国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

The silk bag Pl. 16:7, found near the shears, is of Chinese make, as are all the
textiles in this grave. The colours are now pale, on a brown ground the elegant floral
design is executed in blue and light green(?). The outlines are very delicate, and
the pattern covers the whole surface. A line of a Chinese character runs through
the flower scrolls along the length of the bag; it is hard to discern with certainty
but it is probably meant to be a *nien* (year) cf. Stein's L. C. II. 03.

*Grave 6 B.*

Only 3 m. to the north of Grave 6 A, and parallel to it, lies Grave 6 B. The
coffin was dismembered but could easily be rebuilt, Pl. XII b. The construction of
this type is the most elaborate among those used in the Lop-nor region. As seen
from the drawing Fig. 26 it is built of
four square corner posts in which the
broad boards forming the sides and the
ends are inserted with tenons, which
have been kept steady by two dowels
through each one. The board forming
the bottom rests on a special cross-
bar between the corner posts. The
ideal reconstruction Fig. 27 is to show
how the different members were joined.
The lid is made of two long boards
joined to each other with small dowels. No marks could be seen show-
ing, how the lid was fixed to the coffin. The big heap of brushwood on the right
side in Pl. XII b was no doubt placed on top of the lid, and the whole thing was
probably tied to the coffin with ropes.
The corner posts form real legs reaching 19 cm. below the bottom, thus giving the
coffin the appearance of a bedstead. For comparison with the size of the identical,
though less well-preserved, coffin from Burial place 7 (p. 104) I give the measure-
ments here. Length of side boards 173 cm., size of end boards 44×34 cm., size of
corner posts 55×11×9 cm.
On Burial place 4 I saw some small fragments of this type of coffin, and Stein
found it in at least one of this cemeteries (L. H. Stein 1928, Fig. 169).
The coffin was lined with white felt, partly sticking to the boards. Of the skele-
ton only fragments remained, beside parts of the dress of the corpse: fragments of
a silk coat and trousers, and a coat of cotton fabric. The latter may possibly have
been the lining of the silk coat. The piece of a coarse mantle woven in four-leafed
twill of hair, and having broad browns stripes, Pl. 27:11, was probably some kind of
matting or blanket. Both technique and material are different from those of the
mantles from Cemetery 5.

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