New-York tribune., 1901-11-03
ANCIENT TURKESTAN.
REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES OF A LOST
CIVILIZATIONS.
From The London News

From The London News
In an interview with Reuters representatiF'
pr NJ. \. Stein. who is returning TO lndit thl@
z,.e., after making 4 preliminary arrangement nj
of the. remarkable finds brought 10 light during
his recent expedition in Chinese IurktSian' stid
fra+ m. ,.r!rscrr examination that has :" lar
ha.n pnssible within the short time available"
reveals in a striking manner and for the hfst
time many points bearing on the culture anu
daily life of localities which FOR many centuries
some for nearly two Thousand years iiiF'
been buried under sea of sand. and whose
history has hitherto been pr:ien''Iis d o''iih
Speaking on this point, Or. Stein said:
"A fun investigation of the sculpture, fresc"
nainting objects of industrial art and seals
etc which were dug out OF the temples anu
du-aliir., houses OF sand buried sites VIII help
i1s 70 r,.stIscit.tr the civilization oi Il region
which has played an important part IN h'StorS
,s The link between ancient China. INDIA ana
tho classical West Now for the first time nave
been brought to light some aspects of the every
day life the home Industries ana arts Oh ti
inhabitants of The villages ana stt'iviiiellls % "
Chinese. Turkesjan which were Abandoned IN
the early centuries after the beginning OF t't
Christian era. and have since been huIlen unutt
,pnvin, sand dunes As showing the extent L"
which the desert has advanced. | may say that
some of the settlements eNcaN ateu are S'Nu
ated fully q hundred miles beyond lhe CUE VI
th. ureslut cultivated area. The great iieIeSS
desert is naturally regarded "Rth lnuth Supet
stition by the people "fo i've III tit S'"HtS
settlements along the desert edge, ana the Hli
ficultv Of carrying sufficient supplies anc water
has luckily kept the native treasure seekers
from visiting and exploiting the more d4Sith'
and also more. ancient ruined sites which nave
now been Systematically explored lot IN" Hl9'
time under the auspices OF the lhdith NoNtth
ment No doubt can be entertained, continued
the d9ctor that the inhabitants of these plaoeS
were in possession of a culture NANNY u"riNtu
from India, and that they were BudohisIS. NY
excavations go to prove that their culture was
highly advanced and that the art influences ot
Greece and Rome were felt even at that Sfti'
distance from the centres of classical culture
L-botan is | should say about halfway between
Peking and Western Europe fosSloiE the ms
striking excavations made were al site III 'iie
settlement was exposed covering with its scat.
tered dwelling houses and shrlnes an area y,
about six miles by four untii dlsSins oeG,rn @ "a
that was visible weird looking rows az
bIeached timber pieces projecting in various
places like the framework OF wrecked Sn!p
from between the sand dunes. Even WIN an lnt
Interesting work hand the utter uesolali vi
the place made itself felt most keeniy duilhs ,
a prolonged stay, and the uncahiis SUI i'o'''
ings specially affected my peopie - ,,-
.e0f sneciaI interest were the refuse heaps
which we unearthed near some rulieu mus
once apparently tenanted by village % olc a.
kinds of waste paper baskets coiilalhi7 i"
dreds of documents beautifully written on
wooden tablets. and carefully tied ana Sedieu
Owing to the preservative nature or the saila an,
many of these were in splendid condtion-the
ink as black and the seals and string as perfect
as if they were only a few weeks OLD. AS titSe
documents are in known Indian SCRIPT tileii
deciphering can be expected to reveal IN IN d . -
mating manner many of the details OF 'ile am
village life But it will be a task Tequlilns
wears Of close study. as in India itself the hate
rails available of this early script have 50 far
been very scanty. At sites less ancient we alSo
/ found papnr documents in SanSkr1t, Chlnese ana
also Tibetan manuscripts. In none of the eX-
cavations did L find any unknown characters.
Round most of the sand buried houses were
brought to light carefully planned little gardens
with avenues of trees. fenced lanes, orchards,
and so forth. 1t truly astonishing, on clear
ing away the sand, find under the shrVelied
hedges heaps of dried leaves, just as they mad
fallen in ages gone by. The gardens were much
the same in character those still to be found
in Turkestan to-day. The trees were mostly
poplars and peach, mulberry and apricot trees
There is no evidence that these places were
abandoned owing to any sudden catastrophe,
but their gradual desertiOn was evidently due