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[[underlined]] Chapter IV. [[/underlined]]
64.

than the Ch'in and Han periods.
Vessels of this texture and style of ornamentation seem however to have come into existence in China long before the dawn of her historical period; for we found them later, less sophisticated but essentially identical in character, in our excavations of Chinese Neolithic sites. Their manufacture continued moreover, Mr. Ch'iu Tzŭ-yüan of the Peking Historical Museum informed me, as late as the time of the Six Dynasties --- that is to say, some centuries after the commencement of the Christian Era. Hence to rely on the occurrence of such ware alone, without other supporting evidence, in trying to determine the date of any given site would appear to be decidedly hazardous.

[[underlined]] Site of the Ancient City. [[/underlined]]
Early the next morning ^[[November 17, 1923]] Mr. Tung and I set out on horseback with several of our new friends to inspect the site of the ancient city. Leaving I Chou by its east gate, we traveled, according to my compass, in a general east-by-south direction, across a level flood-plain (pl. [[strikethrough]] XXXV [[/strikethrough]] ^[[15, fig. 1).]])
After a ride of five or six miles, in the course of which we forded a shallow stream, the northern fork of the I Shui 易水, we began passing through large groups of mounds, some circular, some rectangular, in plan. These numbered in all, according to our local friends, between thirty and forty (fig. [[strikethrough]] 9 [[/strikethrough]] ^[[10]]).
We stopped now and then to examine more closely individual mounds presenting features of special interest. Although the round ones had every appearance of being sepulchral tumuli, our Chinese companions all insisted that they, no less than those of rectangular plan, had formed foundation-platforms for the palaces and other important edifices of the ancient city. To both Mr. Tung and myself this appeared at least