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SERINDIA
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Sir Aurel Stein, KCIE
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This is the original edition of Sir Aurel Stein's official report describing in detail his second expedition into Chinese Turkestan and western China with comments on his travel through Kashmir to reach the border and return. Among his many remarkable feats was reading the proof sheets of this document while out in the middle of the Taklamakan on his third expedition, which enabled him to interject some comments about things he learned during that third expedition. |
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Thanks to the efforts of the Toyobenko - the Silk Road Foundation and Dunhuan project these and many other related works are available on the Internet and can be easily found by the usual Google searches. However the texts and photos and all are scanned as individual pages in PDF documents which makes their study a bit cumbersome. This is especially true for the 93 maps. There are also two biographies of Aurel Stein by Susan Whitfield and Annabel Walker. |
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Therefore the purpose of this web site is to provide a brief summary of Stein's second expedition and to focus on his exploration of the ancient Han Dynasty wall and frontier forts that he described in such detail. We discuss Stein's Third Expedition in the web section on his report "Innermost Asia". This discussion is primairly for those interested in the history of fortifications.The two main fortress towns he explored during the second expedition were at Miran, and at Lou-lan on the edge of the Lop Nor salt dry-sea. He also visited the now famous "Thousand Buddhas" caves near Tun-huang and bought hundreds of precious manuscripts and artifacts. Everywhere along his route he found ancient coins, bits of ceramics, frescos that he removed from walls, silk and other fabrics, and much more. Then, on the return journey he crossed the Kun Lung section of the Himalaya Mtns, and over the Karakorum Pass, during which travel he was severely frostbitten and subsequently lost the toes on his right foot. This page is an outline showing the chapter headings. A detailed summary of the contents is here. |
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A brief comment about Aurel Stein himself. |
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| Volume I Pages i to 548 | ||
| Introduction | ||
| Addendum and Corrigenda | ||
| List of Abreviated Titles - a bibliography | ||
| Table of Contents Vol I - III | ||
| Chapter I - across Swat and Dir Alexander between Kunar and Indus Early Chinese Pilgrims to Udyana Udyana in Chinese records of T'ang times Through Talish and Dir |
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| Chapter II - Through Chitral and Mastij Chitral in Ethnology and History Ancient Remains in Chitral Historical Accounts of Mastij Old sitres in Mastij Kao Hsien-chih's Expedition and Darkot |
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| Chapter III - From Oxus to Khotan Early Accounts of Wakhan Histgorical sites in Wakhan On Hsien-chih's Route to Kashgar About Kashgar and Yarkand Along the Western most K'un-lun |
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| Chapter IV - Remains of the Khotan Oasis Old sites near the oasis Antiques acquired from Yotkan and At Khotan List of antiques acquired from Yotkan and Khotan Deseert sites in the North of Jija The sites of Ak terek List of antiques from Ak-terek aand Siyelik |
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| Chapter V - Ruined sites near Domoko Sshrfines of Khadalik Antiques excavated at Khadalik List of objects excavated at Khadalik Minor ruins near Khadalik The Domoko-yir and Remains of Mazar-toghrak |
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| Chapter VI -The Niya Site Return to the Ruins beyond the Niya river end Records of Hidden archives Nxxix Nofrth western group of ruins Exploration of Nxxvi and of south eastern group of ruins Exploration of southern most ruins and general observations on sitfge List of antiques excavated at Niya |
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| Chapter VII - Ancient Sites of Endere Ruins of Bilal konghan Excavations around and within T'ang fort of Endere Survey of earlier remains at Endere General Observations of Endere and old Tu-huo country List of antiques found or excavated at Endere |
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| Chapter VIII - From Charchan tgo Charkhlik Early accounts of Charchan Ancient Remains around Charchan The Charchan River route to Vasli-shahu The Oasis of Charkhlik and its old remains List of Objects found or excavated at Charchan and Vasli-shahu |
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| Chapter IX - Historical Notes of Lop, Shan-shan and Lou-lan Marco Polo's Lop and Hsian-tsang's Na-Pu-Po Shan-shan etgween T'and and Han Times Shan-shan in Later Han Annals Earliest Records of Lou-lan Under former Han Lou-lan reestablished as Shan-shan |
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| Chapter X - Through the Lop Desert First visit to Miran Past the Terminal Lagoons of the Tarim Across an Eroded ancient Delta List of objects found in Desert Marches north of Lop Nor |
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| Chaapter XI - The Lou-lan Site Excavation of Ruined Dwelling LAi Exploration of Ruined Dwellings LAii - vi Discoveries in an ancient Refuse Heap LA vi-ii Remains of a Walled Enclosure Finds in Ruins LB iv-vi Chinese Documents from Lou-lan Kharorghi Documents from Lou-lan The Lou-lan Site in Chinese Historical Records The Abandonment of Lou-lan List of Antiques from Lou-lan |
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| Chapter XII - Return to Miran Site To the Tarim's Delta of Charchan-darya Ruined Fort of Miran Excavations in Miran Fort Miscelaneous finds in the Miran Fort Tibetan Documents from Miran Fort Records in Turkish Runic script Descriptive list of Antiques from Miran Fort |
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| Chapter XIII - The Ancient Buddhist Sshrines of Miran Sculptured Remains of Buddhist The Stupa Cella Miii and its Wall Painting Remains of Painted Frescos Miii The Dado of Angles in Cella Miii Excavation of Temple Mv Mural Painting of Buddhist Legend in Cella Mv Painted Dado in Cella Mv Kharorghi Inscriptions of Mv ruins of Miran List of Antiques from shrine of Miran |
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| Volume II - pages 549 - 935 | ||
| Chapter XIV Through the Lop Desert to Tun Huang Route from Abdal to Tun Huang Chinese Records of the Lop Desert Route Marco Polo and Later Travelers on Lop Desert Routes First Remains of Old Chinese Limes |
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| Chapter XV - TheTun-huang Oasis and its Northern Limes Geographical features of lower Su-lo Ho Basin In search of the 'old wall' northward First discovery of the Dated Han records at T xxvii Search of Ruined Limes stations Txxviii and Txxx Survey of Limes towasrd An-hsi |
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| Chapter XVI - The Oases of Nan-hu and the Yang Barrier Remains between Tun-huang and Nan-hu The Nan-hu oasis and its present resources The ancient remains of Nan-hu The position of the Yang Barrier Abandoned village sites north of Nan-hu List of antiques from Ruined sites of Nan-hu |
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| Chapter XVII - The end of the Chinese Limes Terminal station on the wall The South Western Flank of the Limes The western Station Tvib and its records The Last Watch towers of the Limes Tvic and Tvid |
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| Chapter XVIII - The Westernmost Limes Wall From Western End of the Wall to Tviii The towers Tixx and marsh sections of the Limes The Ruined watch stations Txi and Txiia The Early Sogdian Documents from Txiic and their paper The Watch stations Txii and Txiii |
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| Chapter XIX - The Jade Gate Barrier Ruined site Txiv The Position of the Yu-men headquarters The Wall between Yu-men and Yang-kuan Txiva and the Refuse heaps of Txva A relic of the Ancient Silk Trade The New Route of the north The Great magazine of the Limes The Lake section of the Limes Txix - Txxiii |
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| Chapter XX - History and Records of the Tun-huang Limes The extension of the "great wall' beyond Tun-huang The Tun-huang Limes since its construction Main Features of the Remains of the Limes Military agricultural colonies Officers and soldiers of the Limes Service Conditions of Life on the Limes List of antiques from Ruins of the Tun-huang Limes |
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| Chapter XXI - The Caves of the Thousand Buddhas General Description of the site Inscriptions at the Caves of Thousand Buddahs Wang-Tao - shih and his Restored Temple |
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| Chapter XXII - Exploration of a Walled up Hoard First Opening of the Hidden Chapel Finds of a Polyglot Library Acquisition of Manuscripts and Art Relics Subsequent Investigations of the Depot |
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| Chapter XXIII - Pictorial Remains from the Thousand Buddhas Recovery and Study of the paintings Time and Mileu of production Arangement, Materials and Technique Scenes from the Legendary Life of Gautama Buddha Buddhas and Bodhisattvas Lopapalas and Vajrapanis Divine groups and assemblages Pictures of Buddhist heavens Miscelaneous Paintings, woodcuts and decorative remains |
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| Chapter XXIV - Textile Remains and Manuscripts from Ch'ien-fo-tung
Decorated textile relics - their material Chinese Designs in decoation of textiles Desingns of Sassanian type and their immitations Manuscripts from the 'hidden ' library in Brammi and Chinese Manuscripts in Tibetan, Sogdian, Turkish Lists of Sogdian and Turkish manuscripts |
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| Chapter XXV - Cave Temples and antiques of the Thousand Buddhas Decorative art in some Ch'ien-fo-tung shrines List of Paintings - woodcuts - textiles List of Illustrations |
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| Volume III | ||
| Chapter XXVI - The Marches of old Kua-chou Oases of Kua-chou and Historical Importance Old remains near An-hsi and Hsuan-trang Yumen Ruined site at Ch-ia-tso Grottoes of Myridid Buddhas |
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| Chapter XXVII - Northwest frontier of Kansu To the Gate of the "great wall" The walls of Ch'ia-yu kuan Su-chou and Central Nan shan From Kua-chou to Chin-t'a The Han limes from Yumen-hsien to An-hsi |
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| Chapter XXVIII - To Hami and Turfan From An-hsi to Hami, Hsuan-tsang's desert crossing The ruins of Ara-tam and Lopchuk Visits to Ruined sites of Turfan |
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| Chapter XXIX - Kara-shahr and its Ruined sites Historical topography of Kara-shahr The Ming'oi site north of Sharchuk Relievos and Frescos from the northwest portion of Ming'oi site List of antiques excavated at the Ming'oi site, Sharchuk The Khora site and defile of the Iron gate |
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| Chapter XXX - To Kucha and the Keriya River end Korla and its old sites From the Inchike River to Kucha Through the Takla Makan to Kara-dag |
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| Chapter XXXI - Ruined sites east and north of Khotan The site of Farha-beg-yarlaki The shrine Kxii and Chronology of the site From Domoko to Khotan Temple remains north of Khotan |
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| Chapter XXXII - From Mazar-tagh to Maral Bashi Ruined fort on Mazar-tagh |Through Ak-su and Uch-Turfan Through the mountains to Kelpin Desert sites north of Tumshuk and Maral-bashi |
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| Chapter XXXIII - From Khotan to London Preparation at Khotan Across the K'un lun ranges Over Karakoram to England |
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| Appendix A - Chinese inscriptons and records translated by Edouard Chavannes | ||
| Appendix B - Inventory list of coins found and obtained - J Allan | ||
| Appendix C - Notes on Physical anthropology of Chinese Turkestan and the Pamirs - T Atholl Joyce | ||
| Appendix D - Examination of certain specimines of mural painting - Sir Arthur Church | ||
| Appendix E - Essays on Buddhist paintings from caves of the Thousand Buddhas - Ralph Petrucci and Laurence Bingin | ||
| Appendix F - Inventory list of manuscripts in Sanskrit, Khotanese and Kuchean | ||
| Appendix G - Notes on collection of Tibetan documents | ||
| Appendix H - Notes on musical instruments | ||
| Appendix I - Notes on specimens of Tibetan manuscriipts | ||
| Appendix K - Notes on Tibetan inscriptions | ||
| List of objects, plates, index to page 1580 | ||
| Illustrations 237 to 345 | ||
| Plates 1 - 59 - elevations and site plans | ||
| Volume IV This is the extensive set of illustrations and diagrams of towns and forts |
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| Volume V This is the set of 94 large maps created during this expedition - map list - maps |