National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
262 AMONG THE RUINS OF TURFAN . CH. XVII
interesting remains, such as fresco pieces, fragments of paintings on paper and cloth, stucco relievos illustrating Buddhist art at Turfan; and also pieces of decorated textiles. Small manuscript fragments in the Uigur, Tibetan, Chinese and the modified Syriac script used by the Manichaeans also turned up.
Long-continued occupation of the site renders the exact dating of such detached finds difficult. All the more useful
was the discovery of a large hoard of well-preserved metal
objects, including decorated mirrors, various ornaments, household utensils, etc., as the numerous Chinese coins
found with it permit the date of its deposit under the Sung dynasty to be fixed with approximate accuracy. The domed sepulchral structure in which the hoard was found must have been already in partial ruin when the cache was made at the beginning of the twelfth century.
After rapid surveys of smaller ruined sites in the eastern portion of the Turfan basin, including that of the imposing
pile of the Buddhist fane known as the `Tower of Sirkip'
(Fig. 119), I turned to the ruins in the picturesque gorge above the village of Toyuk. There numerous rock-cut grottoes once
occupied by Buddhist and perhaps other monks also, honeycomb precipitous cliffs of the wildly eroded hill chain rising above the small stream that waters a flourishing little oasis famous for its grapes and raisins. Where the slopes are less steep, narrow terraces have been built, bearing ruins of small Buddhist shrines and monastic quarters (Fig. I i 7) . At the uppermost of these the second German expedition had made important manuscript finds.
Stimulated by these to monkey-like emulation, native searchers for antiques and `treasure' had subsequently
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