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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books
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On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
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OCR Text
my hopes of further archaeological finds had to be based
mainly on any rubbish remains. These hopes were soon
confirmed in a very gratifying way.
In the course of a reconnaissance to the north I had
sighted about half a dozen more groups of ruined structures
scattered over an area of about three and a half miles from
south to north and more than two miles across. In one ruin,
greatly decayed and in no way attracting special attention,
I had come upon a number of bleached tablets lying ex-
posed, and a little digging had within half an hour brought
to light more than two dozen inscribed pieces. Among them
were two novelties: a narrow slip of wood with Chinese
characters and a small fragment of leather with a line of
Kharoshthi recording a date.
These finds were indeed promising. Yet I little antici-
pated how rich a mine of ancient relics I had struck within
the half-broken walls of this room which once formed the
western end of a modest dwelling-place (Fig. 36). When
systematic excavation had begun it revealed layer upon
layer of wooden tablets mixed up with refuse of all sorts.
It soon proved to be an ancient rubbish-heap formed by
the accumulations of many years and containing also what,
by an anachronism, may fitly be called the 'waste-paper'
deposits of that early time.
From that consolidated mass of refuse rising fully four feet
above the original level I recovered in the end more than
two hundred documents on wood. They were all embedded
among solid layers of broken pottery, straw, rags of felt and
various woven fabrics, pieces of leather, and other less
savoury refuse. It was not an easy task with fingers half-
benumbed by cold, and in the dust which a fresh north-
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295
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306
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327
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337
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442
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453
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466
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477
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491
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502
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513
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525
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537
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550
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561
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571
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578
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