Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / 527 ページ（白黒高解像度画像）

0527	Ancient Khotan : vol.1
古代コータン : vol.1

heavy timber roofing, which once probably supported a second story, and was still partially
preserved, added an element of risk for the labourers, as the rotten posts beneath could not
be trusted to support it, and materials for propping it up could not be improvised. In spite
of these difficulties my labourers managed, after two days' arduous work, to clear the three
rooms on the north down to the original floor. No finds of any kind rewarded this effort.
A small square structure close by, to the north-east, was roofless, but had retained parts of its
plastered walls ; the construction resembled that observed in the Dandân-Uiliq ruins, reed matting
and round sticks at regular intervals being used as a backing for the plaster.

To the north-east of K. i. the dunes had left a portion of the original ground-level bare, Rampart
except for the timber débris of some fallen structure (see Fig. 52, on the left). By careful and struc-
levelling from this point I ascertained that the floor of the rooms occupying the top of the tures on it.
rampart lay 17 ft. above the ground-level in the interior of the quadrangle. The exposed
position thus occupied fully explains the complete decay of these rooms. The rampart below
them was proved, by a cutting which I had made in an eroded portion of it near the north-
east corner, to have had a thickness of about 30 ft. at its foot. On its top a continuous
layer of Toghrak and tamarisk branches about 1 ft. thick had served as a general foundation
for the floor beams.

Amidst the sand and timber débris covering the top of the rampart and the outside Finds of
slopes fragments of coarse pottery, small broken pieces of metal objects, such as rivets and small
buckles, and of glass ; also shreds of felt and coarse cotton fabrics, could be picked up. Among antiques.
these scanty finds, described under K. 001, 002, two arrow-heads (K. 001. b, K. 002. n), a bronze
buckle (K. 002. a), a portion of the lip or foot of a glass vessel (K. 002. j), all shown in Plate LI,
may be specially mentioned. An excellently-preserved small comb of sandal-wood, parabolic in
shape, and of a pattern exactly the same as still commonly used throughout Northern India
(K. 002. o), may have been an importation from that country. It is important to note that of Coins found
the five Chinese copper coins found among or near the débris of the rampart, all bearing marks near ruins.
of long circulation, two are Wu-chu pieces, while the rest show no legend. I may conveniently
mention here that, of the other nine coins picked up on eroded ground at some distance to
the east and south of the ruin, one belongs to a Wu-chu issue, the rest bearing no legend (see
Pl. LXXXIX, 15) or being too defaced for identification (see ibid., 6). In view of the
chronological conclusion suggested by these coins, the few tiny pieces of flimsy paper without
writing which I found in the débris of the quadrangle enclosure also possess, as we shall see,
some antiquarian interest.

The only relatively well-preserved portion of this ruin was the large gateway (K. ii.), Gateway of
21 ft. square, which was found to lead through the rampart on the eastern face of the enclosure. quadrangle.
Fig. 53 shows it as it appeared, after clearing, seen from the east. The sand was here less high,
and had left, even before excavation, some space free below the perfectly intact roof. The
latter reached to within a foot of the top level of the rampart, and it was, no doubt, owing to
the protection which the latter offered on either side that the timber of the walls and the
massive posts supporting the roof had been preserved so well. Besides a central passage, 10 ft.
broad, closed on the outside by a massive wooden door of two leaves, there were two side
passages, 5 ft. broad. I noticed a somewhat similar arrangement in the gates of all modern
Ya-méns I visited. The folds of the door were 3 in. thick, and strengthened by massive
cross-bars.

The walls dividing these passages consisted of a timber framework, massively but roughly Construc-
constructed of Toghrak. The rows of sticks set vertically in it showed that a covering of tion of
walls.

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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
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