INTERESTING DISCOVERY OF ANTIQUITIES.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13226, 21 September 1908, Page 7

INTERESTING DISCOVERY OF ANTIQUITIES.

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—-Copyright. LONDON, September 18. Dr. Stein, tho explorer, discovered in a refuse heap at Karashar, in Eastern Turkestan, paintings and sculpture, and also a large collection of Indian, Chi-, nose, and Tibetan writings of tho eighth century. Dr. Stein, who is by profession an Inspector of Schools in tho Punjaub, has been for some years excavating buried shrines and towns in Eastern Turkestan, and making discoveries of immense antiquarian interest. "It is impossible to overlook th© fact that archaeological research in great fields like India and Central Asia, which li© beyond the stimulating influence of Biblical associations, has not as yet succeeded in gaining its due share of sympathy and interest from the wider public. In consequence, the latter has, so far, had little opportunity of learning to appreciate the great historical problems which aro involved in these researches." So Dr. Stein wrote in the preface to his "Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan," miblished in 1903. The book and his subsequent research in the same region must have don© a good deal to interest th© public in the excavation work in this remote region. Ho tells in his book of the discovery of sculptures and paintings," wood L carvings and frescoes, remains of ancient furniture, fabrics, fragments of gla<u, metal and pottery, and—more interesting than all—manuscripts, buried for centuries under a wast© of sand. Tho objects unearthed date from periods ranging from the third to the eighth century. Tho ruins in the Khotan district, extend over three hundred miles of desert, and reveal a uniform and welldefined civilisation, resting on Indian foundations, but influenced by the West and by China. A remarkable 6eries of semis prove that th© clussical art of the West penetrated into Central Asia in the early centuries of pur era, and other objects show the spread of Indian culture into Central Asia and. thence to China.

These discoveries wero made in the east of Eastern Turkestan, near th« boundary of Kashmir. Dr. Stein has also worked in. and around I/ob Nor, in the west of Eastern Turkestan, on tho edge of the desert of Gobi. Karashar, the scene of the latest find, lies to tho north of Lob Nor. Ho traversed the route through the dasc-rt to Sha-Chou, a length of nearly 350 miles. It was in, early times - great military route of the Chinese, and was followed byMarco Polo, whose topographical descriptions were fully corroborated. After being neglected for centuries, this route has in recent times been again adopted as a highway of commerce between Contra! and Eastern Asia. A discovery of remarkable interest wes that of a line of fortifications extending about 140 miles, built in the second century 8.C., and believed by Dr Stein to h'.> connected with thrj Great Wall on tho border of Kansu. Ruins of watchtowers and forts were found sit intervals along tho wall, from which iramen.'je numbers oi record- were, unearthed.

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