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0198 On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1
On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 / Page 198 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000214
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The trial excavation started along the interior face of the
east wall soon confirmed this, but at the same time revealed
that a rich mine was here awaiting antiquarian search. In
inverse proportion to the small size and roughness of the
half-underground hovels brought to light was the amount of
the rubbish which seemed to fill them to the roof. From
the very start of the digging, pieces of paper and wood
inscribed in Tibetan cropped up in numbers. The layers
of refuse of all kinds left behind by all the occupants con-
tinued to yield such records, complete or fragmentary,
right down to the bottom. The first day's work brought the
total up to two hundred. Similarly the remains of discarded
implements of all sorts, fragments of ragged clothing, arms,
etc., were abundant. Everything pointed to the conclusion
that these deep deposits of rubbish, rich in archaeological
plums—and remarkable, too, for their dirt—had accumu-
lated during a protracted period of Tibetan occupation.
Historical evidence from the Chinese Annals of the T'ang
dynasty justified my assigning this occupation to the eighth
or ninth century of our era.

On the following morning I proceeded on a reconnais-
sance to a ruin about a mile and a half away to the north-
east, which Tokhta Akhun had spoken of as showing remains
of sculptures. The ruin proved to be that of a Buddhist
temple (Fig. 51). Above the debris encumbering the sides
of the base that alone survived, there still showed remains
of fine stucco relievos arranged for architectural decoration.
On clearing a small portion of the base on the east side I
lighted upon fragments of stucco sculptures of large size.
Then I felt quite assured that the temple dated from a
period far more ancient than that of the Tibetan fort. A