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Hie remains of the dead were badly preserved, only in one grave could it be ascertained
that the body had been placed in a flexed position. It is, however, reasonably certain that no
grave from the beginning was empty. In about half of the chambers animal bones were
collected, and in the few eases where it has been possible to have them analysed they have
proved to be from young goats.

With the extensive disturbance and robbery of the tombs it is difficult to get a reliable
picture 6f the gifts and their location in the chambers, but a certain uniformity is indicated.
Most of the graves have contained coppcr/bronzc though only scraps arc preserved, in* one
ease a finger-ring and in another the point of a dagger or spearhead. Ostrich eggshells were a
common feature: they were always found shattered, but several had traces of ornamental
painting. Small baskets coated with bitumen were apparently a regular component of the
furnishings. Admittedly only pieces of bitumen with reed impressions were left, too small to
attempt reconstruction, but in analogy with the Saar finds the conclusion may be permitted. At
least three tombs had contained alabaster vessels, only one was complete, a small conical bowl.
Three other graves had fragments of ivory, but too small to identify their use. Two burials,
well-furnished with all the trimmings, had also each one of the so-called mock seals: stamp
seals of Dilmun type, but made of scashcll with the natural spirals forming the obverse. Gold
was found in only one tomb: a small link of four spirals. Otherwise jewellery was represented
by no more than a carnelian bead or two left in some of the graves.

Pottery always accompanied the dead in these graves, and when it is missing in four of the
chambers it is clearly due to disturbance. The “grave-vessel” of fine buff or red ware with
round base was present in most graves. One well-provided burial (with the gold link and an
alabaster vessel) had four of them. It is the commonest form of pottery in the mounds, also
outside the Ali field, but rarely found in the settlements. Five of the Barbar vessels with cream
slip and built-in strainer were recovered, quite remarkable, since they have not often been
found in graves, except for the “Royal tombs” of Ali. The type is not too frequent in the
settlements either. It is known in the Barbar temple through several phases: Temple la and b
and Ila, occasionally also later, but it was by no means ever common (personal communication
from Peder Mortensen). Red-ridged Barbar vessels occur, but never the chain-ridge ware.
One painted sherd from a large jar of fine well-fired orange ware with black festoons and a
chequer pattern sticks out like a sore thumb. That is imported pottery, at home in the Harappa
culture, known from several sites in the Indus valley, while a similar sherd is found in the
Harappan levels at Balakot (personal comm.from George Dales)

Though weapons, jewellery and other valuables had been picked out and removed by
intruders before us, enough was left to justify the name of rich graves for this group.

Our second grave group was located about one kilometer southwest of the first one.
Between the two groups a wide area had been completely at the mercy of bulldozers that had
razed to the ground all the mounds found there. A water pipeline crossing the field towards Ali
had become the borderline for the devastation. East of that the plain was empty, while to the
west the mounds had not been disturbed in modem times. 22 tombs were excavated here, a
fraction only of this dense mound field. They are more unassuming than those in the first
group, not much lower perhaps, but the diameter is here about 7 m or even less. The chamber
was considerably less than 2 m long, built of medium to small, usually unfashioned blocks in
3-4 courses and covered with moderately sized capstones. As a general rule there were no
alcoves, but a few graves had one or even two, but hardly more than a niche. Here too the floor
was the bedrock with sand or gravel scattered over it. Though on the whole more modest and
more poorly constructed — some of the chambers had partly collapsed — these graves had the

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