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| 0139 |
On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
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as briefly suggested in a previous chapter, have since
rendered their re-occupation impossible.
Quite apart from the finds which my excavations yielded,
there were also other interesting antiquarian observations
to be gathered bearing on the general aspects and conditions
of life. Thus I traced the remains of ancient orchards and
avenues, lines of irrigation channels, debris-covered patches
of ground marking the position of humble dwellings, etc.,
amidst the low dunes. But with such silent witnesses of the
past we shall become still better acquainted at the fascinat-
ing old site to which the next chapter will take us.
Only one general observation may find room here. Every-
thing at the site pointed to its abandonment having been a
gradual one, and in no way connected with any sudden
physical catastrophe such as popular legends current about
the so-called 'sand-buried cities' of the Taklamakan have
induced some European travellers to assume. The Sodom
and Gomorrha stories related all over the Tarim basin
about 'old towns' suddenly overwhelmed by sand dunes
are more ancient than the ruins of Dandan-oilik. Hsüan-
tsang had already heard them more or less in the same form
in which they are now current. These legends are interesting
as folk-lore, but in the face of plain archaeological evidence
to the contrary, such as the examination of Dandan-oilik and
every other ancient site in this region has supplied, scientific
enquiry need have no concern with them.
Detailed surveys, topographical as well as antiquarian,
on successive expeditions have convinced me that the lands
of Dandan-oilik were irrigated from an extension of the
canals which for at least five centuries later brought the
water of the streams of Chira, Domoko and Gulakhma to
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