Chinese and foreign scholars in the archaeological journey of Loulan

  The Discovery of Loulan Ancient City

  In the spring of 1900, Swedish explorer Sven Hedin was exploring the Lop Nur region when his Chinese guide, a Uyghur farmer named Erdik, stumbled upon an ancient city buried in the desert sands for over 1,000 years. Hedin excavated the site and uncovered a trove of artifacts, including wooden tablets with writing in the unknown script, as well as Han Dynasty-era coins, silk fragments, woolen fabrics, copper ornaments, and glass shards. He took the wooden tablets back to Sweden, where they were studied by scholar Carl Lehmann. Lehmann discovered that the text mentioned a place called "KRORANLA", which he believed was an ancient name for Lop Nur. In his report, Lehmann proposed that this was indeed the lost city of Loulan. The discovery sent shockwaves around the world and was hailed as the "Pompeii of the Desert" by Western archaeologists and historians.

  2. Stein in Lop Nor

  Mark Aurel Stein, a British citizen of Hungarian origin, made three expeditions to the Chinese regions of Xinjiang and Gansu between 1900 and 1916, conducting illegal surveys and stealing cultural relics for the British Indian colonial government. In 1906-1907, he traveled from Kashgar to Hotan along the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains, passing through Qakilik and arriving at Lop Nur. He then proceeded northwards to the ancient city of Loulan. Stein conducted large-scale excavations at two major sites in Loulan, unearthing a large quantity of exquisite silk fabrics, stone tools, pottery shards, and bronze artifacts, as well as Han Dynasty wooden slips and documents written in Chinese and the extinct Tocharian language. In 1914, Stein made his second trip to Lop Nur, conducting extensive excavations at the ancient city and discovering many new sites and tombs. He assigned code numbers to these sites, with LA (Loulan) and LK (50 km south of Loulan) being the primary concentrations of sites. During this expedition, Stein discovered numerous stone tools, bronze artifacts, Han Dynasty silk fabrics, Wu Zhu coins, and Xinmang period currency at the LA site.

  Three, Juerui Chao in Loulan

  Kawachi Kōji was a Japanese Imperial Navy officer who, under the orders of the head priest of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism in Japan, Higashi Hongan-ji's Otani Kozui, organized an expedition to Central Asia. In 1908 and 1910, he twice visited the Lop Nur region for exploration purposes. After his second visit to the Lop Nur region in 1910, Kawachi conducted archaeological excavations at a site located about 50 kilometers south of the ancient city of Loulan (the location is now known as LK by Stein's numbering system). Upon returning to Japan, the expedition announced that they had discovered four fragments of a letter written by Li Bai in the ancient city of Loulan.

  Four, 1979-1980 Lop Nur archaeological excavation

  In 1979-1980, the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Archaeology and the CCTV "Ancient Silk Road" TV crew formed a joint investigation team to investigate the Silk Road and the ancient city of Loulan. This investigation re-determined the accurate geographical location of the ancient city of Loulan, conducted archaeological excavations on the ancient tombs in the lower reaches of the Kongque River, as well as the Loulan City area and ancient tombs, and unearthed various stone tools, Han Dynasty coins, copperware, silk and woolen fabrics, and wooden slips with writing from the Eastern Han to Wei and Jin periods, as well as decorative items made of gold, silver, and copper.

  Annex: Brief Report on the Survey and Trial Excavation of the Loulan Ancient City Site

  Ancient City Ruins

  Location and Environment

  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 Kongque River dry riverbed, and 28 kilometers east of the north shore of Lop Nur. The specific location is re-determined to be at 89°55′22″E longitude and 40°29′55″N latitude. From the north bank of the Kongque River, take a plane to the ancient city site, where there are four dry riverbeds, with many dry river branches and ponds densely distributed on both banks. These natural sites indicate that the water resources in ancient Loulan were relatively rich. The Loulan City site is located between two tributaries of the four major riverbeds, which converge 16 kilometers east of the city and then flow into the low-lying Lop Nur. The terrain here is lower in the southwest. In the northwest to southwest 2-3 kilometers from the suburbs of Loulan City, a large area of withered poplar forest was found, with some trees surrounded by dryness for over 2 meters. There are also large areas of withered tree forests in the northeast part of the city site. It can be seen that the vegetation here in ancient times was relatively good, and these trees were good materials for urban construction at that time.

  2. Prehistoric human activity relics

  The archaeological team discovered and collected many microliths during the survey in the city and near the castle site. From a manufacturing technology perspective, there are chipped, polished, and chipped-polished ones; from a morphological functional perspective, there are stone cores, stone leaves, stone core-shaped artifacts, polished back knives, scrapers, drills, stone arrowheads, and stone spears; from a color texture perspective, there are gray-green, yellow-brown, crimson-purple jade, as well as flint. In addition, there are also ground stone tools. This shows that as early as the Neolithic period, there were human activities in the Loulan area. If these stone artifacts are compared with those collected by Stein and Bergman at other locations in the lower reaches of the Peacock River before liberation, whether in terms of quantity or shape and texture, they are all in a prominent position. Judging from this, this place should be an important gathering point for the ancient residents of this area. Their activities laid the foundation for the formation of the city's towns later on.

  3. Urban scope and structure

  Due to the erosion of strong northeast winds over thousands of years, the ancient city and its surrounding environment have become a dilapidated and uneven "yardang" landform. The ancient city wall is mixed in this wind-eroded platform. The ancient city is roughly square, with an east side length of 333.5 meters, south side length of 329 meters, west and north sides each 327 meters long, and a total area of 108240 square meters. Due to the relatively gentle slope of the north-south walls in response to the northeast wind direction, they have been preserved relatively well. The north city wall only has some remains at both ends, with the east end having a remaining length of about 35 meters, width of about 8.5 meters, and height of about 22 meters, forming an opening that is about 0.8 to 1.2 meters thick, exposing four layers of rammed earth construction. This opening appears to be the north city gate. The east city wall has fewer remains, with only two segments remaining: one in the middle section near the south, which is about 20 meters long, 5 meters wide, and 3.3 meters high, with a thickness of 0.7-0.95 meters; and another segment at the southeast corner, which is about 1.5 meters long, 2.5 meters wide, and 3 meters high, with the same rammed earth layer as before. The south city wall has several remaining segments: one in the middle section near the east end, which is about 60.5 meters long, 8 meters wide, and 3.5-4 meters high, with a thickness of 0.45-0.9 meters; another segment in the middle section near the west end, which is about 9.5 meters long, 5 meters wide, and 3 meters high; and the westernmost segment, which is about 4.5 meters long, 6 meters wide, and 2.3 meters high, with the same rammed earth layer as before. In the middle section, there is a gap of about 13 meters wide between the east and west ends, which corresponds to the opening in the north city wall and appears to be the south city gate. The west city wall has several remaining segments: one in the middle section near the south end, which is about 13 meters long, 5 meters wide, and 1 meter high, with a thickness of 0.15-0.7 meters; another segment in the middle section near the north end, which consists of two earth mounds arranged in an east-west direction, one on top of a wind-eroded platform, about 6 meters long and 5 meters wide, with a height of about 2.4 meters and a thickness of 0.4-0.48 meters; and another mound near the west end, which is about 7.5 meters long, 5.5 meters wide, and 5 meters high, with a thickness of 0.6-1.2 meters. The two mounds are about 4 meters apart and appear to be the remains of a watchtower. From the above observations, it can be inferred that these are the remains of the city's most prosperous period, and from the phenomenon of varying thicknesses of rammed earth layers on different sides, it can be concluded that this city was built in multiple stages.

  Ancient Waterway

  The ancient waterway runs from the northwest corner of the city, behind the Three-room Palace ruins, and stretches to the southeast corner of the city, roughly forming a diagonal line. The northern end of the waterway connects with the dry riverbed that flows north of the ancient city, while the southern end connects with the dry river channel that flows south of the ancient city. Judging from the relatively straight and regular course of the waterway, it should be an artificially excavated one. The fold belt is very prominent, and due to years of flowing water, many small snail shells are still left on the fold belt. From the horizontal profile of the waterway exposed in the southeast, the width of the waterway surface is 16.8 meters, with a vertical depth from the surface to the bottom of 4.5 meters, and the depth of the folded profile accumulated at the bottom is 1.9 meters, similar to the current irrigation canal. At that time, the residents in the city should have used water supplied by these waterways.

  5. Ruins within the city

  The layout of the city is divided into two districts along the ancient waterway: one is the northeast district, where fewer relics remain, mainly Buddhist towers and nearby buildings; the other is the southwest district, 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 northern edge of the northeast district has no remains, and the eastern side retains four points, which are basically consistent with Stein's description during his investigation at that time. In this district, 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 horizontal wooden beams with a diameter of about 30 cm and some long wooden boards, which seem to be buildings.

  On the earthen platform about 60 meters south of the Buddhist pagoda, 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 a relay town in early "Silk Road" trade.

  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 the Louwen script. Japanese Nagasawa Kiyoshi and Toshinori judged that this was a monk's quarters. We tried to excavate under the wood and found a pile of yellow grain, about 70 cm thick and 100 cm wide. The grain sample was identified by Professors Yan Ji and Yang Junliang from Sichuan Agricultural College as wheat and naked barley.

  The remaining building site in the southwest district is shaped like a, with three rooms in the center, numbered LA·Ⅱ by Stein. Measuring from the foundation line of the three rooms, it is 12.5 meters long from east to west and 8.5 meters wide from south to north, covering an area of 106.25 square meters. The two rooms on either side are relatively narrow, while the middle one is wider and larger, built with two different sizes of earth blocks, one measuring 42×23×10 cm and the other 17×27×10 cm. In 1901, Sven Hedin excavated 36 pieces of Han Dynasty paper documents and 120 wooden slips from a small room on the east side. In 1906, Stein obtained many more Han Dynasty paper documents and wooden slips here. When we cleaned up, in the room numbered F1 on the east side, we found 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, where he obtained about 37 Han Chinese wooden slips and 2 Luwen wooden pieces. 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, as well as bone scabbard, woolen cloth and blanket fragments, hemp shoes, broken wool bags, cotton cloth, and dark green silk.

  West of the west wing of the three-room house, on the same platform, 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. Chavannes' '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 them T, and found 60 wooden 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 dump, 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 relatively solid building in the central part. 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 (from 1950), equivalent to the Eastern Han period. From the large 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. The south row has three rooms arranged horizontally, with a side door on the easternmost room that can be connected to the outside of the courtyard. According to footprint identification, the north row also has three rooms arranged horizontally. In the westernmost room, there is a threshold on the northern wall, which leads to a corner wall, and inside it was cleaned up a human-shaped wooden piece. This corner leads to the outside 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. The western part of the mansion is surrounded by a low wall made of reeds, which seems to be a large courtyard, connected to the west 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 mat 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 house A, residual wooden mortars, wooden jars, wooden spinning wheels, residual iron blocks, and cattle and sheep bones were cleared out. In the central part of house A, we opened a 1.2-meter-long, 1-meter-wide, and 0.95-meter-deep test pit, and found that the strata were divided into two layers, upper and lower. The upper layer was 30 cm thick and consisted of red burnt earth, with sheep bones, cattle bones, horse bones, millet shells, and charcoal unearthed; the lower layer was 65 cm thick and consisted of gray soil, with artifacts unearthed including cattle and sheep bones, as well as horse hair, hemp rope, and gray pottery shards. Comparing F2 and F4 house sites, from layout to building materials, they are vastly different, F4 is obviously a mansion for officials and wealthy merchants, while F2 is a general residence for the poor.

  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.

  Suburban Ruins

  Northeast Suburbs Little Buddha Tower

  The small Buddhist pagoda is located 4 kilometers northeast of the ancient city, which we numbered as F0. The tower is about 6.28 meters high and consists of two parts: the lower part is the base, similar to a square, with a width of 7.1 meters and a height of 4.6 meters. On top of the base is the tower body, in the center of which is a ring-shaped building made of rammed earth, with a central wooden pillar. In the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1906), Stein also came to this place and thought that "there was nothing here worth excavating". We cleaned up the ring-shaped building and found that the surrounding area of the ring-shaped platform still had colorful Buddhist murals, with a reddish-brown tone, outlined in ink lines, with an ancient style similar to the human-headed winged image unearthed by Stein in Milan. In the passageway of the ring-shaped platform, we also cleaned up one eye, three finger joints, one arm segment and wooden flower-shaped decorative pieces used for Buddhist statues. About 100 meters northwest of the small pagoda, there is a pile of scattered wood, indicating that this was originally a building. Near the small pagoda and this pile of building materials, we collected many small ancient artifacts, copper arrowheads, five-zhu coins from the Han Dynasty, Wang Mang's loan currency, copper mirror fragments, copper top needles, iron nails, lead spinning wheels, pottery shards, glass shards, etc.

  2. Beacon fire in the northwest suburbs

  The beacon tower is located 5.6 kilometers northwest of the ancient city. In 1906, Stein mistakenly believed it to be "a small abandoned Buddhist pagoda." The base of the beacon tower is 18.7 meters wide and 10.2 meters high. From a longitudinal section, the internal and external structures are different. The interior is made of rammed earth, roughly circular in shape, with a surrounding wall made of earth blocks, some of which have small wooden strips or red willow branches between them. The size of the earth blocks is the same as those used in the construction of official buildings in the city. From this, we can determine that these earth block structures were used to expand or reinforce the beacon tower, and their construction dates should be the same as the official ruins.

  3. Northern Suburbs Architectural Remains

  In the northwestern part of the ancient city, 5.2 kilometers away, there is a small platform, oriented northeast-southwest, about 30 meters long and 6 meters high, which we numbered as B. On the platform, there are many fallen wooden frames and small wooden pieces. About 30 meters north of the platform, there is another pile of scattered wood debris from abandoned houses. Here, we collected fine stone tools, glass beads, coarse pottery shards with sand inclusions, as well as copper coins, Wang Xingqian money, copper buttons, and a broken copper tripod. In addition, we also investigated the Buddhist temple site about 14.5 kilometers northwest of the city, which was numbered LB by Stein. In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (1901), Sven Hedin also conducted excavations here. They excavated the remains of a Buddhist hall, fragments of Buddha statues, and searched for Gandhara-style openwork decorative panels and relief art pieces, as well as wooden boxes and wooden seal boxes. We numbered this place XB, and the relics collected mainly include ceramic cups, ceramic jars, and five-cash coins.

  Cultural Relics

  This time, 797 cultural relics were collected, divided into stone tools, pottery, wood products, copper products, iron products, lead products, glass products, bone products, shell and coin products.

  1. Stone tools [A total of 106 stone tools, mainly production tools.]

  There are 82 pieces of stone tools. These stone tools were made using the pecking or grinding method, and they are all production tools, mostly made of jade and flint. There are 2 stone cores, 53 stone leaves, and 5 types of stone leaf shapes: single-ridge stone leaves with a triangular cross-section, which can be used without further processing, and have usage marks on one or both sides of the blade edge; double-ridge stone leaves with a trapezoidal cross-section, generally not undergoing secondary processing, with usage marks on one or both sides of the blade edge; truncated stone leaves, where one or both ends of the leaf are cut off, possibly for inlaying into bone or wooden handles; hairpin-shaped stone leaves, with a slightly curved back ridge, resembling a hairpin in cross-section, with a relatively smooth interior and a prominent beveled break on one end of the leaf surface, generally with usage marks on the blade edge; irregularly shaped stone leaves, with a single-ridge back face, unpolished leaf surface, and multiple usage marks on the blade edge. There are 3 pieces of stone core tools, which were made by pecking off one corner or block from one end of the stone core using the percussion method, with minimal processing.

  There are 16 stone tools, which can be divided into:

  1. Backed knives with a beveled edge, utilizing the thicker spine of the original stone flake,

  - The spine is chipped on both sides to form a beak-shaped cutting edge, making the edges even and sharp; some edges have undergone secondary processing.

  2. Scrapers, most of which have undergone secondary processing, come in three shapes:

  - Circular

  - Rectangular

  - Variable angle

  3. Drill bits with a wider base that gradually taper to form a cone-shaped point, all of which have been polished.

  Six stone arrowheads. Two stone spears. Seventeen ground stone tools, including: one stone needle; eight whetstones with a hole in the center of the head, the body has been worn down after multiple uses, and can be divided into round-headed and square-headed types, with the square-headed whetstones being roughly rectangular in shape, with four sides polished smooth; four stone mortars, irregularly shaped, including long rectangular, triangular prism-shaped, conical, and cylindrical shapes; four stone grinding discs, all of which have been used and are damaged, can be divided into semi-circular and long strip-shaped types.

  There are 5 other stone artifacts. Mainly include: 1 piece of stone ladle, snake-shaped and made of serpentinite, with one side hollowed out to form a spoon-like shape, and one edge has an ear; 1 piece of stone flower press, made of serpentine rock that has undergone talcization, with intaglio square frame patterns on both the front and back sides. The above two pieces should be objects from after the Han and Wei dynasties.

  2. Ceramics 【Ceramics 129 pieces, spinning wheels 29 pieces】

  Most of them are made of pottery pieces, among which 8 pieces were made by pounding pottery fragments into circular blanks, some of which were polished to become semi-finished products. The maximum diameter is 7 cm, the minimum is 4.5 cm, the thickest is 1.5 cm, and the thinnest is 0.7 cm. There are 20 pieces that were made by further processing based on semi-finished products.

  There are 29 jars, all of which are incomplete. The main types include:

  * Short-necked bridge-ear jars with a slightly open mouth, flat lip, bridge ear, and arc-shaped handle.

  * Long-necked curved shoulder jars with an open mouth, slanted neck, straight mouth, round lip, and a handle on the neck or shoulder.

  There are 6 pots, all of which are incomplete. The main types include:

  * Long-necked pots with a trumpet-shaped mouth, pointed lip, long neck, and bridge-shaped ears attached to the shoulder.

  * Short-necked pots with an open mouth, outwardly curved, short neck, and bridge-shaped ears attached between the neck and shoulder.

  There are 6 basins, all of which are incomplete. Most of them are made of coarse red pottery with sand inclusions.

  There are 2 steamers, one of which is relatively complete.

  There is 1 pot, made of coarse red pottery with sand inclusions, with a rolled exterior, double lips, and a broad curved shoulder, but the lower part is incomplete.

  There are 19 cups, mainly including:

  * Flat-bottomed cups made of coarse red pottery with sand inclusions, semi-spherical in shape, with a flow at the mouth, and pinched to form.

  In addition, some pottery pieces with triangular patterns, circular patterns, diamond-shaped patterns, rope patterns, and blue patterns were also collected.

  3. Woodenware (total of 55 pieces)

  Among them, there are 18 pieces of wooden buildings, mainly including: 2 pieces of wooden beam pads, flat and round in shape, used as beam column base objects; 1 piece of door and door frame, using a section of cylindrical wood to carve out 9 sections of drum-shaped decorations with varying lengths, totaling 90 cm in length; 8 pieces of wooden decorative objects, mostly attached decorations on buildings. There are 8 pieces of production tools, mainly including: 1 spinning wheel; 5 pegs; 1 stake; 1 scraper. There are 20 pieces of living tools, mainly including: mortar, bucket, pot, plate, basin, spoon and 2 combs. In addition, there are also wooden chopsticks, wooden spoons, lacquer cups, milk stirrers and other objects. There are 9 miscellaneous objects, mainly including: 2 human-shaped objects; 1 ink dot rod-shaped wooden object.

  4. Bronze artifacts (Total 121 pieces)

  15 pieces. Mainly including: solid three-edged arrowheads; broad-winged three-edged arrowheads, with extremely sharp edges, hollow in the middle and cylindrical in shape, can hold a quiver; flat-bodied arrowheads, with a ridge on the flat body, cross-section is triangular, rounded at the tip, connected to the shaft, slightly concave at the connection point; small arrowheads, etc. 1 cauldron, 9 mirrors, all damaged, 1 pair of tongs; 65 decorative pieces, many varieties, mainly including rings, button decorations, nail rings, hairpins, etc., and small bells. The most exquisite is a flower-shaped ring, with an oval surface, decorated with fine bird-grass patterns inside.

  Ironware (total 48 pieces)

  12 pieces of arrowheads. Mainly include: three-edged arrowhead, triangular body, concave between edges, front edge sharp, rear edge sharp, and the rear edge is connected to the body, cylindrical in shape; four-edged arrowhead, longer body; flat-winged arrowhead, wide and flat body, rounded front edge, two wings at the back, cylindrical rear edge; spade-shaped arrowhead, curved front edge, flat body, square rear edge. 23 pieces of nails. Mainly include: nose nail; square-headed nail, square body, one end flat, one end sharp, about 3.6-5.1 cm long, some with two square-headed iron nails connected to a strip of iron plate in a bridge shape; hook nail, nail head with an additional curved hook.

  6. Lead instruments (20 pieces)

  Mainly include: spindle whorls, 13 pieces of flat round body, with a circular hole in the middle, diameter 1-1.65 cm; and 7 pieces of round platform body, with holes in the middle, circular hole 1.2-1.5 cm.

  7、Glassware 【There are 6 pieces of glassware, all of which are fragments.】

  There are semi-transparent grayish-white, pale red, grass green and blue glass fragments.

  8. Gold, silver, bone utensils and other ornaments

  Gold, silver, bone utensils and other ornaments, totaling 23 pieces. Mainly including: gold ring, silver ring, one piece of skeleton and bone scabbard each, one piece of skeleton decoration, three strings of jade beads. Materials include jade carving, bone, glass, etc. Shapes include round, oval, flat round, cylindrical, diamond-shaped, rectangular, etc. Colors include blue yellow, green, indigo, silver white, gold, gray, etc. In addition, in the city, 4 shells, 4 frog decorations, 2 corals, as well as wheat straw, wheat grains, millet, peach pits and animal bones, horns, etc. were also collected.

  9、Textiles 【Total 58 pieces of textiles.】

  There are four categories: silk, wool, cotton and hemp. Among them, there are 8 pieces of woven products, mainly including brocade, satin and gauze; 39 pieces of woolen products, mainly including woolen cloth, woolen rope, woolen blanket, woolen braid and felt products; 6 pieces of cotton products, which can be divided into cotton cloth and gauze according to the density of weaving, with colors including bright red and plain color; 5 pieces of hemp products, mainly including hemp shoes and hemp rope, all made from local Rob麻 as raw material.

  10. Coins [Coins, 139 pieces in total, 134 complete ones.]

  Among them, the coins belonging to the Western Han Dynasty include 1 Yu Jia half-liang, 5 Wu Zhu, 1 small Wu Zhu, and 1 Qian Lun Wu Zhu; those belonging to the Xin Mang period include 2 Da Quan Wu Shi, 2 Xiao Quan Zhi Yi, and 3 Huo Quan; those belonging to the Eastern Han Dynasty include 14 Wu Zhu (10 complete), 109 Qian Lun Wu Zhu, and 1 Gui Yang Tong Bao.

  Conclusion

  Loulan was one of the thirty-six states in the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, after Zhang Qian's first diplomatic mission to the Western Regions (139-126 BC), he reported to Emperor Wu of Han that "Loulan and Guoshi had city walls and were adjacent to a salt lake." The salt lake refers to the present-day Lop Nur. The ancient city of Loulan was the political, economic, and cultural center of the ancient state of Loulan, and it was also an important transportation hub on the early Silk Road. During the Han and Jin dynasties, it played an important role in China's management and development of the Western Regions. From the Wei and Jin to the Former Liang, a long history was set up here. However, after several centuries of prosperity, the city gradually disappeared with the changes in the natural environment of Lop Nur. According to the Northern Wei historian Li Daoyuan's Commentary on the Water Classic, "The ancient city has been abandoned for a long time." From this, it can be known that during the Northern Wei period, the ancient city of Loulan had already been abandoned. Through this investigation, we obtained a batch of data, which has a certain value for studying the origin, development, and decline of the ancient city of Loulan.

  1. Comparing many microlithic cultural relics collected from the ancient city and its vicinity with those of other microlithic cultural sites in the lower reaches of the Peacock River Delta, this place might be an important gathering point for prehistoric humans.

  2. The existing ancient city should be the architecture of the prosperous stage in history. The chronology of the wooden slips and paper documents unearthed in the ancient city, mostly in the late Cao Wei period and the early Western Jin period, can be inferred that the final formation of the ancient city's shape should also be in this period. From the carbon 14 dating of the door sill wood collected from the large mansion in the ancient city, it is clear that the construction of the large mansion can be traced back to the Eastern Han Dynasty. The fragmented pottery pieces seen on the third floor of the Great Buddha Tower indicate that a considerable number of wooden slips and paper documents were unearthed in the three-room house and its nearby large garbage dump, which suggests that the three-room house should be the site of an official mansion.

  3. The large number of artifacts collected and excavated from the ancient city and its vicinity, apart from production tools and daily necessities, also include silk fabrics and coins from the Central Plains, glassware and coins from the Western Regions, as well as shells, corals, and frog-shaped ornaments from distant lands. These items indicate that this place was an important relay city on the early "Silk Road".

  4. The decline of the ancient city of Loulan is closely related to the changes in the natural environment here. The latest date of the wooden slips unearthed in the city is the 18th year of Jianxing in the Former Liang Dynasty (330 AD). Based on this, it can be inferred that the abandonment of the ancient city of Loulan should have occurred during the Former Liang period, and it is more likely to have occurred in the late Former Liang period.

  Survey: Hou Can

  Drawing: Tuerxun

  Photography: Liu Yusheng

  Note:

  Regarding the longitude and latitude of the ancient city of Loulan, previous data mainly came from Sven Hedin's, and Mr. Huang Wenbiao's "Robu Nuoer Archaeological Record" quoted in the preface, which was marked as 89°40′E, 40°30′N. Stein's 1912 publication "The Desert Ruins of Ancient China" (English edition) attached a map marked as 89°55′E, 40°31′N.

  Stein's "Asian Interior" attached a 1:500,000 map of the Robu Wilderness (1918), which was marked as 89°45′E, 40°30′22″N. However, in the 1922 publication "Ancient Tracks in Central Asia" (also known as the Chinese translation "Stein's Western Expedition Archaeological Record"), a 1:6,000,000 map attached marked it at 90°06′E, 40°29′34″N.

  This time, the data is mainly verified by Zhang Zhanmin, an engineer from the military unit stationed near Robu Wilderness, and the author of this article.

  References:

  ②Hou Can: "On the Development and Decline of Loulan City", China Social Sciences, No. 2, 1984.

  ③"Yadaner" is a Uyghur term meaning wind-erosion landform, which has been adopted by geologists.

  ④Stein's "Western Expedition".

  ⑤Chang Zejun: "The Kingdom of Loulan", Japan Third Civilization Society, 1976 edition.

  ⑥Sven Hedin: "My Explorations", translated by Sun Zhongkuan, Northwest Scientific Expedition Team Series, published in 1933.

  ⑦Shaban: "Stein's Discovery of Han Dynasty Documents in Eastern Turkestan", Oxford University Press, 1931 French edition.

  The exploration of Lop Nur began in 1900, when a Swedish expedition led by Sven Hedin discovered the ancient city of Loulan in the Lop Nur area, unveiling the mysterious veil of the ancient Loulan civilization. Later, British explorer Stein, American Huntington, and Japanese explorer Tachibana Zuicho successively visited the ancient city of Loulan for investigation; In the 1930s, Chinese archaeologist Huang Wenbi also arrived at the Loulan area; After the founding of New China, Xinjiang archaeological experts successively entered the Lop Nur area to conduct scientific investigations on the ancient city of Loulan.

  Loulan was a small country in the Western Regions of ancient China, located on an important section of the Silk Road. The ancient Silk Road went west from Chang'an, through the Hexi Corridor, into Xinjiang, along the southern and northern edges of the Taklamakan Desert, west across the Pamir Plateau, to Central Asia, West Asia and South Asia, and was the only passage to the Mediterranean and European countries. The ancient country of Loulan was at the intersection of the two roads of the Silk Road in the south and north of the Taklamakan, and all passing caravans had to go through Loulan.

  The Loulan people had established a country and possessed cities in the Western Han Dynasty of China. In 77 BC, the Western Han Dynasty sent Pingle Jian Fu Jizi to Loulan to assassinate the former king, establish a new king, change the name of Loulan to Shanshan, move the capital city, and make the original Loulan a city of Shanshan. In the 4th century AD, the country of Loulan disappeared. According to Mu Shunying, a researcher at the Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute, the latest time found in the excavated Loulan artifacts is a wooden slip from the Eastern Jin Dynasty's Jianxing 18th year (330 AD). Historical records show that during the Eastern Jin Dynasty's Long'an 3rd year (399 AD), when the high monk Faxian passed through Lop Nur, this place had become a "dead sea". Faxian described this place as having "no flying birds above and no walking beasts below", with no visible boundaries around, and no reference objects for travelers, with dead people's dry bones serving as road signs.

  After the founding of New China, people's exploration of the Loulan civilization has made progress. Since 1979, Xinjiang cultural relic archaeological personnel have entered the ancient city site of Loulan many times and obtained a large number of archaeological achievements. The surrounding area of the ancient city of Loulan is a dense wind-eroded "Yadan" landform, with an area of about 100,000 square meters. There are official buildings, residential areas, Buddhist pagodas, and temple ruins in the city; there are dry riverbeds, dead poplar forests, and water canal sites in the suburbs. The eastern and northern sides of the ancient city have ancient tombs, Buddhist pagodas, and beacon towers. A large number of ancient artifacts have also been found in the Loulan area. Archaeologists discovered a well-preserved female corpse in an ancient tomb near Loulan, known as the "Loulan Beauty". Many Han Dynasty wooden slips with Chinese characters and Kharosthi script were also found at the site of the ancient city of Loulan, along with Han Dynasty coins, exquisite Han Dynasty lacquerware, and delicate wooden ceramic carvings.