National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

ing tent pegs. Many of the same kind were lying on the surface of the eastern, flat part of the hill. Their actual use was never discovered.

Only a few metres from where these pegs were found three heavy planks were standing on end in the sand. (two of them visible in the foreground to the right in Pl. IV a). These might possibly be the remnants of a destroyed grave of a construction differing from the ordinary one prevalent on this site. Some planks of the same short, stout kind, and burnt at one end, were lying on the surface nearby. Whether they were intended to be used for firewood by the treasure hunters or had been burnt in ancient times it is impossible to say.

II. Wooden Sculptures.

The wooden monuments are all more or less shaped by man, the oars and the pole seen to the left in Pl. IV a being those most elaborately worked. We also found three human figures of wood, and one "sculpture" Fig. 1o: 1 which is difficult to classify.

The two reproduced in Pl. V d are the best preserved ones ;1 both show traces of red painting. The figure of the man was found in the sand on the lower part of the southern slope of the hill. It has a carved face with strongly marked features of a rather non-Mongolian character, Pl. V c. The arms are wanting; it was once ithyphallic. Height of figure 143 cm.

The female figures Pl. V a and d have flat, oval faces, their features having probably been painted. The arms are very thin and badly proportioned. The calves of the one with complete legs (Pl. V d) are quite thick, and the legs are a little knock-kneed. The height of this figure was 134 cm. ; ORDEK found it less than Ioo m. to the east of the hill.

The other female sculpture, Pl. V a, was found on the eastern slope of the hill in a very weather-worn state of preservation; it had apparently been lying exposed for a very long time. The lower part of the legs was worn away, but it still measured 158 cm. in height, i. e. it must originally have been somewhat over natural size.

All three of them are very crude but considering the limitations inherent in the material, they are in a way naturalistic. It is probable that these figures have stood in some relation to the coffins, though the circumstances here afford no evidence thereof. STEIN has found similar ones, though smaller, when excavating in burial-grounds nearer Lou-lan. At the foot of grave L. Q.2 he found a wooden female figure, 70 cm. high without legs, with a flat face and painted with red ochre (Stein 1928, Pl. XV, L.Q.ii.oi ). In grave L.S.6 he discovered a female stone figure, only

1 These two sculptures I brought to the base camp of the expedition at Qum-darya, where I last saw them. Whether they were brought to China with the rest of the collection or not is unknown to me.

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