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0125 Innermost Asia : vol.2
Innermost Asia : vol.2 / Page 125 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000187
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Sec. i]   SEVENTH-CENTURY TOMBS IN GROUP i   647

silk, Ast. i. 3. b. oi, showing a design which is unmistakably ` Sasanian ' in character. This fine fabric is in so perished a condition that it is impossible to guess the origin of the flakes of gold-leaf and copper found in the dust accompanying it. The use of the small case of silk damask, i. 3. b. 02, containing lead, which was found with this body is also uncertain. Over the eyes was placed a pair of silver spectacles', i. 3. b. 03 (Pl. LXXXIX), closely corresponding in shape and make to the one already described from the head of body a. Below this and covering the eye-sockets were found two Sasanian silver coins, which Mr. Whitehead has identified as issues of either Khusrû I (Naushirwan, A. D. 531-79) or Hormazd IV (A. D. 579-91).5

There may have been originally some objects of value deposited with these bodies ; for mixed Other

obects

up with the layer of earth and decayed matting near them there were found the following small foûnd in

articles, which the first pillagers of the tomb had evidently overlooked when turning the bodies Ast. i. 3. out of their coffins. The three small discs of silver, i. 3. o6, with square holes in the centre, were obviously made in imitation of Chinese copper coins. The seven thin plates of silver, i. 3. 012 (Pl. LXXXIX), crescent or pear-shaped, manifestly formed part of some ornament. The same may be assumed of the thin strip of plain gold, i. 3. 013. Seven glass beads, i. 3. 07, were also recovered, and a Chinese copper coin of the Wu-shu type, with a legend in four characters, reading ch`ang

ping wu shu   2 ii,. Of other articles found in the tomb may   be mentioned seven
pottery food bowls, i. 3. 014-20 (Pl. XC), painted outside in tempera, with patterns similar to those on the vessels from Ast. i. 1. 2, and a well-carved wooden duck, i. 3. 021, of exactly the same style and execution as that recovered from the tomb i. 1. Under a half-rotten wooden trough, which lay upturned in the south-eastern corner, were found large pieces of a white dough-like mass, probably some hardened bread stuff.

On clearing the trench leading to tomb i. 4 we found, at a distance of 26 feet from the entrance Sepulchral

records on

of the latter and almost on the surface, three inscribed bricks, placed against the southern side of the

bricks dated

approach. The characters, much effaced in places through exposure, were painted in red on black A. D. 608

ground. The photographic reproduction of these inscriptions was consequently difficult, and I and 646. regret that it has not been possible, from the negatives taken, to obtain satisfactory prints. In the copies of these inscriptions made by Li Ssû-yeh, Dr. L. Giles has, however, been able to recognize with certainty dates corresponding to A. D. 6o8 and 646. [For a complete rendering of these inscriptions by Dr. L. Giles, see now Appendix I. It shows that the slab of A. D. 6o8 records the death of the widow of one Chang Shu-ch`ing. Her maiden name was Ch`ü (that of the House which reigned in Kao-ch`ang until 64o). The two inscriptions of 646 commemorate a lady of the same family and her husband Chang Yen-11'61g.] These dates agree well with that corresponding to A. D. 632, found on the inscribed brick from a neighbouring tomb, Ast. i. 6. o8 (Pl. LXXV), of which M. Maspero has furnished a translation in Appendix A.

In the tomb there were found three bodies, corresponding to the number of separate burials Chinese

indicated by the inscribed bricks. They lay with their heads to the north and were all badly decayed. writings

found in

With their heads there were neither face-covers nor ` spectacles ' nor coins. A number of fragmentary Chinese MSS. on paper, including a large piece, were discovered near the body lying closest to the entrance. [M. Maspero's preliminary examination has shown that some of them belong to Buddhist texts, while the large document (018) contains a register of official correspondence received by some bureau of the Chinese administration in Turfân after the Tang conquest. This brief record of the contents of the various letters registered throws interesting light on the organization of the administrative offices and their activities.] Apart from these documents, which may have served as waste paper to support the bodies or for some similar purpose, the only objects found .

5 See Appendix B.   5a Cf. Appendix B.

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