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0120	Innermost Asia : vol.2
極奥アジア : vol.2

THE ANCIENT CEMETERIES OF ASTĀNA

Section I.—SEVENTH-CENTURY TOMBS IN GROUP i

Position of
ancient
burial-
grounds.

On January 18th I moved my camp from Murtuk back to our base at Kara-khōja, leaving
Naik Shamsuddīn behind to complete the work connected with the removal of frescoes. On the
following morning we started exploration at the cemeteries of ancient Kao-ch'ang. I had purposely
left this work for the latter part of my stay in the Turfān district, as there was reason to think that
this kind of archaeological exploration, when carried out in the close vicinity of a populous oasis
containing many Chinese, might very conveniently be utilized at Urumchi as a pretext for reviving
obstructive tactics against my operations in general. Earlier reconnaissances had shown me that the
tombs around Kosh-gumbaz already noticed, and most of those to be found in small groups on the
gravel glacis about a mile to the north-east of the walled enclosure known as 'Bedaulat's town'
(Fig. 321), had been recently opened and searched. But apart from these there was a large area covered
with ancient cemeteries on the Sai north of the village of Astāna and about two and a half miles
from the north-western corner of Idikut-shahri. Here, too, many of the tombs had during the last
five years or so been excavated and searched for antiques, both by Mr. Tachibana and local
purveyors of antiques, among whom Muḥammad 'Jīsa', the victim of Aḥmad Mullah's émeute,
was said to have been the most active. But the very persistence of these operations and the great
extent of the burial-grounds seemed to justify the hope that opportunity might still be found here
for fruitful work on systematic lines.

Distribu-
tion of
Astāna
cemeteries.

As appears from the sketch-plan (Pl. 31), this area stretches for nearly a mile and a half from
east to west with a maximum width of about three-quarters of a mile. It lies almost entirely to
the north of the canal that carries water from the Kara-khōja stream to the westernmost portion
of Astāna cultivation, and passes within 300–400 yards of the village quarters clustering round the
conspicuous ruined pile of Taizan. The easternmost extension of this area approaches within
three-quarters of a mile of the northern extremity of Kara-khōja. To the west a shallow overflow
bed, coming from Sengim-aghiz and bordered by a belt of sandy ground covered with thin scrub,
forms the limit beyond which only a few scattered grave-mounds are traceable. The distribution
of burial-places over this large expanse is, as the plan shows, very irregular. The rectangular
enclosures, each containing a series of tombs more or less aligned, lie closest together in the south-
eastern portion. Farther to the north the little mounds marking the position of individual tombs,
whether detached or in small groups, are widely scattered without any discernible order.

Enclosures
formed by
gravel
mounds.

A first survey of this area sufficed to show me that the surface indications presented by these
cemeteries closely resembled those I had observed in the spring of 1907 at the burial-grounds near
the south-western edge of the Tun-huang oasis and on the gravel Sai that I crossed before reaching
Nan-hu.¹ Here, too, there were rectangular court-like enclosures marked by low gravel mounds,
rising only a few feet above the flat ground. These enclosures invariably showed an entrance on

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