Innermost Asia : vol.1 / Page 516 (Color Image)

0516	Innermost Asia : vol.1

refuse, covered the ground to a distance of about 10 feet from the foot of the tower. By clearing
this we recovered seven Chinese records on wood ; the fragment of a large tamarisk stick, T. XLIV.
a. 03 (Pl. XLVI), bearing Chinese characters at one end and charred at the other ; also a number
of small wooden objects, a horse-hair strainer and fragments of coarse fabrics described in the
List below. Quite close to the south-west foot of the tower were found the fragment of a Wu-chu
coin and a bronze arrow-head of Han type, such as is common along the Limes. The plentiful
potsherds in the vicinity were also of the usual Han type, dark grey and mat or string-marked.
There could be no doubt that the period of occupation was approximately contemporary with that
of the Limes elsewhere. [With this conclusion M. Maspero's notes on the inscribed Chinese slips
agree. T. XLIV. a. 018 forms part of a private letter with touching references to the condition of
the exiled writer. In another letter the officer commanding a t'ing 亭² of which the name appears
to be incomplete complains of his inadequate pay, &c. In 019 the receipt and dispatch of certain
letters are recorded.]

Construc- Less than three miles to the south-east was found the tower T. XLIV. b, seen in Fig. 222, rising
tion of
tower in very fair preservation to a height of 21 feet. Its construction closely agreed with that of T. XLIV. a,
T. XLIV. b. but its base, correctly orientated, measured 27 feet square. Only at the western corner had a small
breach been made, and practically no effect of wind-erosion was noticeable at the foot. A layer
of refuse, quite 6 feet high, adjoined on the north-eastern side, and this had protected a hurdle
revetment, made of tamarisk branches and secured by twisted reed strings, of which Pl. 16 shows
an elevation. No doubt, a similar revetment had once protected all sides of the tower, which
accounted for its good preservation.

Finds at The top of the tower was covered with a good deal of straw and refuse. Amidst this, two
T. XLIV. b. inscribed Chinese tablets were picked up practically on the surface and yet with their writing intact.
Here, too, was found the pottery jar T. XLIV. b. 015 (Pl. XXV) with a string still tied round its neck
and a hole at the bottom closed by two tiny wooden boards, stuck close together. From the refuse
below were recovered nearly two dozen Chinese records in the form of wooden slips, as well as an
unfinished and uninscribed wooden tablet, T. XLIV. b. 034. This shows at one end a raised seal
socket with five string-grooves, an arrangement otherwise unusual but found also in Chinese
wooden tablets from the ancient castrum L.E. to the north-east of the Lou-lan site.²ᵃ Among the
numerous small objects in wood, described in the List, may be mentioned square prisms,
T. XLIV. b. 01, 04–6 (Pl. XLVII), which may have served as 'chessmen', and T. XLIV. b. 037, which
looks like a counter for some game. The small wooden spatulas, 02, 011, 035–6, like those found
at stations in sections of the Limes to the west, were perhaps used as 'eating-sticks' for rice, &c.

[Among the documents noted by M. Maspero T. XLIII. 024, 026 are of interest as showing dates
which correspond to the years A.D. 62 and 112, respectively. The former mentions the commandant
of the 'signal post' (or company ?) Chên-chung 植中, referred to also in T. XLIII. a. 013. In
T. XLIV. b. 2 the commandant of the same post is referred to by name and official orders for certain
officers mentioned as received from Nan-ho 南合. The name of the locality of Wan-nien 萬年,
mentioned also in T. XLIII. a. 018, is of interest as it occurs in Chavannes, Doc., No. 415 (T. XVIII. i.
21), as that of a canton in the sub-prefecture of Lung-lo west of Tun-huang.³ The reference
made to a locality so distant is curious, and so is also that to Yü-mên in T. XLIV. b. 3. It occurs in
connexion with an order sent to the commandant of a t'ing for a levy of men. The draft of a letter,
T. XLIV. b. 017, contains significant complaints of an exile serving on this inhospitable border.]

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

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

Citation Information

OCR Text

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