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

PART I.

PREHISTORIC FINDS FROM SINKIANG

I. EARLIER DISCOVERIES.

Very little is known about the prehistoric periods of Sinkiang. SVEN HEDIN gave us the first hint of the existence of what may be called a stone age in the Lop desert. In his collection of antiquities from 190o-or there are two worked stones. One is a core or nucleus of agate-looking stone from one side of which flakes have been split off, the other is a flake of yellowish flint (Bergman 1935 c, Pl. IX : 2-3). Their small size is typical of the stone age objects of Eastern Turkistan and Mongolia which have been found by other explorers during the last three decades. Judging from the form nothing can be said as to the proper age of HEDIN'S two objects, and they do not originate from any definite stratum but have been picked up from the wind-eroded surface of the ground.

STEIN'S collection of about 45o stone artifacts from the Lop-nor region is more representative but even here we are left in uncertainty if we want to obtain any more precise chronological determination. They have been described and discussed by R. A. SMITH.

STEIN also discovered stone implements in a couple of places among the sands of Taklamakan south-east of Ckok-tagh in the neighbourhood of Maral-bashi (Stein 1928, p. 85) . He found two cores, an arrow-head, a point, eight flakes and some nondescript worked stones. SMITH does not discuss them in his paper on STEIN'S other prehistoric finds. That they should be palaeolithic as suggested by STEIN is not explained, and seems unlikely.

PELLIOT purchased two jade axes at Qum-tura near Kucha; they are now in the Musée de Saint Germain (Pelliot, p. 9). Through the kindness of the authorities of the Museum I have obtained photographs of these axes (which proved to be three in number). They will be discussed in connection with the Lop-nor axes.

The new material discovered during the course of SVEN HEDIN'S Sino-Swedish Expedition, with the exception of the finds made by Dr. P. L. YUAN and Mr. HUANG WEN-PI, will be described here. YUAN found some painted pottery north of the Bogdo-ola range, and at Hami (mentioned by BISHOP) ; some painted pottery discovered by HUANG at Yar-khoto is referred to in connection with my Toqsun finds.

After the departure of the main part of our expedition from Sinkiang, Père TEIL-

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