Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / 149 ページ（白黒高解像度画像）

0149	Ancient Khotan : vol.1
古代コータン : vol.1

comes a circular story or drum of the same height, with a diameter of 35 feet. Above this
again rises the dome, which now reaches a height of 14½ feet. As the diameter of the dome
is 29 feet, this height if original would make its shape exactly hemispherical; but since the
top is much broken this must remain doubtful.

The total extant height from the present ground-level is 29½ feet, which, in relation to the
greatest dimension of the base, 47 feet square, gives a much smaller proportion between vertical
and horizontal measurements than observed in the case of the Mauri-Tim Stūpa (about 38 feet
to 40 feet). It must, however, be borne in mind that, not having the time or needful labour
for trial excavations around the Stūpa, I was unable to ascertain definitely whether the original
level of the surrounding ground was not, perhaps, considerably lower than the present level.
If accretion of silt had been proceeding over the adjoining ground, as has undoubtedly happened
in the case of the Kurghān-Tim Stūpa¹, we might well suppose another story of the square
base to lie hidden beneath the surface.

On the whole, however, I am not inclined to favour such an assumption. For a distance Condition of
of 200 to 300 yards around the Stūpa and eastwards up to the edge about 70 yards distant of the adjoining
above mentioned deep 'Yār' or ravine, the ground is strewn with potsherds which seemed old, ground.
and with fragments of stones. It seems natural to connect this débris with ancient habitations
of less solid construction, which existed around the Stūpa when it was still an object of worship.
Judging from the observations referred to in discussing Kurghān-Tim, and to be detailed
hereafter in connexion with the site of Yōtkan², only long-continued irrigation could have led
to heavy deposit of silt and consequent rise of the ground-level. In such a case we should
expect the débris to have long ago been buried out of sight under layers of fertile soil.

But the assumption of the ground-level having remained practically unchanged since the
latest date we can assign to the Stūpa, i.e. the period immediately preceding the introduction
of Islām at the end of the tenth century, is not without its problems. With such striking
evidence as the adjacent site of the 'Kakshal Tati' furnishes of the powerful erosive action of
the winds in this region, it seems difficult to understand how the ground adjoining the Stūpa,
if unprotected by cultivation, could have escaped being considerably lowered in the course of
nine centuries. We shall see hereafter, when discussing the remains of Endere, that since that
site was abandoned early in the eighth century wind erosion has proceeded there so effectively
as to lower the unprotected ground around the local Stūpa some ten feet below the original
level, as marked by the base of the extant ruin³. Climatic conditions, no doubt, affecting the
frequency, direction, and strength of the desert winds, may differ materially now, and may
possibly have differed still more during past periods, at such widely distant portions of the
Taklamakān. Yet it must be noted, in regard to the destructive effect of erosion upon the
outer surface of structures of sun-dried bricks, that the Stūpa of Endere has suffered scarcely
more than the one of Tōpa-Tim⁴.

It will require a far more systematic study of all local conditions than was possible in the Wind-
course of hurried journeys, and probably also accurate climatic observations extending over erosion and
considerable periods, before such a semi-geological, semi-archaeological question can be safely protection
answered. In the meantime I may suggest that the possibility of the ground near Tōpa-Tim by drift-
having been protected against erosion by dunes, which kept it covered for centuries but sand.

国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト 『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ