Page 253 - Records of Bahrain (2)(ii)_Neat

Topography and archaeology, 1878-1879 579

198 THE ISLANDS OF BAHREIN.

by tho thigh bones, the man could not have stood much,
if at all, over fivo feet nine inches. The skull seemed a
very small one, specially low in the forehead, with a good
development of tho orbital ridge, narrow and more de­
veloped in length than in breadth, but still a small
skull. It lay between tho thigh bones, one of which was
broken. This position of the skull, however, in conjunction
with the lowness of the chamber and its want of depth,
would seem to show that tho corpse was buried in'a sitting
posture. In the small compartment facing the first we
found the bones of somo small- animal, probably a gazcllo
or a sheep, and some remains of a rather delicate clay
drinking vessel; while, scattered in tho dust of the
central passage, wero a lot of small shapeless pieces of
oxidized metal, brass or copper, and somo fragments of a
vessel of coarse red earthenware.
In tho western and corresponding sido chambers, both
partially blocked by one or two largo stones, nothing
was found, except dust and a few laminated bones. These
came out of the south-western chamber, but, with them, there
was no skull or recognizable human bones. Here and there,
scattered among the dust throughout the tomb, wero pieces
of what appeared to me to have been once ivory or wood;
these being found on sifting the baskets of dust which came
out when tho tomb was being laid bare to its foundation
stones.
April Glh, 1879.—I can now give a further account of the
larger mounds that I have been since engaged upon.
In tho first place, I chose tho most perfect looking of tho
large tumuli, tho present height of which is about 45 feet,
circumference 200 paces, and tho circular mound around it
<130 paces, 20 paces of level ground separating this latter
from tho base of the mound, with a line of wall joining the
outer circlo to tho base of the mound.
I naturally thought that this mound might cover tho ruins
of a small circular tomplo, and not those of a tomb. So wo
began to work at tho top and centre, cutting down several
yards. Finding, however, nothing but a ring of largo