Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1902-01-01
SAND-BURIED CITIES.
Account of the Interesting DiscOv.
cries by DIR. Stein in Chinese
Turkestan.

Our representative has had an in
terview with DR.. NJ. A. Stein, who is re-
turning to India after making a pre-
liminary arrangement of the remark
able finds brought to light during. his
recent expedition in Chinese Turke-
stan, says the London Chronicle. The
cursory examination that has so far
been possible within the short time
available reveals in striking manner
and for the first time many points
bearing on the culture and daily life
of localities which for many centu-
ries = some for nearly 1000 years =
have been buried under a sea of sand,
and whose history has hitherto been
practically blank.
Speaking of this point, DR.. Stein says
now for the first time have been
brought to light some aspects of the
everyday life, home industries and
arts of the inhabitants of the villages
of Chinese Turkestan which were aban-
doned at the beginning of the Chris
tan era. The culture of the people
was derived mainly from India, and
there can be no doubt the inha bitants
were Buddhists. DR.. Stein added:
"Of special interest were the refuse
heaps which we unearthed near some
ruined houses, once apparently ten
anted by village off1cials-kinds of
waste paper baskets, containing hun
dreds of documents beautifully writ
ten on wooden tablets, and carefully
tied and sealed. Owing to the pre-
sentative nature of the sand many of
these were in splendid condition-the
ink as black as the seals and string as
perfect as if they were only a few
weeks old. AS these documents are in
a known Indian script their decipher-
ing can be expected to reveal in fasci-
mating manner many of the details of
the ancient village life. But it will be
task requiring years of close study.
as in India itself the materials avail
able of this early script have so far
been very scanty. At sites less ancient
we also found paper documents in
Sanskrit, Chinese and also Thibetan
manuscripts. In none of the excava-
tons did I find any unknown charac-
terS.
Round most of the sand buried
houses were brought to light careful
ly planned little gardens, with ave-
nues of trees, fenced lanes, orchards
and SO forth. 1t was truly aston ishing
on clearing away the sand to find I'M
dried leaves just as they had fallen in
ages gone by. The gardens were much
the same in character as those
still to be found in Turkestap
to-day. The trees We're mostly
poplar and peach, mulberry and
apricot trees. There is no evil
dence that these places were aban.
doned owing to any sudden catastro-
phe, but their gradual DISCRETION was
evidently due to the impossibility Of
continued irrigation, causing an ad-
vance of the sand. While articles of
real value were therefore removed by
their possessors, we found in the dwell
ing places many household implements
of small value, such as pitchforks,
mousetraps, boots, chairs, shoe
makers lasts, etc.
I'm the ruined temples we found a
sort of unintentional exhibition of the
fabrics of these remote ages, for in
front of some of the idols were heaps
of torn shreds of deliberately worke d
silks and other fabrics which had been
deposited as votive offerings. In one
temple it was curious to note an in.
stance where a pilgrim, anxious ap
oarently to propitiate as many de-.
tiles as possible, had torn into por-
tons Thibetan manuscript, which he
had divided among the various idols.
These fragments are now once more
united under glass panes.
Many colossal statues in stucco were
lnearthed from the monasteries and
temples. One of the latter contained
n its cloisfers more than 100 stat
les, all over life size. While as
many as possible of these were
cleared for the purpose of taking
photographs, only few could be res
:ued, as when the protecting sand was
removed the great stuccoes threatened
to collapse, owing to their inner
wooden work having rotted away.
However, interesting portions of them
were successfully brought away"