Art and Archaeology of Central Asia

Art and Archaeology of Central Asia: Works in Progress is a Colloquium brings together leading specialists on early cultures of the heart of Eurasia. 

The nine talks will discuss most recent and yet unpublished work on early nomads and sedentary people along the Silk Road.

The event is organized and sponsored by the Department of Fine Arts/Art History, Department of Anthropology, Middle Eastern and Central Asian Program, and Hofstra Cultural Center.

The Colloquium will take place on Saturday, January 26, 2013 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Breslin Hall Room 105 Hofstra University, Hempstead, Long Island, 25 miles east of NYC.

Session I (11:00 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.):

Michael D. Frachetti, Washington University in St. Louis

Agriculture and Mining among Highland Mobile Pastoralists of Semirech’e (3000 - 1500 BCE)

Claudia Chang, Sweet Briar College, Virginia

Progress on the Archaeological Researches on Iron Age settlements on the Talgar Fan

Perry Tourtellott, Sweet Briar College, Virginia

Mortuary and Settlement Landscapes of the Iron Age: Talgar Fan and Beyond

Session II (1:30 p.m. -  4:15 p.m.):

 Pavel Lurje, Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

Personal Names throughout the History of Chorasmia

Fiona Kid, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Some New Thoughts on the Procession Scene in the Paintings of Akchakhan-kala

Anna Feuerbach, Hofstra University

Recent Research on Industrial Remains at Ancient Merv

Session III (4:00 p.m. -  6:00 p.m.): 

 Aleksandr Naymark, Hofstra University

Sogdian Palimpsest Towns

Soeren Stark, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University

Excavations of a Fort in the Kampirak Wall Surrounding the Bukharan Oasis

Zhanara Nauruzbayeva, Columbia University

Nomadism in Kazakhstan's Contemporary Art

For more information contact: Aleksandr Naymark at (516) 463-6305 or aleksandr.naymark@hofstra.edu

Song Blue and White Porcelain on the Silk Road

Adam T. Kessler

Western scholars of ancient Chinese ceramics have long thought blue and white porcelain manufactured before the Ming (1368-1644 A.D.), dates to the Yuan (1279-1368 A.D.). Even in China today these porcelains are still termed “Yuan Blue and White.” Based upon first-hand surveys of sites in Inner Mongolia, Adam T. Kessler’s Song Blue and White Porcelain on the Silk Road demonstrates that blue and white was made during the Song (960-1279 A.D.) ended up in the hands of the Xi Xia (1038-1226 A.D.) and the Jin (1115-1234 A.D.). Blue and white found today in hoards was buried prior to Mongol invasions of China in the 1200s. Sites from the Philippines to Egypt have yielded Song blue and white. Also reviewed is the cobalt-bearing ore used by Song China to create blue and white. [^]

Author:

Adam T. Kessler

Category: 

Art and Architecture -Archaeology

BIC2: 

Ceramics: artworks, Oriental art

Volume: 

27

Series: 

Studies in Asian Art and Archaeology

ISSN: 

1380-782X

ISBN13: 

9789004218598

Publication Year: 

2012

Edition info: 

1

Version: 

Hardback 

Publication Type: 

Book

Pages, Illustrations: 

xiv, 588 pp; 74 pages of illustrations

Imprint: 

BRILL

Language: 

English

Leather as a Currency ?

The following article is written by Sarah E. Bond and (re-)published by Dorothy King on her blog.
Sarah Bond is Assistant Professor of Ancient and late Antique History at Maquette University.
ttp://academic.mu.edu/bond/ 

From: Dorothy King's PhDiva Blog

A wealthy Roman by the name of Valentinus came into possession of an illustrated codex for the year 354 CE. Beyond the lists of consuls, bishops, and kings it transmits, the codex preserves the work of the renowned calligrapher Furius Dionysius Filocalus and immaculate full-page illustrations. However, what caught my eye was a passage from the so-calledChronography of 354 that discusses the reign of the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius (c. 715-673 BCE, if regal dates can even be trusted). 

Numa Pompilius regnavit ann. XLI.  pontifices, virgines Vestales, instituit.  hic duos menses ad X menses Romuli instituit, Ianuarium diis superis, Februarium diis inferis.  hic prior hominibus adinvenit grabata mensas sellas candelabra.  congiarium dedit scortinos asses et militibus donativum aere incisum dipondium semis.

Pompey the Great (57-48 BCE), denarius, with an
obverse depiction of Numa Pompilius. 

“Numa Pompilius reigned for 41 years.  He established the pontiffs and the vestal virgins.  He added two months to the 10 months of Romulus, January with more days and February with less.  He was the first among men to devise beds, tables, chairs and candelabra.  He gave a largess of leather asses and a donative to the soldiers of half a dupondium of engraved metal.”

Leather scraps from Roman Sussex.

The word scortinuscomes from the root word scortum, which means hide (not to be confused with the same word, which can be applied to harlots and prostitutes), but what does the Chronographer means by leatheredasses? (NB: This is a type of Roman coin. The singular being an as.) Moreover, is it possible that Romans even used such types of currency?

As Michael Crawford has established, there are no coin finds in Rome before the third century BCE, and in all likelihood, coinage took flight in Rome no earlier than the late fourth century BCE (1985: 17). Crawford is quick to point out that the dearth of evidence in the archaeological record does not mean a definitive absence overall, it simply is a deficiency of archaeology that things made of perishable material can and do perish. As archaeologists, we rely heavily on the survival of materials, even when in reality early coins may have been made out of materials that do not survive to the present day.

Beyond the material problems, there are also textual ones. Later historians often anachronized their coinage onto the early Roman state and tied its invention to the Regal Period. Pliny the Elder attributed bronze coinage to Servius Tullius (NH. 33.42-4), while Varro said Tullius minted silver coins. Later, Isidore of Seville (16.18.10) would note that the invention came under Numa Pompilius—as had our Chronography of 354. Isidore reasoned that coins were named nummi from Numa, so this is perhaps the root of the confusion.

Still, what of these leather coins? Could they have been real, and, even if Numa used them, is there any other evidence for their usage in antiquity? A passage from Seneca’s De Beneficiis hints that some, particularly the Spartans, did use leather coins: “A man is said to be in debt, whether he owes gold pieces or leather marked with a state stamp, such as the Lacedaemonians used, which passes for coined money” (5.14). According to Aristides (III. To Plato: in Defense of the Four, 104), Carthage adopted a peculiar type of leather currency, perhaps with an object wrapped in leather or another hide and then sealed—though some have suggested they merely traded hides as currency. Ancient historians have been highly critical of the use of leather coinage overall, even though it is clear that in times of financial emergency in particular, leather currency was used.  

In China, under the Han dynasty there is a tale of the use of hides as currency. When the coin devaluation got out of hand, the controlled population of white deer within the imperial park were killed and their hides cut into one foot squares to be used as currency (Qian 1993 [rev.]: 63). 

Billon denaro of Frederick II, Palermo mint (1198-1208). 

In the middle ages, there are in fact numerous instances of the practice. Constantine V may have issued leather coinage to his troops in 743, and the coinage of William I of Sicily (1154-1166) is said to have replaced gold with leather money—although this is based on a later, sixteenth century, source that may or may not be reputable (Grierson and Travaini 1998: 127). Another Sicilian king, Frederick II, allegedly issued leather money during the siege of Faenza (1241-2), as described in two Florentine chronicles. Short on money, Frederick minted coins to give his troops with his image; later he redeemed them for gold. There also appears to be reliable accounts of medieval coin hoards in Britain with leather coinage—though only forgeries exist today. 

Although scholars may argue now and again about whether leather money existed, this will be a difficult argument to conclude unless there is new supporting textual or archaeological evidence uncovered. Difficult but not unheard of. After I informed a friend of the leather shoes found at the British fort of Vindolanda on Hadrian’s wall discussed by Beth Green at the AIA-APA in Seattle, he remarked that this was “A lucky coincidence! I had no idea we had ancient leather.” Indeed, hopefully one day the arid environment of Egypt or perhaps the waterlogged areas of Britain will yield us some leather coins. Until then: I will remain on the fence, but it is worth noting that money can be made of any material, as long as others have faith in it’s meaning. Copper, paper, gold, shells, or leather: money only requires trust and mutual agreement to function as currency.

Further Reading:

Michael H. Crawford, Coinage and Money Under the Roman Republic (Berkeley, 1985). 

Sima Qian, trans. Watson, Records of the Grand Historian: Han Dynasty II (Columbia, 1993 [rev.]). 

Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex-Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity (Berkeley, 1990). 

Lost City of Sanxingdui

Unmasking China's Sanxingdui Ruins

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The Sanxingdui Ruins is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, not only in China but all over the world. It was hailed as “The ninth wonder of the World”. Yet much about the historical site remains a mystery.

Behind the strange bronze masks is one of the origins of Chinese civilization. They were all unearthed from the Sanxingdui Ruins, located in Guanghan City of southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

It all began when a farmer came across jadewares while digging a ditch in the spring of 1929. This opened the door to an unknown culture between 3,000 to 5,000 years old.

In 1986, Archaeologists found two large-scale sacrificial pits dating from the Shang Dynasty some 3,000 years ago. Thousands of rare treasures were dug out. This made a quite a stir. It was hailed as “the ninth wonder of the World”. Experts dug out large numbers of strange bronze images and animals from the ruins. None of them are marked with characters.

To this day, discoveries at the Sanxingdui site continue to be an enigma. Still, no texts have been unearthed and no historical records of the Sanxingdui culture have been found in the annals of nearby areas, casting a cloud of mystery over the entire site. The culture that produced the artefacts continues to mystify archaeologists.

Related story:

Foundations of Ancient building unveiled in Southwest China

01-16-2013 14:56 BJT

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In the 1930’s, the remains of a 500-year-old city were discovered at Sanxingdui in southwest China. Now archaeologists working at the site have discovered the foundations of a building they believe could help unlock the secrets of the lost city.

The newly discovered foundations are made of clay and pebble. It covers an area of around 900 square meters and is rectangular in shape. Archaeologists say the building would have contained between six to eight rooms laid out symmetrically. Jade and ivory have been discovered in more than ten locations at the Sanxingdui site. Some of the ivory has been badly weathered. A debate over the purpose of this newly discovered building is now firing the imaginations of archaeologists the world over.

Lei Yu, associate researcher of Sichuan Archaeological Research Inst., said,"Based on the current evidence, I personally think it’s a temple or has something to do with sacrificial ceremonies. We used to think they were palaces, but there are no obvious features to support that. "

Some experts have suggested that it may only have been used as a warehouse.

Liu Xu, professor of School Of Archaeology, Peking Univ., said, "I think it’s a warehouse. But given its grand size, it was probably no ordinary warehouse. It probably would have belonged to someone very important. "

The Sanxingdui site was discovered in the 1930s, but the wealth of artefacts buried here are 5000 years old and date back to the Shang Dynasty. Archaeologists hope the new discoveries will help create a more detailed narrative of what life was like in this mysterious city.

Source: CCTV.com

IDP Newsletter No. 40 is out

IDP News Issue No. 40

• Dandan-Uiliq: The Sino-Japanese Mission
• Archaeology of the Southern Taklamakan: Hedin and Stein’s Legacy and New Explorations
• In the Footsteps of Grünwedel: Conservation and Research on Central Asian Wall Paintings
• Scientific Analysis of the Kizil Wall Paintings of the Asian Art Museum, Berlin
• Buddhist Art Forum
• Publications and Journals
• Exhibitions
• Donor Profile
• Obituary: Werner Sundermann (1935–2012)
• IDP Worldwide
• IDP UK

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Written Sogdian Letters

Every information is relative. The following blog post is "old" information but new in relation to the topic concerned. 
Written information stays always one of the most interesting items in archaeology. I followed recently an interesting  talk about the findings in Mes Aynak in Afghanistan and one of the photo's showed a few syllables written text, however hardly visible and too damaged to draw any conclusion.  The following 10 minutes and the questions at the end of the reading however were entirely devoted to this photo.
Almost complete letters from the 4th Century AD are so special that I had to republish them as they give an enormous pleasure, just reading them (and because they were found by Aurel Stein!)

Letters of the Sogdians

1, 2, 3, and 5

translated by

Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams
School of Oriental and African Studies
University of London

Introduction by
Prof. Daniel C. Waugh
University of Washington

Sogdian merchants from Penjikent in western Tajikistan

The Sogdians, a people of Iranian origin, were important in the commerce of the Silk Road between the fourth and ninth centuries CE. From their home in the region near today's Samarkand in Central Asia (their core territory straddled what is now southern Uzbekistan and Western Tajikistan), Sogdian merchants traveled across Eurasia. Chinese chronicles noted their commercial acumen; members of the Sogdian colonies established in China came to function as administrators. The Sogdian language was used widely for communication along the trade routes, and Sogdians were among the translators of Buddhist scriptures in China. The Sogdian presence in what is now northern Pakistan is attested by inscriptions carved on rocks in the remote mountain valleys through which the trade routes passed. Archaeologists have uncovered in the Sogdian city states of Central Asia impressive architecture and painting which help document a flourishing cosmopolitan urban culture of a people who themselves never created a great empire.

Among the most important documents of Sogdian history are five nearly complete letters, discovered in 1907 by the famous British archaeologist Aurel Stein in a Chinese watch tower just west of the Jade Gate, a fortified outpost guarding the western approaches to the administrative and cultural center of Dunhuang (at the western end of today's Gansu Province). Stein's discovery was some 90 km. west of Dunhuang and 550 km. east of Lou-lan, another important outpost on the southern branch of the silk route, which skirted the Taklamakan Desert. It seems likely that the letters were confiscated by a Chinese garrison at a time when Chinese control this far west was being threatened. While there has been considerable controversy over the dating of the letters, the most persuasive arguments (supported by Prof. Sims-Williams and his colleagues) point to 313 (-314) C.E. Two of the letters were sent by a lady in distress who had been abandoned in Dunhuang (nos. 1 and 3); the other two letters reproduced here (nos. 2 and 5) concern commercial activity of the writers. While a whole archive of Sogdian documents from several centuries later has been discovered in Central Asia, the Sogdian ancient letters are the earliest substantial examples of Sogdian writing and thus provide extremely important information about the early history of the Sogdian diaspora along the eastern end of the silk route.

The author of letter 2 likely was resident in Jincheng (today, Lanzhou), a town in Gansu at the gateway to the Hexi Corridor, the passage between the southern mountains and northern deserts which leads to Dunhuang. He was writing to the "home office" in Samarkand. The first part of the letter concerns the Sogdian diaspora in China and contains the information about the destruction by the Huns of two important Chinese cities, Yeh and the then capital, Luoyang (the latter occurred in 311 CE). The second part of the letter concerns the distribution of funds that the writer had apparently left on deposit at home.

The author of letter 5 was writing from Guzang, the modern Wu-wei, located northwest of Luoyang in the Hexi Corridor. The addressee of the letter may have been resident in Khotan, an important town along the southern silk route just before it crosses the Pamir Mountains to reach the oases of Transoxania, the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. This letter also refers to the chaos and difficult conditions in China; the author's position had apparently been made the more difficult when his commercial partner, Ghawtus, abandoned him. Thus the author was forced to return from Dunhuang to Guzang.

The letters include the names of several products--silver, linen and a kind of unprocessed cloth, musk (whose source was Tibet), pepper, and "white" (probably white lead powder, a valuable commodity used in cosmetics and drugs). Unfortunately the meaning of some terms for other products is not known. It appears from the quantities mentioned that the trade was relatively small-scale and, as we might expect, focused on goods with high value for the weight.

Sogdian Ancient Letter No. 1

[Verso] From her daughter, the free-woman Miwnay, to her d[ear] mother [Chatis].

[Recto] [From her dau]ghter, the free-woman Mi[wnay], to her dear [mother] Chatis, blessing and homage. It would be a good day for him who might [see] you healthy and at ease; and [for me] that day would be the best when we ourselves might see you in good health. I am very anxious to see you, but have no luck. I petitioned the councillor Sagharak, but the councillor says: Here there is no other relative closer to Nanai-dhat than Artivan. And I petitioned Artivan, but he says: Farnkhund ..., and I refuse to hurry, I refuse to ... And Farnkhund says: If your husband’s relative does not consent that you should go back to your mother, how should I take you? Wait until ... comes; perhaps Nanai-dhat will come.  I live wretchedly, without clothing, without money; I ask for a loan, but no-one consents to give me one, so I depend on charity from the priest. He said to me: If you go, I will give you a camel, and a man should go with you, and on the way I will look after you well. May he do so for me until you send me a letter!

Sogdian Ancient Letter No. 2

[Envelope] . . . should send and bring [this] letter to Samarkand. And [the noble lord Varzakk . . . should receive(?)] it all(?) [complete(?)]. Sent [by his] servant Nanai-vandak.

[Verso] To the noble lord Varzakk (son of) Nanai-thvar (of the family) Kanakk. Sent [by] his servant Nanai-vandak.

[Recto] To the noble lord Varzakk (son of) Nanai-thvar (of the family) Kanakk, 1,000 (and) 10,000 (times) blessing (and) homage on bended knee, as is offered to the gods, sent by his servant Nanai-vandak. And, sirs, (it would be) a good day for him who might see you happy (and) free from illness; and, sirs, (news of) your (good) health having been heard (by me), I consider myself immortal!

And, sirs, Armat-sach in Jiuquan (is) safe (and) well and Arsach in Guzang (is) safe (and) well. And, sirs, it is three years since a Sogdian came from "inside" [i.e. from China]. I settled(?) Ghotam-sach, and (he is) safe (and) well. He has gone to Kwrynk, and now no-one comes from there so that I might write to you about the Sogdians who went "inside," how they fared (and) which countries they reached. And, sirs, the last emperor, so they say, fled from Luoyang because of the famine, and fire was set to his palace and to the city, and the palace was burnt and the city [destroyed]. Luoyang (is) no more, Ye (is) no more! Moreover, the . . . Huns(?), and they . . . Changan, so that they hold(?) it(?) . . . as far as N'yn'ych and as far as Ye, these (same) Huns [who] yesterday were the emperor's (subjects)! And, sirs, we do not know wh[ether] the remaining Chinese were able to expel the Huns [from] Changan, from China, or (whether) they took the country beyond(?). And [. . . in . . . there are] a hundred freemen from Samarkand . . . in [. . .] Dry'n there are forty men. And, sirs, your [. . . it is] three years since [. . . came] from "inside" . . . unmade (cloth)(?). And from Dunhuang up to Jincheng in . . . to sell, linen cloth is going [= selling well?], and whoever has unmade (cloth)(?) or raghzak (which is) not (yet) brought (to market)(?), not (yet) taken, [can](?) sell [all](?) of it . . . And, sirs, as for us, whoever dwells (in the region) from Ji[ncheng](?) up to Dunhuang, we (only) survive [lit. "have breath"] so long as the . . . lives, and (we are) without family(?), both old and on the point of death. If this were not (so), [I would] not be ready(?) to write to you (about) how we are. And, sirs, if I were to write to you everything (about) how China has fared, (it would be) beyond(?) grief: there is no profit for you (to gain) therefrom. And, sirs, it is eight years since I sent Saghrak and Farn-aghat "inside" and it is three years since I received a reply from there. They were well . . ., (but) now, since the last evil occurred, I do [not] receive a reply from there (about) how they have fared. Moreover, four years ago I sent another man named Artikhu-vandak. When the caravan departed from Guzang, Wakhush[akk] the . . . was there, and when they reached Luoyang, bo[th the . . .] and the Indians and the Sogdians there had all died of starvation. [And I] sent Nasyan to Dunhuang, and he went "outside" [i.e. out of China] and entered (Dunhuang), (but) now he has gone without (obtaining) permission from me, and he has (received) a great retribution and was struck dead in the . . .

Lord Varzakk, my greatest hope is in your lordship! Pesakk (son of) Dhruwasp-vandak holds 5[...]4 staters from me and he put it on deposit(?), not to be transferred, and you should hold [it . . .] sealed from now (on), so that without (my) permission . . . Dhruwasp-van[dak] . . .

[Lord] Nanai-thvar, you should remind Varzakk that he should withdraw this deposit(?), and you should (both) count [it], and if the latter is to hold it, then you should (both) add(?) the interest to the capital and put it in a transfer document, and you (Nanai-thvar) should give this too to Varzakk. And if you (both) think (it) fit that the latter should not hold it, then you should (both) take it and give it to someone else whom you do think fit, so that this money may thereby become more. And, behold, (there is) a certain orphan . . . dependent(?) on this income(?), and if he should live and reach adulthood [lit. "years"], and he has no hope of (anything) other than this money, then, Nanai-thvar, (when) it should be heard that Takut has departed(?) to the gods -- the gods and my father’s soul (will) be a support(?) to you! -- and when Takhsich-vandak is grown up [lit. "big"], then give him a wife and do not send him away from yourself. Mortal(?) gratification(?) has departed(?) from us(?) in the . . ., because (from) day (to) day we expect murder(?) and robbery. And when (the two of) you need cash, then you (Nanai-thvar) should take either 1,000 staters or 2,000 staters out of the money. And Wan-razmak sent to Dunhuang for me 32 (vesicles of) musk belonging to Takut so that he might deliver them to you. When they are handed over you should make five shares, and therefrom Takhsich-vandak should take three shares, and Pesakk (should take) one share, and you (should take) one share.

[Verso] This letter was written [lit. "made"] when it was the year thirteen of Lord Chirth-swan in the month Taghmich.

Sogdian woman from fresco at Penjikent in western Tajikistan  

Sogdian Ancient Letter No. 3

[Verso] From (his) daughter Shayn to the noble lord Nanai-dhat.

[On another part of the verso] From (his) servant [left unfinished].

[Recto] To (my) noble lord (and) husband Nanai-dhat, blessing (and) homage on bended knee, as is offered to the gods. And (it would be) a good day for him who might see you healthy, happy (and) free from illness, together with everyone; and, sir, when I hear (news of) your (good) health, I consider myself immortal!

Behold, I am living ..., badly, not well, wretchedly, and I consider myself dead. Again and again I send you a letter, (but) I do not receive a (single) letter from you, and I have become without hope towards you. My misfortune is this, (that) I have been in Dunhuang for three years thanks(?) to you, and there was a way out a first, a second, even a fifth time, (but) he(!) refused to bring me out. I requested the leaders that support (should be given) to Farnkhund for me, so that he may take me to (my) husband and I would not be stuck in Dunhuang, (for) Farnkhund says: I am not Nanai-dhat’s servant, nor do I hold his capital. I also requested thus: If he refuses to take me to (my) husband, then ... such support for me that he may take me to (my) mother. The leaders say: Here in Dunhuang there is no other relative closer than Artivan, (but) Artivan [say]s: Farnkhund ... whatever ... to do for you. If(?) I(?) (had) no guarantee, no protection, my father ... I have become ... not ... How much more would I have ... by my father if ... a servant of the Chinese! A free man ... who found ... and ... keeps (his) clothing in good condition(?). And you write (your) bidding to me about everything in ... so that I should ... you and I should know how to think, and if I do not ... you, then you write to me so that I should know how to serve the Chinese. In my paternal abode I did not have such a restricted ... as with(?) you. I obeyed your command (lit. took your command upon my head) and came to Dunhuang and I did not observe (my) mother’s bidding nor (my) brothers’. Surely(?) the gods were angry with me on the day when I did your bidding! I would rather be a dog’s or a pig’s wife than yours! And for me ...

Sent by (your) servant Miwnay. This letter was written in the third month on the tenth day.

[Added in the margin] From (his) daughter Shayn to the noble lord Nanai-dhat, blessing (and) homage. And (it would be) a good [day] for him [who] might see [you] healthy, rested (and) happy. ... I have become ... and I watch over a flock of domestic animals. Differently to you, I had a ..., and ... went out. I am ... and I know that you do not lack twenty staters(?) to send. It is necessary to consider the whole (matter). Farnkhund has run away; the Chinese seek him but do not find him. Because of Farnkhund’s debts we have become the servants of the Chinese, I together with (my) mother.

Sogdian Ancient Letter No. 5

[Verso] To the noble lord, the chief merchant Aspandhat. -- [Sent] by your servant [Fri-khwataw].

[Recto] To the noble lord Aspandhat, blessing (and) homage. And (it would be) a [good] day [for him] who might see you healthy (and) safe, happy, free from illness (and) content. Fr[om Fri-khwataw] your servant. And [for me the] day (would be still) better if [I might see] you [my]self [and] might pay homage to you from nearby, [as] (homage is offered) to the gods.

[From] inside (China) [I] have heard worse, not better, (news) day (by) day, and whatever I might write concerning A[khurmaztakk](?), how he himself went (away) and what he had . . . I have become isolated, and, behold, I stay here in Guzang and I do not go hither (and) thither, and there is no caravan(?) (departing) from here. In Guzang (there are) 4 bundles of "white" for dispatch, and 2,500 (measures of)(?) pepper for dispatch, and a doubleprasthaka of n’y)t, and 5 prasthakas of rysk, and half a stater of silver. When Ghawtus went (away) from Guzang I went after him, and I came to Dunhuang, (but) I was prevented(?) from straying(?) outside (China). (If) . . . Ghawtus had seen [=found?] a level route, then I would have brought out the "Blacks." Many Sogdians were ready to leave, (but) they could not leave, for Ghawtus went by(?) the mountains. I(?) would (have) remain(ed) at Dunhuang, but they [=the Sogdian inhabitants] were destitute. I depend(?) on charity(?) from your 'pr'k, for I am serving(?) . . . in Guzang, and [they . . .] me, and they make me . . ., and they obtain my . . ., [and] they increase (it) with our . . . And . . . I am very wretched, and . . . the . . .

I heard thus: Kharstrang [owed(?)] you twenty staters of silver, and he declared(?) thus: I (will) bring(?) (it). He gave me the silver, and I weighed it, and (there were only) four and a half staters altogether. I asked: If he [sent] twenty staters, why do you give me four and a half staters? He said thus: Aspandhat found me on the way and he gave (it) to me(?). {He said thus: (There are) seven and a half staters of silver.} And for four staters I obtained four loads of 'st(km). And the "Blacks" took the silver, for they said thus: We(?) have no money. For (according to them it is) better (that) I should be wretched than they! (If) you should hear how Akhurmaztakk has done me harm, then you should pay heed (to this) too.

Sent by your servant Fri-khwataw. This letter was written from Guzang in the third month on the thirtieth (day).

Sogdian merchant from Penjikent

Discovering China : The Song Dynasty

Comparing Ancient Worlds: Greece and China

Comparing Ancient Worlds: Greece and China

University of Cambridge Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities [CRASSH]

Thursday 24th January -
Saturday 26th January

Needham Research Institute, 8 Sylvester Road, Cambridge, CB3 9AF

This conference will bring together influential Sino-Hellenic comparativists from all over the world, as well as classicists and sinologists in Cambridge. It is hoped that it will encourage dialogue and innovative thinking between different subfields of Sino-Hellenic studies, and promote comparative approaches to the study of ancient Greece and China. As well as being a celebration of the birth and development of Sino-Hellenic studies, the conference will also be a celebration of the birthday of Sir Geoffrey (25 January 2013), who has made significant contribution towards Sino-Hellenic studies in a number of ways. It is hoped that the conference will give a headstart to a long-term programme of “comparing ancient worlds” in Cambridge, and contribute towards establishing Cambridge as an international centre for Sino-Hellenic studies.

The main conference is by invitation only, but there will be a public event open to all at CRASSH in the Alison Richard Building. Details will be published online nearer towards the event.

Xiongnu Gold from panning in Mongolia

Where Did The Ancient Xiongnu Get Their Gold?

Cultural Heritage: Platinum levels suggest Xiongnu people of Mongolia produced their own gold jewelry

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Precious Metal

The Xiongnu people, who lived in Mongolia in the second and third centuries B.C., valued gold in the form of decadent jewelry and crowns.

Credit: Gary Todd

Warrior nomads in Mongolia called the Xiongnu had a taste for the finer things in life, particularly gold jewelry, which they wore to their graves. Archeologists have wondered whether the gold objects found in second- and third-century B.C. Xiongnu burial sites originated from local deposits. Perhaps, researchers thought, the objects were gifts from the Chinese, who had a tumultuous relationship with their neighbors that alternated between warring and intermarrying.

Experiments using a synchrotron X-ray source now suggest that the Xiongnu gold originated from local panning in Mongolia instead of Chinese mines, says Martin Radtke, a physicist at Germany’s Federal Institute for Materials Research & Testing, in Berlin. Radtke’s team was invited to collaborate with researchers in Paris at the Center for Research & Restoration of Museums of France to pinpoint the likely geographical provenance of the Xiongnu gold (Anal. Chem., DOI: 10.1021/ac3025416).

Figuring out the gold’s provenance by a standard technique, such as studying the isotope composition of trace elements in the metal, was not possible, Radtke says. That’s because the method requires removing a small sample, which was not an option for the rare Xiongnu artifacts.

So the researchers turned to synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (XRF), a noninvasive technique, and looked for the presence of platinum impurities in some 30 Xiongnu gold foils found in four tombs. They reasoned that if the Xiongnu had sourced the gold locally, they would have done so by panning, which leaves traces of platinum in the gold, Radtke says. Meanwhile if they found no platinum, the results would point toward a Chinese origin, since the mining techniques used by the Chinese during this point in history would have resulted in gold that was very low in platinum.

Unfortunately for the researchers, looking for trace platinum in gold using XRF is challenging because the signal for platinum is buried in the signal for gold. So the scientists employed a few experimental tricks to sidestep this problem.

First they adjusted the wavelength of the excitation energy to preferentially excite platinum signals. Next they measured or modeled the XRF spectra of all possible trace elements in the gold artifacts, such as tin, copper, and silver, and then subtracted these individual element spectra from the overall spectrum of the gold artifacts. The result was a spectrum that corresponded to that of platinum, suggesting that the origin of the artifacts was indeed the Xiongnu people themselves.

 

Source: American Chemical Society

Opening Shanghai Yuan Dynasty Water Gate Museum

A Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) water gate site excavated in Putuo district was hailed as one of China's top 10 archaeological discoveries of 2006. And on December 31, 2012, the Shanghai Yuan Dynasty Water Gate Museum, which is built on top of the site of these relics, was officially opened to the public.

The water gate is recognized as among the biggest and best preserved Yuan Dynasty sites of its kind ever discovered in the country.

Back in 2001, the site was accidentally chanced upon when a steel drill penetrated through a layer of limestone slabs and a level of wooden joists, all of which were seven to 12 meters below the surface of the ground.

The inside of the museum

Unexpected discovery

"It was the discovery of hourglass-shaped iron tenons used to fix the limestone slabs that made experts aware of what had been found," said Zhang Lan, the executive director of the Shanghai History Museum, which is in charge of operating the museum. "These iron tenons are shaped like the yuanbao (gold ingots) that were officially named during the Yuan Dynasty. So archeologists quickly realized that whatever they had found was possibly connected with that era."

From 2001 to 2006, the 1,500-square meter site was gradually uncovered in front of excited archeologists. And according to an analysis of the soil layers, as well as examining excavated upright wooden posts which had Phags-pa letters (an alphabet created for the Yuan emperor Kublai Khan (1215-1294), as a unified script for the literary languages of the era) engraved on them, the date of the construction was conclusively declared to have been during the Yuan Dynasty.

Referring to a book called A Collection of Essays on Water Conservation written by the Shanghai-born Yuan Dynasty official Ren Renfa, who built 10 water gates from 1304 to 1324, the site was finally recognized as Zhidan Yuan, one of the six water gates built by Ren in 1324.

The museum roof is shaped to resemble water flowing through such a water gate, and the museum also showcases the wider scenic landscape of the site, including the water gate, the stone ground on either side of the gate, the two limestone walls that extend tens of meters sideways from the water gate and two meters high, and hundreds of wooden posts outside the limestone walls.

A model of the water gate

The tide was high

Walking along the glass floor that encircles the outer boundary of the water gate, visitors can examine the construction of this ancient site from a variety of angles.

The water gate was built to dam and wash away the silt that had built up in the water due to the rising tides of the sea. When the tide came in, the gate was closed to stop the water and silt outside, and when the tide went out, the gate was opened to release fresh water from the river to wash away the remaining silt.

A cutaway diagram reproduction of the groundwork of the water gate depicts clearly the solid structure of the site. From the bottom to the top layer are, respectively, upright wooden posts, long wooden joists, compactly-laid wooden flooring, and flat and smooth limestone slabs.

There are some 10,000 wooden posts as part of the site, with only one fifth of the total being uncovered. The rest have been left under the earth to better safeguard their protection. Most of the wooden posts contain carvings with phags-pa letters.

"Chinese people have an old saying, wu le gong ming, which means that products should be inscribed with the names of their producers to guarantee their quality. And the inscriptions on those wooden posts shows that they were considered of the best quality at that time," Zhang told the Global Times.

The construction of the water gate site was strictly carried out in accordance with the State Building Standards, an official book compiled in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Along the glass walkway visitors can see projections of a series of 12 images taken from the book, detailing the individual steps in the construction process.

A cutaway diagram reproduction of the groundwork of the water gate

Urgent priority

Since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the Wusong River, which is called Suzhou Creek once it enters Shanghai, has long been an important channel for Taihu Lake in Jiangsu Province to exit into the sea.

According to ancient documents, the width of the Wusong River decreased from 10 kilometers to only 500 meters between the Tang and Yuan dynasties, which made it an urgent priority for officials to build water conservation projects in order to stop the river from drying out.

And Zhidan Yuan became one such project on the river, even though the site of the water gate is now more than one kilometer away from Suzhou Creek. How the course of the river has actually changed throughout history is still unknown, according to Zhang. The other mystery raised by the water gate site is where exactly the other nine Shanghai projects by Ren are located.

Also on view in the museum are excavated items such as wooden tamping hammers, fish bone fossils, and ancient coins, as well as celadon washers (to wash painting and calligraphy brushes) and bowls from the Longquan ware kiln, most of which were produced in Longquan city in Zhejiang Province.

Date: All year, 9 am to 4 pm (closed on Mondays)

Venue: Shanghai Yuan Dynasty Water Gate Museum

元代水闸遗址博物馆

Address: 619 Yanchang Road West

延长西路619号

Admission: Free, but visitors need to show their ID cards or passports to get an admission ticket, and group visitors of more than 10 people should make a reservation two days in advance.

Call 1521-4380-020 for details