About Lop Nur Historical Archaeological Literature Data

  About the Sun Mausoleum

  Wiping away the dust of history, people found that several "suns" were buried underground. No one had ever thought that these "suns" would be buried in the desolate desert, and they were buried for 3,800 years.

  These "suns" are formed by more than 1,000 poplar trees arranged in a radiating pattern from inside to outside. Is this an ancient building or an ancient totem? Is it a natural wonder or the work of supernatural craftsmanship?

  Sun Tomb

  Actually, this is just the tomb of primitive society - the sun tomb. Each "sun" is a tomb. Each cemetery has a "core", which is composed of a dense circle of poplar wood stakes. Outside the core, there are 7 layers of poplar wood rings. Why make it seven layers? Is "seven" a number or a metaphor? The owner of the ancient tomb must be a sun worshiper, living under the sun when alive and lying in the "sun" after death. Who were these people? What kind of faith was this? Why didn't they use stone or earth to build tombs, but instead used wood and planted it into the shape of a sun? The Han Dynasty emperors used cypress wood to make their tomb chambers "yellow intestines", did the ancient people of Xiaohe River imitate the culture of the Central Plains?

  Throughout history and across the world, human tombs have taken roughly the same form. However, this "Sun Tomb" is one-of-a-kind, making its value immeasurable on that point alone.

  About Xiaohe Cemetery

  A small river flows day and night

  The red leaves of the maple trees are all one color in autumn

  Three thousand beautiful women from Western Regions

  Clear wind and bright moon over Western Province

  In 1934, led by Oldak, Professor F. Bergman found a most terrifying place in the Robber's Gorge Desert - a thousand coffins guarded by Iblis (the devil). At that time, there was a small stream there, and the professor casually gave it a name, calling it "Small River". 66 years later, a group of kind-hearted Chinese scholars searched for it again after going through countless hardships, allowing Small River to see daylight once more.

  The Xiaohe River is a place that people dare not think about. The sea of sand stretches far and wide, with no roads or directions to follow. Camels have to make detours, and it's even more difficult on foot. To reach the Xiaohe River cemetery, one has to pay with sweat or life. Professor Bergman wrote: "Olderk believed that the Ibili lived there, so he was very afraid and didn't dare take us there. The cemetery is filled with an atmosphere of terror - 15 years ago, when Olderk's companion saw this place, he fell ill, and Olderk himself spent a night there, waking up in the middle of the night to see a terrible ghost." Ah! That place holds "a thousand coffins", how can it not make people tremble with fear?!

  About Loulan Buddhist Pagoda

  In 1893, a Russian expedition led by Kozlov discovered the ruins of an ancient city. It is located at the southern foot of the Kuruktag Mountains, on the north bank of the Peacock River. The site includes a circular city, Buddhist pagodas, irrigation canals, fields and a large cemetery. The ancient city itself is the highlight of this site. It is a circular city with a height of 8 meters and a diameter of 200 meters, with earthen walls and red willow layers. The surrounding sand dunes are dotted with small hills, and from a distance, it looks like a giant "sun tomb". Who built it? When was it built? Why did they build it in the shape of a "sun tomb"? Was it for worship or aesthetics? Was it to make the city stronger or for war purposes? All these questions are left unanswered. One hundred years later, people excavated a colorful coffin from this site, which contained a male corpse with a mask on his face. The corpse was over 1.8 meters tall and about 30 years old, covered with a leopard-print blanket. The body wore a golden silk mask, a white silk shirt, and a red silk robe with yellow patterns of people, animals, and trees. The pants were made of brown silk with embroidered diamond-shaped flowers. The feet wore golden silk socks, and the waist was adorned with perfume bags, brocade, and other decorations. On his left arm, there was an embroidered sleeve protector. On the side of his head, there was a square "longevity" character embroidery. At his waist and left hand, there were two pieces of embroidered clothing. These clothes were finely woven and had beautiful patterns, among which the people and animal patterns on the robe had typical Greek and Roman artistic styles, making them extremely rare treasures. This tomb contained many precious items, indicating that the person buried here was of high social status. Other excavated items included glass cups, ancient books, jewels, and Han dynasty coins.

  Here, east to Loulan 180 kilometers, west to Wei Wu County 150 kilometers, north of the Tianshan Mountains, south of the Peacock River ancient road, surrounded by a beacon tower of the Han Dynasty. According to the "Book of Han. Western Regions" records: Shanguo, away from Chang'an 7,170 miles, households 450, population 5,000, strong soldiers 1,000 people. West to Wei Wu 240 miles, northwest to Yanqi 160 miles. Does this label not indicate that the camp is a city of Shanguo?

  People under the Populus euphratica tree

  Descendants of the legendary Loulan. From the expedition diaries of Swedish explorer Sven Hedin, Russian explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky and German explorer Trinkler, we learn about the Rob people. They were a group that lived by fishing and hunting, isolated from the world, not belonging to any nation or faith, living generation after generation on the shores of lakes, gathering in places called Abudan, their fishing boats called Kapun, reed houses called Satoma...

  All the way, I was searching for the scenes described by adventurers, hoping to capture some clues about the original life of the Luobu people and pay a visit to the extinct Xinjiang tiger's former home in the Hu Yang forest. Our convoy passed through Talamuta Township and arrived at a vast expanse of pink-flowered Luobu wilderness. Due to the extreme barrenness of the land, these plants' flowers were all open without fanfare, as faint as star clouds. At the end of the field, a man wearing a white hat appeared, and the Bazhou Forestry Bureau told me that this was a Luobu person.

  When we arrived at the destination of Rob Village, the beautiful wooden house was a great disappointment to me, and the colorful flags flying on the sand dunes were even more depressing. Taking advantage of the local leaders' report to the representatives, I ran alone to a seemingly primitive earth-shack house with willow branch walls.

  At this time, an old Rob man with a white hat mysteriously emerged. I walked up and chatted with him. His face, which had experienced wind and frost, and his rough black hands recorded the hardships of the years. I took advantage of the opportunity to take a photo with this living fossil-like old Rob man and his fully equipped black horse, and it was worth the trip.

  It seems that the heavens want to make our desert travel experience even more enriching, just as we were about to set off, the desert showed us its true colors: a sandstorm. Our car struggled to move forward in the sea of flying sand and rolling stones.

  I hid in the travel car, watching the fine sand flowing outside, memories traversing through the time tunnel. Lop Nur once stretched 5,000 square kilometers, nurturing the Lop people and fostering the Western civilization of the Tarim River Basin, but unfortunately, it dried up under the axe of human modern civilization. In 1972, American scientists told us that satellite images showed that Lop Nur had disappeared! The Xinjiang tiger has disappeared, the big-headed fish has disappeared, and the Tarim deer have also disappeared... what about the Lop people?

  The National Park of Three Thousand Years - The Ancient Robo Lake

  The mighty ocean becomes mulberry fields overnight with the wind.

  Beacon fire wolf smoke reflects red sun

  How many mysterious things in the Western Regions

  Silent in the desert

  Wu Li, also known as Robo Nor. It was the territory of the Western Han Dynasty's Qu Li State and Shan State. It is bounded by the Tianshan Mountains to the north and adjoins the Mohe and Jingjue states to the south, with a population of 4,480 people and 550 soldiers. In 101 BC, General Li Guangli of the Ershi army destroyed Qu Li and did not establish a king. In the third year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Qu Li was occupied by the Xiongnu. In 107 AD, Ban Chao led the armies of Qiuci and Yanqi to quell the rebellion and returned Qu Li to the Han Dynasty again. During the Tang Dynasty, a governor's office was established in Yanqi to manage the affairs of Qu Li. In the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, Liu Jintang drove out the reactionary forces of Aku and recovered Robo Nor, establishing Xingping County. In 1914, it was renamed Wu Li.

  In historical records, there are only these few words. However, the Que and Shan countries were indeed city-states, and they must have also had countless stories like Loulan and Qiuci. Let's enter the Wusun (Lop Nur) Museum, and through that wooden mummy, let's feel the ancient culture of this place.

  Loulan Ancient City Ruins - also known as "Three Room House Site"

  The ancient city of Loulan is located in the south of the Kongque River Delta, on the northwest shore of Lop Nur, 220 kilometers southwest of Ruoqiang County, 340 kilometers northwest of Korla City, 16 kilometers north of the nearest point of the dry riverbed of the Peacock River, and 28 kilometers east of the northern shore of Lop Nur. The specific location is re-verified as E89°55′22″, N40°29′55″

  From the north bank of the Peacock River, take a plane to the ancient city site. There are 4 dry riverbeds in between, with many dry river branches and ponds densely distributed on both sides of the riverbed. These natural sites indicate that the water resources of Loulan in ancient times were relatively rich. The ruins of Loulan City are located between two tributaries of the four major riverbeds. These two tributaries converge 16 kilometers east of the ancient city and then flow into the low-lying Lop Nur. The terrain is lower in the southeast.

  The layout of the city is divided into two areas along the ancient waterway: one is the northeast area, where fewer relics remain, mainly Buddhist towers and nearby buildings; the other is the southwest area, which preserves more relics, in addition to the three-room house site, there are also some courtyards of various sizes in the west and south. The north side of the northeast area has no remains, and the east side retains four points, which are basically consistent with Stein's description during his investigation at that time. In this area, the most prominent is the Buddhist tower building, numbered LA?XA by Stein, now 10.4 meters high, with exposed signs that can be divided into nine layers: the first to third layers are rammed earth, and the third layer retains broken pottery pieces. Stein believed that these three layers were the base of the tower, saying that above the base was "a traditional octagonal building." Now it is difficult to see its shape. The fourth layer of rammed earth contains soil blocks. Above the fifth layer, all are soil block masonry, with 10-15 cm thick red willow branches between each layer of soil blocks. In the sixth layer, a wooden beam about 1 meter long is exposed on the outside, and there is a mortise hole on the beam. Next to the tower body on the right side is a small earthen platform made of soil block masonry, with a height equal to the fifth layer of the tower body, between the platform and the tower body there is a gentle slope that can be climbed up and down, and in the middle of the platform are pressed horizontal logs about 30 cm in diameter and some long wooden blocks, which seem to be buildings.

  On the earthen platform about 60 meters south of the Buddhist tower, many large timbers are scattered. Stein numbered this place LA?I and conducted excavations here, clearing out three Han Chinese wooden slips, two Loulan wooden strips, three wooden tablets, and fourteen pieces of Han Chinese and Loulan documents. In Guangxu 27 (1901), Sven Hedin also excavated Loulan documents here. In addition, they collected some silk fabrics and daily necessities. We collected silk and woolen fabrics here, as well as five-cash copper coins, jade-like glass beads of various colors, and shells and corals from distant coastlines. These items show the characteristics of trade relay towns on the early "Silk Road".

  On the platform about 80 meters south of the earthen platform on the south side of the Buddhist pagoda, there are ruins of collapsed houses. The walls of the house were made of reeds bundled and tied together. Stein numbered this place LA?Ⅷ, where he collected wooden combs, wooden bowls, copper and iron arrowheads, and colored silk and woolen fabrics. We also collected silk and woolen fabrics here, as well as jade beads and iron arrowheads.

  About 30 meters east of the pagoda, there is a small platform with scattered wood on it. Stein numbered this place LA?Ⅸ, where he collected one wooden slip of Louwen. Japanese Nagasawa Kiyoshi determined that this was a monk's quarters. We excavated under the wood and found a pile of yellow grain, about 70 cm thick and 100 cm wide. The grain samples were identified by Professors Yan Ji and Yang Junliang from Sichuan Agricultural College as wheat and naked barley.

  The remaining building ruins in the southwest area are shaped like a, with three rooms in the center, numbered LA?Ⅱ by Stein. From the foundation line of the three rooms, it can be measured that the east-west length is 12.5 meters, the south-north width is 8.5 meters, and the total area is 106.25 square meters. Among them, the two rooms on the east and west are relatively small, while the middle one is wider and larger, built with two kinds of unequal-sized earth blocks, one measuring 42×23×10 cm, and the other measuring 17×27×10 cm. In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (1901), Sven Hedin excavated 36 pieces of Han Dynasty paper documents and 120 wooden slips in a small room on the east side. In the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1906), Stein obtained many more Han Dynasty paper documents and wooden slips here. When we cleaned up, the room numbered F1 on the east side was found to have one piece of paper document and some silk, satin, cotton cloth, brocade, and small ceramic cups.

  The three-room house has two wing rooms, the east and west wing rooms are made of large wood frame, red willow branch as a sandwich bar, and grass mud wall building. The west wing room still exists today. Stein numbered this place LA?Ⅲ, he obtained about 37 Han Chinese wooden slips and 2 Luwen wooden pieces here. In the east wing room, you can see the large wooden frame, scattered wood, and red willow branch walls. On the large square wood, we found a red lacquer skin.

  In the northeast of the three-room house, in Stein's numbered place LA?Ⅱ?Ⅵ?Ⅶ, there are two rooms side by side, with an earth wall between them. In front of these two rooms, Stein excavated "many valuable Han Chinese documents written on paper and two Sogdian documents" in 1914. We re-cleaned this place, numbered F3, and found one wooden slip, bone scabbard, woolen cloth and blanket fragments, hemp shoes, broken wool bags, cotton cloth, and emerald green silk.

  West of the west wing of the three-room house, on the same ground, there is a pile of garbage, mainly consisting of reed straws and manure. We excavated a trench here, numbered T1, 2 meters long, 1.5 meters wide, with a depth of 30 cm in the southwest and 80 cm in the northeast. The trench yielded one wooden slip, as well as fragments of square-patterned woolen cloth, cotton cloth, hemp rope, hemp belt, lacquered cup, and wooden comb.

  About 35 meters west of the three-room house, there is a large pile of garbage, about 30 meters wide and 15 meters long, with a maximum thickness of about 1 meter. The southeast edge is connected to the west wing's garbage heap. Stein numbered this place LA?Ⅵ?Ⅱ. In the 32nd year of Guangxu (1906), he excavated here and obtained the richest and most important harvest. "The largest number was Chinese documents written on wood and paper, I counted at that time, about 170 pieces, among which 121 pieces were published in M? Sha's 'Documents', the rest were small fragments or documents that could not be identified for some reason." Here, he also searched for 4 wooden slips of Louwen, 4 paper documents, and 1 early Sogdian fragment. In the third year of the Republic (1914), he came again and obtained more than 40 Chinese documents written on wood and paper, as well as 1 Louwen wooden slip. We re-cleaned and numbered it T, and found 60 residual bamboo slips and 1 paper document.

  The three-room house is the only one in the city that was built with earth blocks, and its facade is stern. Judging from the large number of wooden slips and paper documents unearthed here and in the nearby garbage heap, we infer that this place should be the site of an official mansion.

  On the west side of the large garbage heap, there is a group of large courtyards, with a recognizable layout, numbered LA?Ⅳ by Stein. We conducted measurements and local cleaning here, numbered F4. The courtyard faces east, about 16 meters wide from east to west, and about 22 meters long from south to north, with a group of relatively solid rooms in the center. Stein had cleaned up here, numbered LA?Ⅳ?Ⅰ and Ⅱ, and three wooden slips were unearthed in Ⅱ, which he identified as the "Turfan Government". On the northeast side of this group of rooms, there is a large stone threshold, we collected the rotten wood under the threshold, numbered F4:2, please ask the National Cultural Heritage Administration's Cultural Relics Protection Scientific Technology Institute to use carbon 14 dating, tree ring calibration dates back to 1865+80 years ago (from 1950), equivalent to the Eastern Han period. From the stone threshold, after passing through another threshold is a large hall, the hall is about 7 meters wide from south to north, and 7.5 meters long from east to west. On both sides of the hall are two rows of houses, one facing south and the other facing north. The southern house has three rooms arranged horizontally from east to west, with a side door on the easternmost room that can lead out of the courtyard. According to footprint identification, the northern house also has three rooms arranged horizontally. On the westernmost room's northern wall, there is a threshold at the eastern end, which leads to an L-shaped wall inside, and a human-shaped wooden piece was unearthed during cleaning. This L-shaped passage leads out of the courtyard. The walls of the entire mansion, except for those that have been cleaned up by Stein and are no longer in their original state, are all made of bundles of straight-standing red willow branches tied to a wooden frame with mud applied on the outside. On the west side of the mansion, there is a low wall made of reeds, which seems to be a large courtyard, connected to the western city wall from the restored line of the city wall.

  About 9 meters east of the large mansion, there is another piece of garbage. We excavated a ditch here, numbered F2, which is 2 meters long, 1.5 meters wide, and has a depth of 0.3 meters in the southeast and 0.5 meters in the northwest. Some small children's leather shoes, wool ropes, wool belts, and cotton fabrics were unearthed.

  The southwest side of the three-room house is some building remains, Stein number LA? Ⅶ. From the existing footprints, the room is short and small, we selected a group of well-preserved buildings for measurement and trial excavation, numbered F2. F2 is about 100 meters away from the three-room house, consisting of two houses in the north and south, with the northern house being B, approximately 4.6 meters long and 3.5 meters wide, and the southern house being A, approximately 4.8 meters long and 3.4 meters wide. Both houses are made of red willow and reed mats as partition walls, with a wall thickness of about 20-25 cm. In the interval, wooden doors, bone carvings, human-shaped wooden parts, sheep lower jaw bones, door frames, residual wood discs, wooden buckets, and tung oil, iron slag, etc. were cleared out. In A room, residual wooden mortars, wooden jars, wooden spinning wheels, residual iron blocks, and cattle and sheep bones were cleared out. In the central part of A room, we opened a 1.2-meter-long, 1-meter-wide, and 0.95-meter-deep test pit, and found that the strata are divided into two layers, upper and lower. The upper layer is 30 cm thick, which is red burnt soil, and unearthed sheep bones, cattle bones, horse bones, millet shells, and wood charcoal; the lower layer is 65 cm thick, which is gray soil, and unearthed items include cattle and sheep bones, as well as horse hair, hemp rope, and gray pottery pieces. Comparing F2 and F4 house sites, from layout to building materials are vastly different, F4 is obviously a mansion of officials and wealthy merchants, while F2 is for ordinary poor people.

  The archaeological team collected many different types of artifacts in the city and near the site, uniformly numbered with C. In addition to the stone tools mentioned earlier, there are also red pottery, copper, iron, lead, wood, glassware, and coins. The era belongs to the Neolithic Dynasty to Wei Jin.