Dandan Oilik (), also Dandān-Uiliq, ''lit.'' "the houses with ivory", is an abandoned historic oasis town and
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
site in the
Taklamakan Desert
The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and T ...
Khotan
Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...
in what is now the autonomous region of
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, between the
Khotan
Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...
and Keriya rivers. The central site covers an area of 4.5 km2; the greater oasis extends over an area of 22 km2. The site flourished from the sixth century as a site along the southern branch of the Silk Road
until its abandonment before the Tibetan advance at the end of the eighth century.
Dandan Oilik was rediscovered and partially excavated by a succession of foreign explorers starting in 1896, and has yielded rich finds including manuscripts, stucco reliefs, painted wooden panels, and murals. A detailed survey was conducted in 2006 although much of the site remains unexcavated. Dandan Oilik is currently off-limits to the public.
Rediscovery
After over a millennium of abandonment to the shifting sands, Dandan Oilik was rediscovered in 1896 by Swedish explorer Sven Hedin. Leaving his baggage in Khotan, Hedin set out on 14 January 1896 with a retinue of four men, three camels, and two donkeys, along with enough provisions to last fifty days. After five days the party left the
White Jade River __NOTOC__
The White Jade River, also known by the native names Baiyu or Yurungkash, is a river in the southern Xinjiang region of China.
The head waters of the river rise in the Kunlun Mountains, in the area of Aksai Chin in Kashmir in the To ...
, heading east between the dunes, which gradually increased to a height of fifty feet. Steering through the or "passes" between the dunes, with live
tamarisk
The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Ta ...
or poplar indicating sources of water, ten days after departing Khotan Hedin rode his camel bareback to the "Buried City of Taklamakan".
There he found traces of hundreds of wooden houses; a "Temple of Buddha", with walls constructed of bundles of reeds fixed to stakes, and covered in earthen plaster and wall paintings - of kneeling females, moustachioed males in
Persian clothing
Traditional Persian clothing can be seen in Persian miniature paintings, employ both vivid and muted colors for clothing, although the colors of paint pigment often do not match the colors of dyes.
The clothing of ancient Iran took an advanced f ...
, animals, and boats rocking in the waves; fragments of paper with indecipherable characters; a life-size
gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...
foot; and a series of Buddha images. Most of the ruins, extending over an area two to two and a half miles across, were buried under high dunes. Hedin found that excavation was "desperate work", with the sand immediately filling whatever was dug, necessitating the removal of entire dunes; furthermore, and despite their antiquity, the camels and donkeys still "consumed with relish" the reeds once used in construction. Although unable to recover the overall plan of the city, Hedin found traces of gardens, rows of poplars indicating ancient avenues, and remains of ancient apricot and plum trees, concluding that "the walls of this God-accursed city, this second Sodom in the desert, had thus in ancient times been washed by a powerful stream - the Keriya-daria".
Aurel Stein
In December 1900, alerted in Khotan by a "reliable 'treasure-seeker'" who brought fragments of wall painting with
Brahmi script
Brahmi (; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' ...
, stucco reliefs, and paper documents from a site known locally as Dandān-Uiliq,
Aurel Stein
Sir Marc Aurel Stein,
( hu, Stein Márk Aurél; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at ...
set off in the footsteps of Hedin, accompanied by two of his guides and a team of thirty labourers, to begin excavations. He uncovered a series of structures (labelled by Stein D. I to D. XVII), including dwellings and a number of Buddhist shrines. D. II has a central rectangular platform surmounted by a moulded lotus statue base, on which only the foot of the image survives; the surrounding passage Stein identified as serving for
parikrama
Parikrama or Pradakshina is clockwise circumambulation of sacred entities, and the path along which this is performed, as practiced in the Indian religions, Indic religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. In Buddhism, it refers only ...
( ritual circumambulation). In an adjoining smaller building was a headless Buddha which Stein carted off on a mule and is now in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
; another headless figure, clad in
mail
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sys ...
, wearing wide boots similar to the soft leather ''chāruks'' of contemporary
Turkestan
Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang.
Overview
Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turk ...
, trampling another figure, and thought to represent Kubera; and wall paintings of a seated monastic, a Buddha, horsemen, and a nude dancing girl in a pool of water against a backdrop of flowering lotus, adorned with jewels and a strategically placed vine leaf.
Among the documents discovered, written in a variety of scripts on paper, wooden tablets, and sticks, were Buddhist texts; a petition for the recovery of a donkey after the failure of its two purchasers to pay even ten months later; a petition for exemption from requisitions of grain and forced labour after visitation by bandits; a request for the military of skins for drums and quail feathers for arrows; records of loans; and an important early
Judeo-Persian
Judeo-Persian refers to both a group of Jewish dialects spoken by the Jews living in Iran and Judeo-Persian texts (written in Hebrew alphabet). As a collective term, Judeo-Persian refers to a number of Judeo-Iranian languages spoken by Jewish com ...
document edited and dated to 718 by
David Samuel Margoliouth
David Samuel Margoliouth, FBA (; 17 October 1858, in London – 22 March 1940, in London) was an English orientalist. He was briefly active as a priest in the Church of England. He was Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford ...
seemingly concerned predominantly with the sale of sheep, complaints of unfair treatment, and the teaching of a girl. Aurel Stein translated the document into English.
Later expeditions
In 1905 geographer Ellsworth Huntington visited Dandan Oilik, observing that it was once watered by a river that no longer flows through the area. From 1928 and the visit of Emil Trinkler and Walter Bosshard, the site lay untouched for nearly seventy years until an initial inspection in 1996 by the Xinjiang Archaeological Institute. In 1998
Christoph Baumer
Christoph Baumer (born June 23, 1952) is a Swiss explorer and historian of Central Asia. From 1984 onwards, he has conducted explorations in Central Asia, China, Tibet and the Caucasus, the results of which have been published in numerous book ...
led an expedition to the site, making further discoveries. In 2002 a joint expedition by teams from the Xinjiang Cultural Relics Bureau, the Xinjiang Archaeological Research Institute, and Niya Research Institute of
Bukkyo University
is a private university in Kita-ku, Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The school's predecessor was founded in 1912, and it was chartered as a junior college in 1949. Bukkyo means Buddhism in Japanese, and the university's philosophy is based on ...
in Japan discovered a new Buddhist temple with wall paintings. This was subsequently excavated and thirty sections of the paintings were detached and removed to
Ürümqi
Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...
. They include seated Buddhas, serial figures in the Thousand Buddha tradition,
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In the Early Buddhist schools ...
s, horsemen on dappled mounts and an inscription in the Iranian
Saka language
Saka, or Sakan, was a variety of Eastern Iranian languages, attested from the ancient Buddhist kingdoms of Khotan, Kashgar and Tumshuq in the Tarim Basin, in what is now southern Xinjiang, China. It is a Middle Iranian language. The two ...
. In 2006, in recognition of its significance, Dandan Oilik was listed by
State Administration of Cultural Heritage
The National Administration of Cultural Heritage (NCHA; ) is an administrative agency subordinate to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for the development and management of museums as well ...
as a
Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level
A Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National LevelEnglish translation for "全国重点文物保护单位" varies, it includes Major Site (to Be) Protected for Its Historical and Cultural Value at the National Level, Major Histo ...
.
Gallery
File:Ancient Khotan BLER2 AKV1 FP246 FIG28.jpg, Ancient Khotan BLER2 AKV1 FP246 FIG28
File:Ancient Khotan BLER2 AKV1 FP246 FIG29.jpg, Ancient Khotan BLER2 AKV1 FP246 FIG29
File:Ancient Khotan BLER2 AKV1 FP246 FIG31.jpg, Ancient Khotan BLER2 AKV1 FP246 FIG31
File:Ancient Khotan BLER4 AKV2 PLII PHOT.jpg, Ancient Khotan BLER4 AKV2 PLII PHOT
File:Ancient Khotan BLER4 AKV2 PLIII PHOTB.jpg, Ancient Khotan BLER4 AKV2 PLIII PHOTB
File:Judeo-Persian letter BLI7 OR8212166R1 1.jpg, Judeo-Persian letter BLI7 OR8212166R1 1
See also
*
Kingdom of Khotan
The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Buddhist Saka kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China). The ancient capital was originally sited to ...
*
Loulan Kingdom
Loulan, also called Krorän or Kroraina ( zh, s=, t=, p=Lóulán <
Xiaohe Tomb complex
The Xiaohe Cemetery (), literally "Little River Cemetery" and also known as Ördek’s Necropolis, is a Bronze Age site located in the west of Lop Nur, in Xinjiang, Western China. It contains about 330 tombs, about 160 of which were looted by ...
*
Major national historical and cultural sites (Xinjiang)
This list is of Major Sites Protected for their Historical and Cultural Value at the National Level in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, People's Republic of China.
...
International Dunhuang Project
The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) is an international collaborative effort to conserve, catalogue and digitise manuscripts, printed texts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from the Mogao caves at the Western Chinese city of Dunhuang and v ...