Art. XII.—Archœological Work about Khotan.

Abstract

Ever since an accidental discovery, some thirty-five years ago, at Yōtkan, a village of the Borazān tract, disclosed remains of the ancient capital of Khotan, the layers of its débris, deeply buried under alluvial soil, have been regularly mined and washed for ‘treasure’ by the villagers. The great mass of the highly interesting finds of ancient art pottery, engraved stones, and early Khotan coins with Kharoṣṭhī-Chinese legends, which have recently been so thoroughly examined in Dr. Hoernle's report on the “British Collection of Central-Asian Antiquities,” has come from this site. The detailed examination of the great excavations made in the course of the treasure - seeking operations furnished interesting evidence as to the way in which those remains are embedded in layers of decomposed rubbish, evidently the accumulations of centuries. It also showed conclusively that the layer of earth (loess), from 9 to 20 feet deep at various points, which covers these ‘culture-strata,’ is due solely to silt deposit, the necessary result of intensive irrigation, and not to any great flood or similar catastrophe such as has been assumed by some earlier visitors of the site.