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

The main bulk of the Charchan
pottery, a coarse, thick-walled and
brick-red earthenware, must be
post-Han, and probably originates
from the time of the later occupa-
tions, i. e. from the T'ang, Sung,
and Yüan dynasties. A minor part
of the sherds shows a dark grey,
well-burnt ware, Pl. 36: 7. Pl.
36: 5 is brownish. These are not
so thick-walled though they have belonged to large vessels.
As is the case at Vash-shahri, a few potsherds show incised characters, probably
Tibetan, Pl. 37: 3 (and possibly also Pl. 37: 1), which gives a hint as to their date.
The Tibetan occupation of Eastern Turkistan lasted from 670 to 692, and from the
middle of the eighth century for one hundred years. I am indebted to Professor
Helmer Smith, Upsala, for a confirmation of the nature of the incised characters.
Most of the handles are loop-shaped, but there are also lugs. A single case of a
horizontally applied handle is shown on Pl. 37: 4.
Spindle whorls were made of potsherds, but Pl. 37: 9 shows a fragmentary whorl
which was originally made for this purpose. It is also of earthenware and has some
impressed dots.
The bowls Pl. 35: 5—7 have the same shape as Fig. 47. Two of these I know
myself as coming from graves inside the Kohna-shahr, and I am pretty sure that
all the complete vessels have a similar origin. We must also reckon with the pos-
sibility that most of the small finds such as beads and other ornaments or metal
fittings have come from destroyed graves. Many potsherds, on the other hand, must
be regarded as refuse from dwellings.

Small objects.

Among the five copper coins obtained, one is a "Goose-eye", i. e. one of those
much debased coins so common during the final period of the Lou-lan time. A K'ai-
yüan coin is a T'ang issue, and two Sung coins bear the periods corresponding to
1017—22 and 1023—32. The fifth coin, Pl. 33: 9, has exactly the same shape as
the ordinary Chinese ones of the T'ang and later dynasties; the four characters,
however, are non-Chinese and illegible. It is apparently an imitation of a Chinese
coin.
There are three bronze buckles all without tongues. Pl. 33: 3 somewhat recalls a
buckle of T'ang? type from the Togujai site (Stein 1907, Pl. LI, M. 001. g), and
Pl. 33: 2 has a parallel from the Lou-lan station (Stein 1921, Pl. XXXVI, L. A.

210