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0313 Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1
Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1 / Page 313 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000234
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buildings were richly overlaid with leaf-gold. Much of this must
have fallen off and mingled with the dust when these structures
crumbled away, not to be recovered until the soil could be washed
by the method now followed.
The stratum from which this gold is obtained consists of
decomposed rubbish
and humus, in which
are embedded frag-
ments of ancient
pottery, plain or orna-
mented, bones of
animals, pieces of
much decayed wood,
and ashes, all indica-
tions that we have
here the débris that
accumulates on a site
occupied by buildings
for centuries. The
copper coins, which are
found plentifully, range
from the bilingual
pieces of the indigenous
rulers, showing Chinese
characters as well as
early Indian legends
in Kharoshthi, struck
about the commence-
ment of our era, to
the square-holed issues
of the Tang dynasty
(618–907 A.D.). The stratum which represents the deposits
of these and possibly also of earlier centuries, shows a uniform
brownish colour, but varies in thickness. On the south and west it
is on the average from 5 to 8 feet deep. But on the north of