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0084 Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang : vol.1
Archaeological Researches in Sinkiang : vol.1 / Page 84 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000195
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Pl. 9 : 11 comes from the cof fin of a small child. It is a kind of armlet made up of a string and a stone bead, as in 5. A : 4.

The brown felt head-dress for a child, Pl. i 1: 5, also originates from the same coffin.

In the rear part of an arrow-shaft, Pl. 12 : 2 the triangle pattern is more deeply incised than is generally the case with these thin wooden pegs.

On Pl. VI b is seen the upper part of a female mummy, the face of which was marvellously well preserved, though the body was much decayed. It could hardly have been exposed to the open air for many days as it retained some spots of a fair complexion. On the dark-brown flowing hair, parted in the middle, she wore a head-dress of yellow felt, pointed and adorned with three red cords and the split skin of an ermine (Pl. i i : 4). Her brow was high and noble, she had a fine aquiline nose and thin lips, slightly parted and showing a glimpse of the teeth in a quiet, timeless smile. One looked at this expressive and beautiful face with very strange feelings, which were only heightened by the fact that the rest of the body was so badly decayed. She is also seen on Pl. IV b, lying in the centre of the picture.

Round the neck she wore a simple necklace of fine strings, red and brown, adorned with a small tuft of feathers and a diminutive bead of a grey stone. A loin-cloth of the same type as Pl. 1 i : 7, though broader, was made of undyed wool; it was knotted in the front.

It is not impossible that the remains of this lady were torn out of her coffin during ÖRDEK's visit to the place immediately before our visit, though he did not definitely admit it. On the top of the hill there was a disjoined coffin, the wood of which must have been carefully covered until recently as it showed quite fresh surfaces. The mummy might originally have lain in it, which would account for her beautifully preserved features.

Garments.

Starting our discussion of the surface finds with objects belonging to the apparel of the buried, we have firstly the head-dresses. Several of these have been reproduced together in Pl. 1o; most of them are incomplete. Their general shape is that of a rounded or slightly pointed cap or hat. The material is thick felt, seven of them of dark brown colour, one yellowish and one undyed (the two last-mentioned, 5. K : I and 5. A : 1, already described). The most highly decorated ones are entirely covered with an elaborate string ornamentation in red or yellow, Pl. 10 : I, 3, 4, 6; in other specimens there are only two or three cords, as in Pl. 1o: 7 and 11 : 4. The edge has in some instances retained a scallop stitching. The split skin of an ermine has been fastened round most of the head-dresses in such a way that the head of the ermine hangs down in front. The skins on the head-dresses from here

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