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0087 Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang : vol.1
Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang : vol.1 / Page 87 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000195
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sort as that used by the Lou-lan population about 2000 years ago. (Cf. Stein 1928, Fig. 39).

Personal Ornaments.

In the gay colours of the dresses, the long woollen fringes which flowed in the wind, and in the feathers on their head-gear this people gave most marked expression to their desire to adorn themselves. True personal ornaments, however, are rather scarce.

The young man in coffin 5 A had an armlet of a woollen string with an opal bead round the right wrist (Pl. 9: 12), and a similar armlet was found among the rest of the inventory from the destroyed coffin of a child, Pl. 9 : 11. A child's armlet of bronze unfortunately went astray before the collection reached Sweden. It consisted of a round wire with thickened, multilateral ends, showing the same features as one of Dr. HEDIN'S objects from Lou-lan (Bergman 1935 c, Pl. XII: 4).

The female mummy K, Pl. VI b, with the expressive face, wore a simple necklace of strings with feathers and a single small stone bead.

On the eastern flat part of the hill we found nearly five hundred small white beads, circular with flat ends. The diam. varies from five to two mm., Pl. 15 : 15. Several of them were still left on the original thick string they had been threaded on.

Two specimens have been examined microscopically at the Invertebrate Department of the Museum of Natural History by Dr. R. BERGENHAYN, who states that they are made from shell of the genus Spondylus, probably Spondylus sinensis SOWERBY, which occurs along the shore of Eastern Asia. In any case Spondylus is a marine shell, and the material of these beads was thus traded overland for a very considerable distance, say at least 3000 km.

Beads of quite similar shape are known from Prof. J. G. ANDERSSON'S excavations both from burial places and dwelling sites in Kansu of the middle Yang-shao period and onwards, and also from the Luan-p'ing grave find, Jehol.

The three beads Pl. 15 : 9 are disc-shaped but are also made of shell. Similar ones of bone or shell of chalcolithic age are reported from Zhob in Baluchistan (Stein 1929, Pl. IX, P. E. 19).

One bead from the eastern part of Cemetery 5 is of serpentine, Pl. 15 : 8, and nine are of grey and white, nicely striated opal, Pl. 15 : 16.

Pins.

A kind of small pegs with a cylindrical head with triangle-band decoration and a thinner, pointed part (Fig. 14 : 6-7) were quite common. One specimen (5. L: 3) was sticking in the remains of a mantle when found, which points to their having been

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