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| 0457 |
Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1 |
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discovered to be fully and precisely dated. The initial characters,
as since verified also by my friend Professor Chavannes, plainly
and unmistakably indicate the fifth year of the Tai-shih period
of the Emperor Wu-ti, corresponding to 269 A.D.
Thus an exact date has at last been found which fixes the period
when this remarkable collection of documents accumulated. A
careful comparison of the years recorded in the Kharoshthi tablets
with the relative depths of the layers of rubbish in which they were
found, may yet enable us to determine a number of important
chronological details. A discussion of these would be out of place
here, but I may call attention to a point of more general historical
interest. We know from the Chinese Annals that the sovereignty
of the Imperial Government over Eastern Turkestan, which during
the Later Han Dynasty (24–220 A.D.) had vigorously asserted
itself, was rudely shaken and for long periods practically effaced
under the far less powerful dynasties which followed until the
advent of the Tangs (A.D. 618). Of Wu-ti, however, the first
Emperor of the Western Tsin Dynasty (A.D. 265–290) it is
distinctly recorded that he succeeded in re-establishing Chinese
authority in the westernmost provinces during his reign. The
discoveries just described fully confirm this, as they show that
Chinese posts then existed at this ancient settlement and probably
also in other parts of Khotan territory. It is difficult to believe
that the buildings of the ruined site continued to be inhabited for
many years after Wu-ti's time. We are thus tempted to connect
its abandonment with the great political and economic changes
which undoubtedly accompanied the withdrawal of Chinese
authority from these parts.
But, whatever the historical events may have been, there was
ample evidence in this refuse-heap for the closeness of commercial
relations with China. The pieces of remarkably well-finished
lacquered ware and the bits of delicately woven silk fabrics, which
lay embedded here with other litter, could only have come from the
far eastern parts of the Empire. Whether the fragments of cut
green and yellow glass, showing great transparency, and very
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