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

But in the absence of any direct date record, special attention may be called to such incidental state-
ments as those of services held for the benefit of a Chinese army engaged on a difficult expedition ;
of fruits, etc., purchased for 'secretaries of the escort', attached to military headquarters, or of
presents sent for the funeral of a high Chinese commander.¹⁵ All such references prove clearly that
these monastic accounts belong to a period when China still exercised effective military control
in these regions, and hence are not likely to date much later than the first half of the eighth century.

This brings us finally to the question of the character and history of the desert post to the pro- Early
longed occupation of which we owe those extensive deposits of refuse and their varied documentary watch-
contents. It is obvious that the solitary Mazār-tāgh hill, by its height and commanding position, station
offers exceptional advantages for a watch-station to guard the route by the river and to control guarding
traffic passing along it, and that these advantages must have been appreciated from an early period. route.
They were bound to suggest the site as a natural frontier station for Khotan on the only practicable
route leading northward. Under favourable atmospheric conditions, fire and smoke signals, lit on the
top of the isolated ridge rising relatively high above the flat desert plain, would be visible over very
great distances. It may hence be safely assumed that the position was utilized in this way, at least
temporarily, long before the ruined fort was built. The outlying watch-tower on the hill crest, with
its very solid construction of distinctly ancient appearance, may well date back to such an earlier
occupation.

On the other hand, it is certain that the last occupants of the fort were Tibetans, and that the Tibetan oc-
masses of rubbish found below it were deposited during the prolonged stay of a Tibetan garrison. cupation of
All this points to the conclusion that the Mazār-tāgh station had assumed increased importance Mazār-tāgh
during the troubled times of the latter half of the eighth century, when the Tibetans first overran and Mirān.
the oases in the south and west of the Tarim Basin and finally completed their conquest by
taking Pei-t'ing (A. D. 790) and Kuchā. We have seen above that the fort of Mirān, placed in an
exactly corresponding position to command an important route leading eastwards, must have held its
Tibetan garrison during the same period.¹⁶ The close agreement in the nature and contents
of the Tibetan records found at both forts, which Dr. Francke's preliminary analysis proves, is thus
wholly accounted for. The indications which their fuller study may be expected to yield hereafter
as to the character of the Tibetan domination in the Tarim Basin, the military and administrative
methods for maintaining it, etc., will possess all the more historical interest on account of the fact
that so great a distance, well over 700 miles by road, separates the two fortified posts guarding
routes through the desert.

OBJECTS EXCAVATED AT RUINED FORT OF MAZĀR-TĀGH

M. Tagh. i. 001. Six frs. of firm woollen (?) braid,
pinkish buff. Width ³⁄₈″, gr. length 5⅛″.

M. Tagh. i. 002. Disc of white stone, opaque, pierced
longitudinally. Diam. ³⁄₄″, thickness ¼″.

M. Tagh. i. 003. Thin piece of bronze foil cut in form
of leaf. 2⁵⁄₁₆″ × 1¹⁄₁₆″ × c. ¹⁄₁₀₀. Pl. LI.

M. Tagh. i. 004. Clay spinning-whorl. Flat disc,
pierced. Diam. ¹⁄₁₆″, thickness ¹⁄₁₆″.

M. Tagh. i. 005. Iron pin, lozenge-shaped in section.
Head an elongated four-sided point on round neck. Length
2¼″, diam. ¹⁄₁₆″ (head) to ¹⁄₁₆″. Pl. LI.

M. Tagh. i. 006. Reed pen, cut with nib as M. i, xlii.
003. Charred, and broken. Length 2¾″.

M. Tagh. i. 007. Wooden die, roughly cubical. Numbers
painted in ink circles, and arranged as in M. t. iii. 004.
Cf. M. Tagh. a. 0031 ; iv. 00172. ⅝″ × ⅝″ sq.

M. Tagh. i. 008. Oval piece of brown leather with
dressed surface. Semicircular slit parallel to one side.
1″ × ¾″.

M. Tagh. i. 009. Fr. of glass from rim of vessel, bluish-
green, translucent. Edge thickened on each side, and
rounded. Gr. M. 2″, thickness ¹⁄₁₆″ to ¹⁄₁₆″.