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0555 Ancient Khotan : vol.1
Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / Page 555 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000182
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Sec. i]   HANGUYA TATI AND THE SITE OF TAM-ÖGHIL   473

available for not more than Ili months in each year and in limited quantity. Apart from the direct profit yielded by the washing of the soil, they also gain additional ground easily capable of irrigation from the existing canals. At the same time the fertile humus of the culture-stratum is used by the villagers as a kind of manure to improve gravelly fields lying further north b.

It is probable that these subsidiary profits are here a special inducement for the work ; for the amount of leaf-gold washed out of the paying seam was declared to be less than at Yötkan, and the secondary products of antiques and occasional small finds of value are also, judging from general report, proportionately far rarer. However this may be, I succeeded, in spite of diligent inquiries both at the site and previously at Yurung-kash, in obtaining only a few specimens of antiques. The single coin obtained from a Tam-öghil villager was a small Chinese copper piece without legend, while among the other four purchased at Yurung-kâsh two are copper coins of the Yüan-fêng period (1078-85 A. D.). The latter would prove that this site, like Yötkan, was occupied for at least a century after the Muhammadan conquest. The only other antiques secured are two small terra-cotta grotesques, T. oo1. a, b, representing monkeys, and corresponding in type and execution exactly to the similar figurines from Yötkan. Of the character of the settlement which once occupied the site marked by this layer of ancient rubbish accumulations, and of its extent southwards, nothing definite can be asserted.

Leaf-gold and antiques washed from culture-strata.

OBJECTS FOUND AT, OR SAID TO COME FROM, HANGUYA TATI.

H. i. Small bronze finger ring, broken, found near Stupa ruin of Hanguya. Diam. about i". See Pl. LI.

H ooi. Small objects in metal, glass, &c., purchased from treasure-seeker, Hanguya Tati :-

  1. Bronze needle or style drilled at thick end, a" xi" (nearly). See Pl. LI.

  2. Square bronze jewel, containing square tablet of yellow agate. On reverse are two small holes probably for attachment of loop of some kind. See Pl. LI.

  3. Cast bronze stud. Six-lobed flower, with raised centre. A point is attached to the back, evidently to serve as a rivet or nail. Diam. ", length I". See Pl. LI.

  4. Soapstone ring. Diam. t". See Pl. LII.

  5. Rich opaque blue glass bead, Amalaka-shaped,x I'. See Pl. LI.

  6. Yellow glass pipe-like bead. Length g", thickness r. OBJECTS FROM

T. ow. a. Grotesque terra-cotta monkey. Owl-like type. Hairless excepting long pigtail. Hands together at breast. Feet together and thrown well back, the whole body having strong forward curve. Umbilicus (?) very pronounced. Height ii".

  1. Fragment of cut octagonal pebble bead.

  2. Massive bronze seal ring ; countersunk device : a deer running to R. regardant. Trees indicated to R. and at back. Broken. Moulded surface " x Tg", elliptical. See Pl. XLIX.

  3. Bronze seal ring ; broken. Device on elliptical surface, a few crudely incised lines. See PI. XLIX.

  4.  Circular seal, in nicolo, bearing, in intaglio, male head to R., wearing moustache and hair rolled. Said to have been found at Hanguya Tati. Diam. a". See Pl. XLIX.

  5.  Fragment of bronze relief. A warrior wearing tunic of mail ; arms bare to elbows ; in R. hand a spear, in L. what appears to be a small bag, held at the waist (cf. the mail-clad figure of D. a shown in PI. II). Head and legs missing. zj;" x xA" x". Said to have been found at Hanguya Tati. See Pl. LI.

Objects from Hanguya Tati.

TA11I-ÖGHIL.

T. ooz. b. Terra-cotta grotesque monkey's head, naturalistic type. On top of head a kind of inverted

saucer-like cap.   ".

Objects from

Tam-Öghil.

This use of the culture-stratum finds its exact parallel in the operations by which, at the present day, old mounds and sites, such as Akra, all along the Indian N. W. Frontier

STEIN

are steadily being dug down for the sake of the valuable manuring soil they furnish ; see my Archaeological Survey Report of the N. W. Fronlier Province, z 905, pp. 7 sq., 56.

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