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

kiang in historical times has never been the seat either of really strong states of
sedentary culture or of great nomad hordes. Its main importance has instead been
its position as a transit region through which migrations have swept, where trade
has flourished and where the spread of some of the great religions has manifested
itself.

On the other hand only a trifling part of this large province has been reconnoitred.
Only a couple of the important oases, where settled life has probably existed
since the introduction of agriculture, has been surveyed. Teilhard's discoveries at
Aqsu would seem to indicate the existence of apparently neolithic remains outside
the area of present cultivation. We therefore await with utmost interest the results
obtained by the next archaeological expedition with prehistory on its programme
which goes to this far-away part of the world, so difficult to approach. In this
connection the description of the localities found by me may be of some guidance.

In a future publication on the archaeological material from western Kansu and
Inner Mongolia I hope to deal again, and more extensively, with the question of
painted chalcolithic pottery.

3. SITES WITHOUT PAINTED POTTERY.

Besides the three places which yielded some painted pottery fragments there are
other prehistoric sites characterized by the worked flints. In those cases where these
flint artifacts occur together with potsherds the potsherds are unpainted.

Firstly I will mention a place at Ch'ai-o-p'u in T'ien-shan, secondly a dwelling
site at Singer in Quruq-tagh, thirdly the Lop-nor finds, and lastly a place in Astin-
tagh in the Charchan region.

A. CH'AI-O-P'U.

Along the main road from Turfan to Urumchi there is a small village to the
west of Davan-ch'eng called Ch'ai-o-p'u. It is situated in the middle of the inter-
montane plain bordered on the north by the mighty snow-peaks of Bogdo-ola. One
or two kilometres to the east of the village, and close to the north of the road, a few
worked flints were picked up from the ground. There are five small cores, three
diminutive flakes and a small scraper. One of the cores has an edge shaped as a
scraper.

These flints, insignificant as they may appear, could as well have been found in
the Gobi desert, where this kind of small, neatly worked flints is very common.

B. SINGER.

Singer is at present the easternmost permanent settlement in Quruq-tagh. It is
occupied by a couple of Turkish families. On April 13th 1928 I discovered pre-

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