KARA OGIII,AN, ruins about half a mile S.E. of Kifri in Kurdistan, from which Rich excavated a quantity of earthen jars varnished black in the inside, and perfectly resembling those found at Seleucia. and Babylon. Ile obtained also a small earthen lamp like that now used by the villagers. Gold and silver coins are also frequently found here, which the villagers immediately melt down. The jars, or sepulchral urns, refer to the Sassanians. Farther up the torrent, on the N.N.W., are some excavations in the block, called Gabr houses, and others of the same kind are in the hills, ten minutes' ride from the S. extremity of the ruins, consisting of excavated sepulchral chambers, with very low doors, and, in the inside, three places to lay out bodies, but of small dimensions, about five feet long. The plan of these excavations resembled the Achatmenian sepulchres at Naksh-i-Rustarn. Farther on, about three miles from the ruins, on the top of a bill, are some vestiges of building, which the people call Kiz Kalasi, or the Girls' Castle. Here urns and bones are found ; the
place is nearly opposite Oniki Imaum. S.W. of Kifri is an immense mound like the Majallibah of Babylon. Mr. Rich dug about it, and found immense quantities of small pieces of human bones, and fragments of urns, all of which had a black varnish on the inside ; but the pottery was of different quality, some coarse and unornamented. The soil, as deep as he could discover by means of a ravine, was impregnated with black unctuous mould, fragments of urns, and small bits of bones. On the centre of the mound is a burial-place of Arabs, and the Muhammadan now confounds his dust with that of the fire-worshipping Persian ; for that this was a Sassanian place of exposing the dead, Rich had no doubt from its appearance and character, and the style of the fragments found.—Rich's Kurdistan, i. pp. 18-21.