Art. XIV.—Notes on Some Antiquities Found in a Mound near Damghan

Extract

About a mile and a half from Damghan is a mound called Tepeh i-Hissár, in which, during last autumn, some human bones were found. The people thinking that there had been in ancient times a burial-place, began digging in different parts of the mound, and discovered some black earthenware pots together with silver and copper ornaments. As soon as Government heard of this, a person was ordered to excavate this mound; and, since then, a number of objects, with about seventy or eighty skeletons, have been brought to light. The objects are, most of them, in the Shah's Museum, but the skeletons have unfortunately been thrown away as useless. I visited the mound in March last, and again in September. At my first visit, I saw that most of the objects were damaged or destroyed by unskilful digging, and I recommended a water-course being led to the mound, so that the objects might be washed out. They followed my advice, and a number of earthenware vessels, ornaments, etc., have been got out intact.