Page 252 - Records of Bahrain (2)(ii)_Neat

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578 Records of Bahrain

THE ISLANDS OF BAHREIN. 197

bare appearance of many of them, whero no stone is left on
the surface. Moreover, the stones that were buried may
have fared bettor than their oxposed comrades. With regard
to the positions of the mounds themselves, I could see no
trace of any unity of design in the grouping, except perhaps in
one place, where four corner mounds seemed to be connected
by a wall, and where, in the centre of the so-formed quad­
rangle, appears a mound of undefined shape, smaller, but
'resembling the others.
Since writing the above I have opened a small mound,
fifty-seven paces round, and nine or ten feet in height, to the
westward of tho large group, and have begun upon a larger
one. Of the latter I will give an account presently. The
’ small ono is ono of many hundreds that lie grouped together.
It appears to bo simply a single tomb, though oddly cham­
bered. Tho centre passago was 4ft. 9in. high from tho
ground, and roofed with single slabs of rough hewn limestono
stretching across about 3ft. Gin. each ; tho width of this
passage being three feet clear. Tho height of the side
chambers, which were only 3ft. Gin., combined with their
shortness 3ft. 8in., as well as tho fact that I found tlio skull
between the thigh bones, shows that the man must have
been buried in a sitting position.
The walls of tho tomb were of rough hewn stone and
unmortared, so that dust had drifted into tho chambers,
sifting in between the stones and covering much of tho
floor to a depth of several inches. I opened from the
eastward, and came upon a central passage lyiug nearly
cast and west, a fact that I have since utilized in beginning
ray work on the larger mound. On carrying away tho
earth we found no entrance, but made one by removing
large blocks of stone, luckily in the very centre of tho
big. passage. From here we had to step down about three
feet six inches, and found, at length, in the first compart­
ment to tho right (and north), tho skull and bones of a
man. Unfortunately a slight shake was given to the
basket, after I had placed it carefully on one side, and
the skull, though propped in dust, fell to pieces. Judging