Tang remains from the Keyak Khduk Beacon site in Yuli County, Xinjiang
Abstract
Through consecutive fieldwork seasons from 2019 to 2020 at the Keyak Khduk Beacon site, the excavation team of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regional Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has unearthed a variety of structures such as a residential area, a berm, a wooden fence, a ramp, and several ash piles. All uncovered artifacts are of practical use for frontier soldiers, including paper and wooden-strip documents, objects made of ceramic, bronze, iron, wood, stone, bone, horn, leather, textile, and grass, and many remains of plants and animals. The excavated texts mention different levels of military units such as “Tonghai Garrison” and “Yulin Garrison” and multiple military roads such as “Loulan Route,” “Yanqi Route,” and “Mazezei Route.” The information fills the gap in the historical records about the military defense system under the Karasahr Garrison, one of the Four Garrisons of Anxi, proving the Tang’s effective administration and governance over the Western Regions. This excavation project has provided new materials for understanding Tang garrisons’ planning characteristics and construction techniques in the Western Regions. It will also greatly facilitate research progress in Dunhuangology, Turfanology, bibliography, history of calligraphic art, and other related fields.
Postscript
The original article 新疆尉犁县克亚克库都克唐代烽燧遗址, prepared by Xingjun Hu 胡兴军, Arifu 阿里甫, Haoqiang Cai 蔡浩强, Yasen Ani 艾尼· 亚森, Youcheng Xu 徐佑成, Yumin Su 苏玉敏, and Xiaojing Kang 康晓静, was published in Kaogu 考古(Archaeology) 2021.8:23–44 with 34 illustrations and three notes. The abbreviated English version, translated by Meiyu Hsieh 谢美裕, has removed nine illustrations and three notes and added further readings.
Further readings
Hedin, Sven. 1904–1907. Scientific results of a journey in Central Asia 1899–1902. Stockholm: Lithographic Institute of the General Staff of the Swedish Army.Search in Google Scholar
Stein, Aurel. 1928. Innermost Asia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia, Kan-Su, and Eastern Iran. Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford Clarendon.Search in Google Scholar
© 2022 Walter De Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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- The Neolithic Shuanghuaishu site in Gongyi, Henan
- The Shang dynasty remains at the Guoyuanzui site in Lutai Mountain, Huangpi District, Wuhan
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- Tang remains from the Keyak Khduk Beacon site in Yuli County, Xinjiang
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- Portable lodge from the fifth century BCE: a study of the tent of the Marquis Yi of Zeng
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- New archaeological discoveries
- The Excavation of a Neolithic site at Jingtoushan in Yuyao, Zhejiang
- The Neolithic Shuanghuaishu site in Gongyi, Henan
- The Shang dynasty remains at the Guoyuanzui site in Lutai Mountain, Huangpi District, Wuhan
- The Western Zhou Yaoheyuan site in Pengyang County, Ningxia
- Tang remains from the Keyak Khduk Beacon site in Yuli County, Xinjiang
- The excavation of the 2018 Xuewei tomb No. 1 in Reshui cemetery, Dulan County, Qinghai
- Reports
- The 2016–2017 excavation of the bronze foundry zone at the Guanzhuang site, Xingyang, Henan
- The excavation of tomb M12 at Hujiacaochang cemetery in Jingzhou, Hubei
- The excavation of Liao dynasty tomb of Han Derang in Beizhen, Liaoning
- Research
- Research on prehistoric 凸-shaped house remains on the Loess Plateau
- The rise and fall of the Liangzhu society in the perspective of subsistence economy
- Boot-shaped antler artifacts and prehistoric leather production
- Archaeological culture, document texts, and the construction of early Wu Yue history
- Portable lodge from the fifth century BCE: a study of the tent of the Marquis Yi of Zeng
- Additional niches and architecture added in the Tang dynasty to the Vairocana niche in the Fengxian Temple at Longmen
- Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of human and animal skeletal remains unearthed at Zengpiyan and Dayan sites in Guilin
