488 SKELETONS EXCAVATED IN NORTH KURGAN. 
fewer evidences of deliberate burial than any others excavated up to that time. 
In general the trend of the body was southwest and northeast. The broken skull 
lay on its face, with a slight lean to the right, the knees were so bent that the lower 
leg bones stuck up to a height that would have brought the feet, had they been 
present, above the level of the top of the skull. It seems as if the body must 
have fallen in such soft material that it was partially buried at once and a support 
thus given to the feet and lower legs. Just beneath the skull was a large fragment 
of the bottom and side of a great earthen jar. Filling the cavity of this inverted 
fragment was a greenish-white slag partly fused with ashes; and under both pot- 
sherd and skeleton was a layer of rough charcoal and wood ashes. (See fig. 538.) 

Fig. 537.—No. 4, Terrace III. Fig. 538.—No. 6, Terrace II. Fig. 539.—No. 7, Terrace II. 
Skeleton No. 7.—In terrace 1 also, and on a level with the skeleton just 
described, I uncovered the first adult remains we had seen. The skeleton lay 
contracted on the right side, with the knees drawn up to a right angle with the 
main axis, which was southeast and northwest. The left arm lay extended down 
along the body, but the right was bent enough to bring the hand opposite the 
pelvis. (See fig. 539.) 
Although the bones were too fragile to admit removal without elaborate 
gluing, and this was not thought advisable, the cranium showed. the sutures well 
closed, and the teeth were worn flat and dull. The extreme length of the skeleton 
in position was 53 inches and the extreme width 15.5 inches. 
Skeleton No. 8.—The next burial we came upon was in terrace VIII at + 25.5 
feet above the established datum. The bones were those of a young child and, 
though much lacking, it was possible to determine the main axis of the body 
as southwest and northeast. It was lying contracted on the right side with 

