The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-01
EXCAVATIONS IN TURKESTAN.
Interesting Discoveries of Lost Civil
 i1atto,,

Interesting Discoveries of a Lost Civil
 ization.
 In an interview with Reuters repre-
 sentative pr. M. A. Stein, who is re-
 turning to India this week after making a preliminary arrangement of the re- narkable finds brought to light during his recent expedition in Chinese Tur-
 kestan, said that the cursory exami-
 nation that has so far been possible within the short time available reveals
 in a striking manner and for the first
 time many points bearing on the cul- l ture and daily life of localities which 1 for many centuries-Some of nearly awo l thousand years-have been buried un-
 der sea of sand, and whose history
 has hitherto been practically blank.
 Speaking on this point Dr. Stein said: | "A full investigation of the sculpture | fresco painting, objects of industrial | art and seals, etc, which were dug out
 of the temples and dwelling houses of | sand buried sites will help us to resus- citate the civilization of a region which has played an important part in history | as the link betw ancient China h.
 
 first time have been brought to light | some aspects of the everyday life, the home industries and arts of the inhab-
 itants of the villages and settlements of | Chinese TurkeStan which were aban- doned in the early centuries after the
 beginning of the Christian era, and have since been buried beneath moving sand dunes. As showing the extent to which the desert has advanced, I may say that some of the settlements I exca- vated are situated fully a hundred
 miles beyond the edge of the present
 cultivated area. The great lifeless des-
 ert is naturally regarded with much su-
 perstition by the people who live in the scanty settlements along the desert
 edge, and the difficulty of carrying suf-
 ficient supplies and water has luckily kept the native tdeaspre seekers from visiting and exploiting the more distant and also more ancient ruined sites which have now been systematically ex- plored for the first time under the aus pices of the Indian government No doubt can be entertained" continued the doctor. that the inhabitants of these places were in possession of cul- ture mainly derived from India, and that they were Buddhlsts. My excava- tions go to prove that their culture was highly advanced, and that the art in- f1uences of Greece and Rome were felt even at that great distance from the centers of classical culture. Khotan is, I should say about halfway between Pewin and western Europe. Possibly the most striking excavations I made were at a site in the heary of the desert north of Niya, where one settlement was exposed, covering with it's scat tered dwelling houses and shrines an area of about six miles by four. Until digging began all that was visible were weird looking rows of bleached timber pieces projecting in various places like the framework of wrecked ship from between the sand dunes. Even with - all the interesting work on hand the i utter desolation of the place made itself felt most keenly during a prolonged | stay, and the uncanny surroundings specially affected my people.
 "Of special interest were the refuse heaps which we unearthed near some | ruined houses, once apparently tenanted | by village officias--kinds of waste pa- | per baskets, containing hundreds of ! documents, beautifully written on | wooden tablets, and carefully tied and | sealed Owing to the preservative na- ture of the sand, many of these were in | splendid condition--the ink as black and | the seals and string as perfect as if they were only a few weeks old. As | these documents are in known Indian | script, their deciphering can be expect ed to reveal in a fascinating manner many of the details of the ancient will lage life But it will be task reQuir- ing years of close study, as in India it. self the materials available of this ear- l ly script have so far been very scanty At tites less ancient we also found pa per documents i'll Sanskrit, Chinese and also Tibetan manuscripts. In none of he excavations did find any unknown Round most of the sand buried houses were brought to light planned little gardens, with avenues of trees, fenced lanes, orchards and so forth. It was truly astonishing, ln clearing away the sand, to find un- Ter the shriveled hedges heaps of dried caves, just as they had fallen in ages gone by. The gardens were much the ,ame in characted as those still to be nund in Turkestan to-day The trees were mostly poplars and peach. mul- ,erry and apricot trees. There is no eV- dence that these places were aban- toned owing to any sudden catastrophe, ut their gradual deserton was evident y due to the impossibility of continued { irrigation causing an advance of the and. I