Other Relics in Ancient City of loulan

(1) Ancient city of Haitou

In 1988, after 32 days hard work with the help of an army, an archaeological team for Lop Nor historical relics, organized by the historical Relics office of Cultural Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, found two ancient cities and one of them was Haitou”(numbered Ik ancient city by stein) in the southwest of the Ancient City of loulan. The archaeologists mapped the first domestic topographic map about these twe ancient cities and collected a batch of precious cultural relic specimens to further fill up the blank of the archaeology in the Lop Nor region

(2) The Ruins of Milan

The Ruins of Milan, 80km away from the east of Charkhlik County and 2km away from the Thirty sixth Corp of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, are situated in the great Taklimakan Desert

The relics mainly include Milan city walls, two Buddhist temples and a cemetery. Big holes are visible here and there along the wall feet of the city was once cultivated in the Han Dynasty of China. But there is an argument n walls and the Buddhist temples. Milan, belonging to the ancient City of loula that milan was a new capital after the loulan kingdom moved the capital Excellent murals with Indian cultural characteristics”-Winged angels, as well as wooden slips inscribed with tibetan of tubo of the 8 to centuries, were once discovered here. Milan is an important historical site for revealing themysterious rise and fall of the ancient City of Loulan, an important area for spreading the buddhism eastwards from Xinjiang into Chinese mainland, and a witness of the communication between tubo and the western regions which rare in historical records. In the Western Han Dynasty, Milan was Yixun City administrated by the loulan kingdom. It was called”Tubeauty Castle”in the Uyghur language, meaning”the city for farmers In the tang dynasty milan was occupied and constructed as a military castle by tubo

The relics are divided into three parts in total, namely an ancient garrisonfort, a Reclamation area and a buddhist temple. the buddhist temple relic is most magnificent. The excavated reclamation area and buildings are as large as 4km so the relic is sizeable.

With a total area of 2,100m² the ancient garrison fort was rectangular 70m long from east to west and 30m long from south to north the wall with width of 2m was 2. 5m away from the earth’s surface in the city and 5m away from the earth’s surface outside the city. Most damp-proof courses and reinforced building materials were rose willow branches, and 20% were Populus diversifolia branches

In the reclamation area, sixteen living houses for cultivation soldiers and one iron-making furnace were distributed along a diversion channel which was 10-20m wide and 37km long along the southeast of the castle. 16 communities for tonden residents and a historic site of blooming furnace are distributed there

The buddhist temples were composed of 8 pagodas and 3 buddhist temples. The three Buddhist temples were respectively located in the east, the south and the west. The buddhist temple in the east was a representative building, the temple in the south was a building painted in traditional Chinese style, and the temple in the west focused on an artistic style of GandharaAccording to most historical records famous monks in ancient china such as Faxian, Huisheng and Xuanzang, passed through Milan on their westward way to India, and gave lectures on Buddhist doctrines and worshipped Buddha here

A great number of inscribed wooden slips about tubo culture, letters and statues have been unearthed from the ruins of milan

(3) Ancient City of Washixia

Waxxari is also called Cupped Stone Canyon and Barsh Shire, so the anciet city is also known as Nuzhi city. Situated in sand dunes near the southwest of Boziyer village of Washixia Township 80km west of Charkhlik county of Xinjiang, the ancient City of Washixia was an important economic town of the Ancient City of Loulan as well as a living center for Sute people in Central Asia

(4) Xiaohe Cemetery

An expedition encamped on the bank of the kum river of loulan in may of 1934. They went to seek one ancient cemetery famous for “One Thousand Coffins”hidden in the Kum River Basin. During two months Lop Nor guider Camel Hunter Aoerdeke et al searched repeatedly but in vain Even aoerdeke himself guessed that the ancient tomb had been submerged by new rivers andlakes over the past decades or reburied by a particular strong black storm

At the end of the month, the expedition advanced to the oasis closer to the southwest of the Lop Nor wasteland. Soon, they discovered a river flowing to the southeast. The river was 20m wide with a total length about 120km and the flow rate of the water in the river was slow, and a string of small lakes and marshes were surrounded by reeds and raised willows. It was a new river appearing after the recovery of the kum River, and its history was less than 10 years. They temporarily gave a name”Stream”to the river before they entered the desert along the river. there was a small round hill about 4-5km away from the east coast of the”Stream”. Seen from afar, dense dead standing treeswere on the top of the hill, and the dense dead standing trees were 4-5m highIt was strange that the row spacing of the dead standing trees was very short One tree was connected with another, supporting each other. On the hi mummies, skeletons and dismembered bodies, large wooden boards and thick wool fabric pieces were everywhere. In a boat-shaped wooden coffin, there was a well-preserved female corpse. Once the coffin was opened, the dense shrouds weathered into powder with just a touch. After a piece of rotten cloth was uncovered from the face, a beautiful young girl with her eyes being closed, lips slightly rising up and face appearing a mysterious and understanding smile was just like being charmed to fall asleep a moment ago. this was the legendary Loulan Princess”or”Lop Nor Queen “. She had been sleeping for over 2,000 years under the desert. Having long hair down to her shoulders, she was petite and just 5.2ft tall(about 158cm)

At the hill top with an area of 10 x 16m, there were great painted wooden columns, exquisite wooden fences, and wooden statues as large as real human beings and conspicuous ancestral halls (ground buildings of the cemetery) Experts firmly believed that it was not built for ordinary Loulan people, but an mportant mausoleum

In 1998, a group of archaeologists arrived in the Lop Nor desert after experiencing and suffering hardships and obstacles. they were surprised to see that a number of traces similar to abandoned walls were completely exposee under the yellow sky. Guided by a Lop Nor centenarian, the archaeologists confirmed that it was a ruined village of lop Nor people

The stream might be one ancient Loulan relic-a public cemetery for residents of the ancient city. Through research and excavation by the explorers and archaeologists over a hundred years, a great number of large-scale tombs and funerary objects have been discovered in the Lop nor desert. perhaps, there are more relics undiscovered in the ancient City of Loulan silenced for thousands of years

(5) Tomb of the Sun

Situated in the north shore of the ancient watercourse of the peacock river the”Tomb of the Sun “was discovered by the archaeologists Hou Can and Wang binghua in the winter of 1979. There were dozens of ancient tombs. For each ancient tomb, a grave of the dead, surrounded by round timber piles, was located at the center and 7 circles surrounded by timber piles higher than one chi were located outside. 7 rays were formed in a sun radiation shape Proved by C14 test, the”Tomb of the Sun”was built 3, 800 years ago. Which nationality and which tribe did the tomb belong to? Why was it built here?here did these people live? Did they use the sun as a totem to construct the omb or for other sense else… as decades passed these questions are still mysteries. What happened to nearly 2,000 years of discontinuity between theLop Nor culture and the Loulan culture? Perhaps, there is a conclusion when the mysteries about the”tomb of the sun”are solved

The Loulan Beauty belonging to the Indo-European race about 3, 800 years ago was unearthed here. Almost 10 ancient human relics were discovered Some human relics such as stone balls, handmade gaza pottery fragments, bronze pieces, three-edge winged bronze arrowheads, animal bones and semitransparent beads were exposed on the surface of the yellow land not completely covered by the sand dunes. and some stone knives, stone lances, stone arrow points, small flakes, cores and so on of about 5,000-6,000 years ago were also discovered. These discoveries clearly show that Loulan without a blade of grass today was indeed a green field with a forest coverage rate of 40% from the late Neolithic Age and the bronze age to the early Han Dynasty

The mysteries of the Loulan Beauty

The well known Loulan Beauty”was unearthed in 1980. The archaeologist found a well-preserved ancient female corpse in the Tieban River Basin of LopNor Her skin was russet and slightly elastic, and she had a very clear facial profile with big and deep eyes, a high and narrow nose bridge, and a pointed and cocked chin By image processing, a beauty lived thousands of years ago vividly appeared in front of people. the ancient female corpse was discovered near the mysterious Ancient City of loulan, so it was named “Loulan Beauty ”

The “Loulan Beauty”was discovered in one cemetery situated in the Tieban River delta at the downstream of the peacock river both her skin and nails ere well preserved the beauty was covered by a piece of sheepskin and a woolen blanket. The edge of the blanket on her bosom was pinned by a sharp branch. the lower part of her body was also covered by the sheepskin. She was aring a pair of shoes made of turnover fur on her feet and a felt cap on her head. Two protruding tips were inserted on the cap. Who is she and why was she buried in this deserted place? These questions have been the mysteries in archaeology

The “Loulan Beauty”is the earliest ancient corpse unearthed in Xinjiang so far. The “Loulan Beauty”with big and deep eyes, thigh and narrow nose and pointed and cocked chin had distinct characteristics of Eurasians. But concerning the questions of which specific race the group represented by the corpse belonged to and whether she was native or migrated from other places before her death there are different opinions in archaeology so far

Now, the “Loulan Beauty” is preserved in the museum of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region