plans show the size and shape at 
the top of the kurgans, not at the base. The sections are drawn to scale and are 
oriented with north at the top of the page. An examination of the plates brings 
out many salient features, far better than can be done by verbal description. 
