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

Buddhistic objects in our collection, with the exception of the stupa ornament Pl. 29 : 6 from Lou-lan. Similarly shaped scoops, though probably larger, are known inter alia from the Scythian royal tomb of Solokha in South Russia (about 300 B. C.) Ebert's Reallexikon 12, Pl. 85 a.

Some of the small bronze fragments come from vessels, but only one is from the rim of a basin (K. 13382) Fig. 35 : I I, which can be compared with one of HEDIN'S old finds from the region immediately to the north of the present delta (Hedin 1905, p. 64) .

There are several small perforated discs of lead, which have probably served as net sinkers, Pl. 3o: 19 and 31: 3. They are well-known from earlier collections from Lop-nor. A larger piece is shown on Pl. 29: 17.

Stone objects, etc.

The whetstones are more or less rectangular and have usually a suspension hole at one end; at least such small specimens as Pl. 29 : 16 and 19 and Pl. 31 : I I have been carried at the girdle.

Spindle whorls are quite common, as already stated, and made of stone, potsherds or bitumen, Pl. 29 : 3 and 31: 4. From the graves we know of wooden ones.

A flat ring of white marble, Pl. 29 : Jo, is of the type Pi, the Chinese symbol of heaven. This type existed in China proper as early as in late neolithic times, but this specimen is more likely from the Lou-lan period when Chinese influence was strong in this region. It is strongly worn by sand on one side, and the outer rim has been ground off on about one half of the circumference so that the diam. varies from 84 to 81 mm. The rim of the hole is also worn mostly on the half opposite to the worn portion of the outer rim. The ring must thus have been lying exposed to pretty constant winds for a considerable time.

Another marble object is the cylindrical bead Pl. 29 : I I. Similar beads were found in the Sha-kou-t'un cave (Andersson 1923, Pl. VIII : 13). There is thus a possibility that our bead dates from prehistoric time. The two fragmentary mace-heads Pl. 29 : 9 and 12 have already been treated.

Pottery.

Among the stray finds there are only few potsherds, not that they are uncommon in the field — on the contrary — but as they are often plain and undecorated they have not been collected so eagerly as stone and metal objects.

Most if not all of the Lou-lan pottery was manufactured locally. Both STEIN and HÖRNER have found pottery kilns.

The ware is hard-burnt and of dark-brown, red and greyish colour. The most common shape is the bulky jar. The rim is more or less strongly moulded (cf. Fig.

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