Innermost Asia : vol.2 / Page 242 (Color Image)

0242	Innermost Asia : vol.2

of a man, that on the right as that of a woman, obviously the wife. Their heads, both grey-haired,
were covered with pieces of plain silk, once white. The bodies were also wrapped in silks, both
white and red, over shrouds of a coarse material, apparently woollen. On removing the outer
silk cover the heads were found swathed in strips of white silk ; these were secured by a crimson
silk band, close on an inch wide, which was drawn over the forehead.¹⁰ Over this band there lay
in a row three small metal discs, apparently gold, Ying. iii. 2. 03–8, which had been sewn to the
head-band by means of two small holes in each. Below the woman's head was found an embroidered
cloth of crescent shape, iii. 2. 02 (Pl. XLV), made of buff canvas and doubled to form a kind
of cushion cover. The embroidery work is executed in chain-stitch and shows highly stylized
floral patterns together with birds and beetles. The mouths did not contain coins either in this
or in any of the other graves.

Sepulchral Above each of the heads was placed a wooden food-tray, iii. 2. 017–18 (Pl. XXVIII), with the
deposits. head and leg-bones of a lamb, the tray near the man's head being circular, the other elliptical.
Alongside the bodies were found the remains of a bronze bowl, iii. 2. 09 (Pl. CX), lined inside with
lacquer over canvas, and of a lacquered bowl with graceful handle, iii. 2. 010–14 (Pl. CX) ; the
well-made wooden cup iii. 2. 015 (Pl. CX) ; a pottery jug of coarse clay, iii. 2. 016 (Pl. CX).
All of these had probably held food-stuffs. Thick white felts had been spread below the bodies.
There was nothing to indicate how the two bodies came to be buried in the same coffin. That
they were those of husband and wife can scarcely be doubted. But did they follow each other in
death about the same time, or was the coffin in which the first of the couple had been laid to rest
kept unburied until it could receive also the second ? The grey hair of both showed that they
were an aged couple, and the provision of a common coffin might have been less strange in such
a case.

Contents of The third grave opened, iii. 3, lay between the two previously described. Here the covering
grave planks of the coffin had decayed, and the contents had suffered more in consequence. The head
Ying. iii. 3.
was that of a bearded man, and the body was covered with white silk laid over a shroud of a coarse
woollen fabric. A piece of silk covered the head, which was swathed with strips of white silk, just
as the heads in iii. 2. A narrow crimson band passed across the forehead, and on it were fastened
three small discs, iii. 3. 03–5, either gold or gilt. To the right of the head stood a tumbler of
transparent greenish-white glass, iii. 3. 06 (Pl. CX), found intact with traces at the bottom of some
fluid which might have been wine or grape-juice. It is ornamented with bands of hollow-ground
spots, and is of some interest as the only complete piece of glass ware found by me in the course of
my explorations. Above the head lay the bones of a lamb deposited without a tray, and the small
lacquered wooden vase iii. 3. 07 (Pl. CX).

Less careful Other small groups of graves could be traced on the edge of the Sai terrace about half-way
burials. between those just described and the Stūpa-crowned plateau. Here water erosion had cut up the
terrace edge into three narrow ridges ; on the summit of each of these there were from two to six
graves, marked by posts in the same fashion as noted at iii. 1–3. In addition to these, a number
of similar graves were to be found along the southern foot of the ridges and on the slopes of the small
gullies dividing them. Debris of Toghrak wood washed down to the level ground at the foot
afforded evidence that occasional flooding from the glacis above had destroyed other graves at
this point. Among the dozen or so of graves on the top of the ridges which were likely to have
suffered less by moisture, about half were found opened. They seemed to have contained only
hollowed-out Toghrak trunks, not regular coffins, a circumstance pointing to less careful burials.
This was confirmed by the contents of a grave, Ying. iii. 4, excavated by us near the end of the

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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