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NOVEMBER, 1917)
A THIRD JOURNEY OF EXPLORATION IN CENTRAL ASIA
249
A THIRD JOURNEY OF EXPLORATION IN CENTRAL ASIA, 1913-16.
BY SIR AUREL STEIN, K.C.I.E., D.Sc., D.LITT.
(Continued from p. 232.) TN the desert south of the present cultivated area we found interesting remains of far earlier
times. My search here was greatly facilitated by the excellent topographical surveys on a large scale, which had been effected under the direction of Mr. G. P. Tate, of the Survey of India, in connection with Sir Henry McMahon's Seistan Mission of 1902-05, and which proved very helpful also in other parts. On this desert ground, which an abandoned old branch of the Helmand had once watered, excessive wind-erosion, acting on alluvial clay had produced conditions exactly corresponding to those I had found in the dried-up delta north of Lop-nor. Since moisture and vegetation had deserted this soil, the scouring effect of the sand driven by the north wind that blows over Seistan, with more or less violence but almost constantly during four months of spring and summer, had lowered the level of the ground to varying depths, down to 20 feet or more, below the original level, except where the surface had been protected by hard débris of some kind. The erosion terraces, thus left rising islandlike above the bare plain, were always found thickly covered with prehistoric remains. They consisted of potsherds, often decorated in colours, and stone implements inainly of the Neolithic period, but in places included also relics of the Bronze Age. It was easy to pick up here an abundant archaeological harvest literally on the surface.
It was a very interesting and quite unexpected discovery, when in the same area I came upon the remains of a close line of ancient watch-stations, stretching right across the desert from the southernmost Hamun in the direction of the true terminal basin of the Helmand, the marsh and lake-bed of the aud-i-Zirreh. It was a fascinating task to trace this Seistan Limes, and the experience gained during my explorations along the ancient Chinese borderline once protecting the extreme north-west of Kansu helped me greatly. The fortified frontier posts, solidly built with bricks of great size on a uniform plan, and, as it were, to "specification," were found always to occupy erosion terraces retaining prehistoric pottery débris. Chosen, no doubt, for the sake of increased command of ground and wider outlook, these elevated positions had helped also to save the ruins from complete destruction by the erosive force of wind and sand. The watch-stations were found at distances from half to about i} miles apart. The position of sectional headquarters could also be identified by additional structures, etc.
Seistan, in spite of its dreary arid look, does not enjoy a climate quite sufficiently" desiccated » for archaeological purposes, as it still receives a fairly regular rainfall of circ. 2 inches per annum. So the refuse heaps at these stations, which might have furnished us with interesting dateablo records, were found to have decayed into mere odorous layers of earth. But a variety of archaeological finds and observations pointed to centuries ngar the commencement of our era, as the time when this ancient border-line was established. Its object was clearly to protect the cultivated portion of the Helmand delt & against raids of nomadic tribes in the south, corresponding in character and habits, if not in race too, to the present Baluch and Brahui tribes to be found there. I cannot indicate here in detail the curious points of analogy presented to the ancient Chinese frontier line of Kansu constructed circ. 100 B.C. against Hun raids from Turkestan. But I may hint at least at an interesting question which suggests itself in view of the geographical position. Would one be justified in regarding this fortified desert border of Seistan as a link between that ancient "Chinese
