国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

xviii   INTRODUCTION

remains in Sogdian, including a fairly long letter in that early form of Sogdian writing which was first discovered by me on the Tun-huang Limes. Dr. W. LENTZ has instructively treated in Appendix P an interesting fragment of a Manichaean parchment in later Sogdian script and language.

Turning to literary remains in languages other than Indo-European, I must record my tribute of gratitude in the first place to the late Professor VILHELM THOMSEN, the great decipherer of the Runic Turkish inscriptions, for having honoured this publication with the exhaustive treatment of a text fragment of Manichaean origin in that script (Appendix Q). Professor A. VON LE COQ, the distinguished archaeologist and Turcologist, has put me under a special obligation by kindly contributing an Inventory List of manuscript and block-print remains in Uighur, Mongol, and Sogdian scripts (Appendix K). Dr. A. H. FRANCKE, a valued collaborator on the Tibetan materials brought back from my former expeditions, has translated and annotated a Tibetan inscription discovered on the Darkôt Pass (Appendix L). Professor F. W. THOMAS, who from the first had devoted much expert attention to the abundant Tibetan materials recovered on my second journey, has kindly furnished me with useful indications also as regards those brought back from the third. Notes of his concerning certain Tibetan MSS. are contained in Appendix R. It had been a source of encouragement to me when Dr. B. LAUFER, the learned Director of the Field Museum, Chicago, agreed in 1920 to take charge of the very numerous written and block-printed remains from Khara-khoto in the Tangut or Hsi-hsia tongue, as yet but very imperfectly elucidated, for the

purpose of an inventory. Unfortunately other claims on his time obliged him to renounce this intention in 1925. To him, however, is due the transcript of the Tibetan characters which in one manuscript (see Pl. CXXXIV) furnish a phonetic rendering of the Hsi-hsia syllabic signs. These may yet prove helpful towards the study of the language.

Mr. AN-   Among those who gave me valuable help with regard to relics of arts and crafts I must mention

DREWS' help in the first place Mr. F. H. ANDREWS. The most helpful guidance afforded by the Descriptive for art

remains.   Lists of antiquities in which his was the main share has already been indicated above and is reflected

in many of my chapters. I may, however, single out for special mention the advantages I derived from his penetrating study of the ancient textiles (Chap. VII, XIX)," his expert comments on drawings and paintings excavated (Chap. XIII, XIX, XXVIII), and his thorough analysis of the interesting remains of prehistoric painted pottery from Sistân (Chap. XXX).16 From Mr. Andrews' hand is also the Descriptive List, contained in Appendix M, of the antiques, including a number of interesting painted panels and wood-carvings, which Mr. H. I. HARDING, late British Vice-Consul at Kashgar, acquired at Khotan and generously presented for the Delhi collection.

To Mr. LAURENCE BINYON is due, besides much other friendly guidance, the expert description of the remnants of a remarkably fine Chinese painting from a tomb of Astâna (Chap. XIX).17 Mr. R. L. HOBSON, from his exceptionally wide knowledge of ceramic art in Asia, has supplied in Appendix D a very helpful synopsis of the varied ceramic products represented in the collection. Mr. REGINALD A. SMITH, Deputy Keeper, British Museum, besides supplying me with descriptive notes on the individual stone implements discovered (Chap. VI, VII, XXX), has in Appendix N compared their type with that of corresponding discoveries in widely distant parts of Asia. The

Examination of Turkish, Mongol, Tibetan, and Tangut MSS.

Collaboration on other antiques.

15 First discussed in Ancient Chinese Figured Silks excavated by Sir Aurel Stein at ruined sites of Central Asia. Drawn and described by F. H. Andrews ', Burlington Magazine, July—September, 192o.

16 For a first abstract account, see ` Painted Neolithic Pottery in Sistân, discovered by Sir Aurel Stein. By Fred H. Andrews ', Burlington Magazine, December, 1925.

Mr. Andrews' analysis of the Sistân painted pottery has

been of very great help to me also in dealing with the abundant remains of a closely corresponding ceramic art, discovered on my archaeological tour of 1927 in northern Balùchistàn and belonging to the chalcolithic period.

17 See ` Remains of a Tang painting discovered by Sir Aurel Stein. Described by Laurence Binyon', Burlington Magazine, June, 1925.