494 SKELETONS EXCAVATED IN SOUTH KURGAN. 
Skeleton No. 28.—In terrace C, at a level of 20.5 feet, we found the lowest 
burial of any. The bones were those of an adult, as the closed cranial sutures, 
worn teeth, and ossified epiphyses to the long bones clearly showed. (See fig. 548.) 
The skull was caved in and lying at one end of a neat bundle composed of 
the other parts of the skeleton. All the long bones had been gathered together 
as one would bundle sticks. That they had been previously dislocated was proved 
in that the lower ends in the case of the right leg and the right arm were found near- 
est the skull. But that the flesh had not been removed seems shown by the fact 
that the patella were both in their correct relative positions. It was also clear 
that the dislocation had been done with some nicety or else that the limbs had 
been twisted apart, for the ends of the bones showed no scars or evidences of 
chopping as must surely have been the case had the body been merely hacked 
into ‘‘lengths’’ at the articulations. The skull had been placed on its base at 
the eastern end of the bundle. 
Looking over these burials brought to light in the South Kurgan at Anau, 
no such absolute results can be reached as from those of the northern one. Of 
the 10, only 3 are found in connection with the layers of ashes and burnt earth 
comparatively common in the other. Only two skeletons are accompanied by 
burial gifts, and no rule at all can be deduced from the orientation of the bodies, 
as we found them heading to nearly every point of the compass. However, on 
one point of prime importance the burials seem fairly constant, for we only found 
one case where the body was definitely arranged in a non-contracted position, 
and that, it is worth noting, was one of the two adults found in the kurgan. One 
burial was indeterminable in position, thus leaving 8 out of the 10 contracted. 
If, now, there is any basis of comparison between the civilizations of the two 
kurgans to justify my treating them together, the burials removed from both 
give us, in tabular form, the following results: 





Contracted on right: sid@o enn eee er eee 13 Found with buriall gifts... >... . 1. 10 
Contracted: onvleft side wesc eet elas 5 Found without burial gifts.................. 18 
Indeterminable position’. -—.— sae see eee ae 5 
Not: contracted. position. .7%.cccumera eis ne 5 Total « + «jiscaai= Sida ee eae ee 28 
Total igi 30 235 0suene ct eve see 28 Adult remains: .92.30<5<s «see wales wae ee 4 
Child remains. 6.0.14 shikai ae 24 
Found on-hearths:3, 4.2. sh aioe eee 13 
Found! without hearthst. eet eee 15 ‘Lotal.s..¢0 8438 § ae ee eee 28 
Total 54.5 2:4 awiviesnsa sccpetesteee eit eae ae 28 
One can deduce from these figures that the people with whose culture we 
have to do buried their infants and young children in or near the dwellings, often 
over hearths of burnt earth and ashes; that in general the body was placed upon 
its side with the knees drawn up in a contracted position, and that burial gifts 
were often placed with the bodies, such as beads of stone or copper, flint knives, 
and clay spin-whorls. The mere presence of these objects in connection with the 
burials does not prove belief in a future life, for parental affection and sentiment 
might go far toward explaining them. But since in all history and in all pre- 
historical research there are no evidences of a people existing without a religion 
or cult, we can fairly assume that the burial gifts found in the Anau kurgans 
throw some light on the beliefs of the inhabitants. 
