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0298	Innermost Asia : vol.1
極奥アジア : vol.1

Dead reeds of the ' Yārdangs '—here as everywhere else in the Lou-lan area, WSW. to ENE.—had allowed
on top of us on this day to cover a total marching distance of about eighteen miles. Camp xciii was pitched
Yārdangs. in the evening close to a well-marked line of tamarisk-cones, recalling those which are often found
near river-courses in the Tārim basin. Dead reed-beds of the kind above mentioned were found
occupying the tops of ' Yārdang ' trenches near the camp. Their height above uniformly eroded
trough-like ground varied as much as eight feet. This clearly showed that water, such as alone
could account for such reed growth, had returned here in comparatively recent times to ground
where wind-erosion had previously been long at work, and that the level reached by the water
during its temporary return had varied.

Ancient Another interesting fact was that on resuming our march on the morning of February 10th
river branch we came, within less than a mile, to rows of dead Toghraks along a shallow bed winding with an
marked by approximate bearing from north-west to south-east. As appears from the map, this direction
dead
Toghraks. exactly coincides with that in which our survey of 1906 shows a strip of dead trees and reed-beds
about four miles to the north of Camp 122.⁶ It is significant that if we continue the same line
farther to the north-west it takes us to the ' belt of Toghraks and tamarisks ' that my plane-table
record of 1906 shows about four miles to the south-west of Camp 126 a on the route from the Lou-lan
site L.B. to the Tārim.⁷ Here, too, as in the previous instances noted along our survey from L.K.
and L.M. onwards, an ancient branch of the Kuruk-daryā is still clearly traceable on the map.

Worked The ground that we traversed for a distance of about six miles beyond this river-bed was a
stones and bare flat of clay, comparatively little furrowed by wind-erosion and scattered over with scanty
neolithic
pottery frs. dead tamarisk-cones and low dunes. Remains of the stone age, such as worked stones and coarse
neolithic pottery, here made their appearance again, and were found with much frequency from
about the fourth mile right through to the vicinity of L.A. As appears from the Descriptive List
below, by far the most numerous among the worked stones were the narrow sharp-edged flakes,
probably used as knife-blades, which I have already frequently referred to among the finds from
the eroded area south of the Lou-lan sites.⁸ Besides miscellaneous worked stones of indeterminate
character, mention may be made of the scraper, C. xciii. 022 ; the well-made stone arrow-heads,
C. xciii. 016–17, 099 (Pl. XXII) ; and the jade celts, C. xciii. 0141–2, 0146 (Pl. XXII).

Distribu- For reasons already indicated, it is impossible to draw any definite conclusion as to the
tion of chronology of prehistoric occupation from stone age relics found in the Lop Desert on wind-
stone age
relics. eroded soil.⁹ But it should be noted that such remains, whether of stone or coarse pottery, practically
ceased to be found on the route we followed in 1914 from a short distance beyond L.M. until we
reached the vicinity of Camp 122, and that over a corresponding direct distance of close on ten
miles on the route we followed in 1906 finds of the same kind were either totally absent or very
rare.¹⁰ It appears to me probable that for some reason no longer clear this belt was but little
frequented during prehistoric times and during the Han period which succeeded them, except
along the route leading from the station L.A. to L.K. and thus on to the old Lou capital at Mirān.
The first find of a datable relic and one therefore of distinct antiquarian interest occurred at a

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