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

590   AT RUINED SITES OF TURFÄN   [Chap. XVIII

at the time of our visit to the state of mere mounds, and as the condition of my injured leg made it impossible for me personally to direct measurement at more than a few of the many ruins, the dimensions shown for individual structures cannot claim to be more than rough approximations. Nevertheless, I believe this rough survey of the town site, as it presented itself at the time, will be found useful, as the rough sketch-plan published by Professor Grünwedel shows no scale and professedly was made only for the purpose of personal orientation.2

The first place chosen for some experimental clearing was the south-eastern corner of a large complex of buildings, in great part demolished, marked 1 in the plan, Pl. 24.3 Their arrangement around a central court containing on the west side the remains of what looked like the high base of a completely wrecked temple suggested a monastic establishment of importance. The Manichaean MS. fragments, Kao. 0107-1 10, which I purchased, including a Runic Turki fragment with remains of a miniature painting, were said to have been found in the large apartment marked i. We were rewarded for the clearing done here only by a small piece of a text, apparently Manichaean, in Sogdian script, with some Chinese manuscript fragments, and a small embroidery fragment, Kao. I. i. (DI, showing a much-discoloured floral design.

Along the foot of the badly decayed western wall of what appeared to have been a large hall, Kao. I. ii, approached from the same central court, we recovered a large number of fallen fragments of well-designed tempera paintings, which had once decorated that wall. On the wall itself some badly faded fresco remains were found, showing the drapery of what was apparently a colossal standing Bodhisattva figure and of another smaller one seated. Among the fallen fresco pieces which the List below fully describes but which must await illustration elsewhere, fragments of floral decoration are particularly numerous. We evidently have representations of donors in the fragments I. ii. o8, io, 57-8, which show the heads and shoulders of a man and a woman side by side, and in the fragments 1. ii, 0' 6, 051, which retain portions of female heads with a peculiar coiffure. Remains of Uigur inscriptions appear on 1. ii. 017 and some other fragments. Among other finds made here I may mention pieces of coarse tapestry, 1. ii. 075. a (Pl. LXXXVII) ; a wooden comb, 1. ii. 074 (Pl. LXXI) ; small fragments of Uigur, Chinese, and apparently also Sogdian manuscripts, and five Chinese copper coins all with the legend K`ai yuan, current during the 'rang period.

Finds in   The place next selected for trial excavation was a spot close to a small projection of the eastern
ruin Kao. Ii. town wall within which Professor Grünwedel had explored the Buddhist temple marked by him

as V.4 At a distance of about 120 feet to the north-west of this shrine the diggings of cultivators had laid bare remains of what apparently had been a vaulted cella or passage, Kao. II, built against the town wall. The adjoining eastern wall, which alone survived, of this structure showed traces of fresco work above the accumulation of debris wherewith the interior was filled to a height of about 6 or 7 feet. The removal of this disclosed the extant portion of a wall, about eleven feet long and standing to a height of close on twelve feet. Lower down, the stucco surface of the wall,

Experimental clearing at ruin Kao. t.

2 See Grünwedel, Idikutschari, Fig. 2, with the general observations, pp. 7 sqq., 13, as regards the conditions under which his work had to be done.

It may be conveniently noted here that the extant circumvallation of Idikut-shahri, as well as the remains of an obviously earlier system of town walls traceable within the enclosed area, is for the most part built of stamped clay, set either in the fashion of thin layers, as usual in Chinese construction of this type, or else of large pisé blocks such as are customary in the modern building practice of Turkestan.

The use of sun-dried brickwork is not as common in the town walls as might be suggested by Idikutschari, p. 8, note r. It is, as far as I could judge, principally confined to repairs of a later date.

3 This complex of buildings probably corresponds to the big monastery which Professor Grünwedel marks with the Greek letter x and briefly refers to, ibid., pp. 105 sq. The gallery with fine but much-injured frescoes mentioned by him was no longer traceable.

4 See Grünwedel, ibid., pp. 41 sqq.