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| 0211 |
On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
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in these wall paintings than in any work of ancient pic-
torial art I had seen so far, whether north or south of the
K'un-lun. Much in the vivacious look of the large fully
opened eyes, in the expression of the small dimpled lips,
etc., brought back to my mind the fine portrait heads of
Greek girls and youths to be seen on painted panels from
mummies of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods found in
Egypt.
I was still wondering how to account for the distinctly
classical style in the representation of these winged angels
and their apparent loan from Christian iconography when
the discovery in the passage of remnants of coloured silk
streamers supplied definite evidence for the dating. They
were obviously votive offerings, and the writing of the
Kharoshthi inscriptions found on them resembled exactly
that on the wooden and leather documents from the Niya
site. The gift of the inscribed streamers, with the writing
still remarkably fresh and black, could not have preceded
the abandonment of the shrine by any great length of time.
Hence it followed that Miran, like the site of Niya, must
have been abandoned about or soon after the close of the
third century A.D.
I cannot describe here other minor finds supporting this
conclusion, but must refer briefly to remarkable fragments
of frescoed plaster which were found leaning in closely
packed layers against a portion of the wall still standing in the
south-east corner of the passage. They had once decorated
the higher wall faces and, sliding down on the debris already
accumulated below, had escaped destruction, soon to be
covered up and protected by sand. It was a very ticklish
task safely to lift and recover these terribly brittle panes of
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561
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571
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578
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