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

were defective or partly destroyed by the elements. We have thus only some photographs of mummies from this Cemetery 5 but no measurable bodies.

From comparisons with STEIN'S cemeteries from the regions more to the east, i. e. in and around the present delta, it is evident that our Cemetery 5 belongs to the same group as those which STEIN assigns to the autochthon Lou-lan population. STEIN brought away two skulls from this kind of graves. JOYCE characterizes them as belonging to Homo alpinus. Nowadays Homo alpinus is best represented among the Iranian-speaking hillmen of the valleys adjoining the Pamirs, and also forms a very conspicuous element in the racial composition of the present population of the Tarim Basin.

STEIN emphasizes the non-Mongolian features of the Lop-nor mummies, and I have been able, on the whole, to confirm his statement. One or two of the mummified heads at Cemetery 5 had, however, broad cheek-bones giving them a "Mongolian" look, but this might be due to the individual variations that occur in every race or type (Cf. the photo facing p. 209 in Hedin 1937). The long hair is a non-Mongolian feature.

In STEIN'S grave L. Q. III the mummy had a red moustache, and in a partly destroyed grave 2.5 km. NNE of L. I. the corpse had fair hair (Stein 1928, p. 288), traces that would confirm the supposition of the race as non-Mongolian. In Massgrave I, which I have labelled as Chinese, Dr. HEDIN found human hair of dark-brown but also of red-brown colour.

If we compare the autochthon graves known from the delta region with "ÖRDEK'S necropolis" we find less homogeneity in the first group. The types of coffin vary considerably, and so do the wooden monuments surrounding them, where such exist and have been preserved. The woollen textiles seem to be of a finer quality than those most common on "ÖRDEK'S necropolis", the felt head-dresses are of thinner felt and more elegant, and the small baskets are decorated with another pattern than those from ÖRDEK'S place. The triangle pattern on the wooden pegs also differs in some details. These phenomena do not denote anything but local or chronological variations in the handicraft of the same people. It is possible that the autochthon population living in the present delta region had closer relations with some other people, from whom they received cultural influences which somewhat changed their funeral customs. The people buried at "ÖRDEK'S necropolis", on the other hand, seem to have been living isolated, at least from Chinese influence. As far as I know, none of the articles which are typical of the autochthon graves have been found outside the Lop-nor region.

Racially the autochthons may have been rather homogeneous over large parts of the Tarim Basin. The political divisions into many small kingdoms can be explained by the curious physical conditions prevailing : sharply defined oases separated by large desert regions.

From Chinese sources we know of intercourse between the Lou-lan people and

14.4.