334 PHYSIOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL-ASIAN DESERTS AND OASES. 
him, flat and desolate, is broken here and there by distant towers, mounds, and 
citadels, that range far out into the faintly outlined forms which rise and vanish 
in mirage. 
The most comprehensive point of survey is found on the Erke Tepe, a high knoll 
or crumbled tower of Ghiaur Kala’s inner walls. This point stands central and 
120 feet above the plain, with all the citadels of ancient Merv ranged round for 20 
miles. Nearly all are flat-topped plateaus of varied height and length in profile; 
but sometimes, as the dust haze clears, far to the north more rounded forms are 
seen. 


Highest of all on the far horizon stands 
Odontche Tepe, nearly 8 miles due north. A 
superficial examination of this citadel revealed 
common wheel-turned pottery and glass, such 
as found on Ghiaur Kala, but its great height 
of 78 feet seemed promising of old layers to- 
wards the bottom. We attempted to explore 
it to the foundation with a shaft, but owing 
to its distance from water no men would stay 
there, though offered high wages, and our 
shaft was abandoned at a depth of only 44 
feet. The débris proved lean of remains, evi- 
dently having been rapidly built up with walls 
as a point of fortification and not by slow accu- 
mulation of occupation. It seems probable, 
Sai however, that in the construction of such a 
Gullies Sundriedbrick Clay walls citadel advantage was taken of some preex- 
Fig. 489.—Sketch-map of Odontche Tepe (Merv), iSting mound, so that old débris might have 
been penetrated at a greater depth. It never- 
theless proved a lesson in wind erosion. The adjacent area of culture mounds 
has been so rapidly worn down that a surface of erosion weathers pots and jars 
and cuts them clean off, flush with faintly outlined crumbling edges. 



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ANALYSIS OF SHAFTS AT GHIAUR KALA.—THE DEPOSITS FROM MAN, WATER, AND WIND. 
As Ghiaur Kala was chosen for excavation it became important to concentrate 
physiographic shaft exploration upon that city and determine the relation between 
its growth and that of the plain through water and wind. For this work there was 
so little time that only a few shafts could be undertaken, and to assure the possi- 
bility of correlation it was necessary to have them fairly close together and in some 
simple relation to each other, to the main excavations, and to the oasis in general. 
With all these considerations in mind we located seven shafts on the profile line 
as shown on the map, three without and four within the city walls. 
Here, as at Anau, we find that culture-strata, irrigation silt, natural sedi- 
ments, and loess entered into the growth of the plain, but with the very important 
addition of large masses of flying sands, a fact to be expected with an oasis of 
