Page:Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India 1927-28.pdf/199

OFFICERS ON SPECIAL DUTY. within the well-cultivated tract of Mastung must certainly be ascribed to the historical period. In the case of the SAMPUR-DAMB this has been proved by the fruitful excavations here made by Mr. Hargreaves in 1925 when objects dating from the early centuries A. D. came to light. The pottery found on the surface here and at the mound of HAZARGANJI close by fully agrees with this dating. The same conclusion could be drawn from the decorated pottery, none of it painted, found on the large and high mound known as SPET-BULANDI. The finds in the trial trenches opened on the slopes included some iron implements and entirely confirmed this diagnosis. Here the exploratory work of the tour was concluded, and on April 15 Quetta was regained finis longae chartaeque viaeque.

I resumed work in the CENTRAL ASIAN ANTIQUITIES MUSEUM on the 22nd October 1927 and brought to completion the arranging of the Central Asian wall paintings on the walls of the Museum, from which they had been removed in 1925-26 for photography, and the cutting, fitting and fixing of the asbestos sheet background. A considerable number of the unmounted fragments, which did not form part of any of the large compositions were mounted either singly or in groups and such as were suitable were set up on the walls. The remainder were stored in special almirahs for convenient reference. In addition an ancient painted dome, which forms an important item of the collection, was reconstructed. but some work on this still remains to be done.

Of the forty-six cases of Central Asian antiquities and photographic negatives brought by me from London this season thirty one were unpacked, checked and placed in numbered trays in the rooms allotted for the purpose in the upper storey of the building of the Imperial Record Office, New Delhi. As these rooms were furnished with the required show cases only as late as the middle of February 1928, the unpacking of the boxes of antiquities could not be started before the first week of February 1928.

During the season under report Mr. Qureshi Moneer, an Archeological Scholar, was deputed by the Director General of Archaeology to assist me in the above work in order that he might acquire a general knowledge of Central Asian Antiquities under my guidance and learn as much as possible of the method adopted in the Central Asian Antiquities Museum for mounting wall-paintings.