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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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accommodate an officer, one bore a date corresponding to
May 10 in 68 B.C.
But far more important was the big haul of Chinese
records made soon after we started the first experimental
scraping of the refuse-heaps which cropped up from the
gravel-strewn slopes below the ruin. Here within an area only
a few feet square more than three hundred inscribed pieces
were recovered. The contents of a small official archive had
evidently been thrown down here together, and the very
numerous dated pieces showed that these 'waste papers' of
an ancient military clerk's office belonged to the years
65–56 B.C. I cannot here mention more than a few among
those which have a distinct historical and antiquarian value
from the light they throw on the organization of this military
border and the life led along its course.
Several documents found here reproduce or quote Im-
perial edicts concerning the establishment of an agricultural
military colony in the Tun-huang region and the construc-
tion of a 'rampart' or wall to guard the border. Others refer
to the organization of the troops along it, giving the names
of different companies, etc. There are also reports and orders
relating to other posts and sections of the *Limes*. The mention
made of 'indigenous officers' in a number of documents
proves that the enlistment of non-Chinese, *i.e.* barbarian,
soldiers was resorted to here, just as it was on more than one
Roman border line. And curiously enough I found at a
neighbouring signal-post half of a wooden tablet inscribed
in that Early Sogdian language which was spoken about
Samarkand and Bukhara. The piece had evidently served
as a tally. Curious, too, are numerous pieces containing
elaborate Chinese calendars for the years 63, 59, 57 B.C.,
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33
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45
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57
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68
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79
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89
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100
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111
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122
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134
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145
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157
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168
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178
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189
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200
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212
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225
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237
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248
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259
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273
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284
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295
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298
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303
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306
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317
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327
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337
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352
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364
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377
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391
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406
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418
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431
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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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