Introduction
The Silk Road has become a popular name for the network of long-distance land and maritime trade routes that connected Europe, Africa and Asia from the end of the first millennium BC. This exhibition focuses on the eastern part of these routes, in what is now western China: the Tarim Basin.
The archaeologist M. Aurel Stein (1862–1943) coined the term ‘Serindia’ for this region, ‘which for close on a thousand years formed the special meeting ground of Chinese civilization, introduced by trade and political penetration, and of Indian culture, propagated by Buddhism.’
Stein led four expeditions to western China between 1900 and 1930, excavating at scores of sites and discovering hundreds of thousands of artefacts. His extensive photographic record of over 5000 images is now mostly held in the British Library.
In 2008 and 2011 teams from the International Dunhuang Project (IDP) at the British Library and the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology (XJIA) led joint field trips to revisit and document the sites visited by Stein to record the changes of the past century.
This exhibition shows a selection of historical and modern photographs of farming settlements (first to fourth c.), Buddhist temples (fifth to sixth c.) and Tibetan forts (eighth to ninth c.), as well as something of life today in the towns and villages of the Taklamakan.
Tibetan Forts
The empires surrounding the Tarim all sought control of the region and its trade routes. In the mid-eighth century the Tibetan Empire moved northward into the Tarim Basin, following the withdrawal of Chinese forces owing to civil war in central China. The Tibetans built military forts at strategic positions.
Mazar Tagh fort stands on a bluff overlooking the Khotan river on a route through the Taklamakan. It guarded the northern boundaries of Khotan. Miran fort is on the site of an older settlement of the Krorainan kingdom and protected the routes along the southern Taklamakan and south to the Tibetan plateau. Endere fort also guards the route south.
About a century later when the Tibetan armies withdrew, the forts were abandoned, along with the rubbish heaps left by the soldiers. Stein’s excavations uncovered over a thousand Tibetan documents on wood and paper. He also unearthed broken armour, spear heads, bags and other discarded artefacts. These offer a glimpse into the life of Tibetan soldiers at this time.
Buddhist Stupas
The stupa, originating in India in about the third century B.C., was a funerary mound covering relics of the historical Buddha or his disciples. Its function widened over the following centuries: some house objects used by the Buddha or his disciples, some commemorate actions or events in the life of the Buddha and his disciples, while others symbolize aspects of Buddhist theology or are built as shrines on important places. The stupa was a focus for ritual and worship, including circumambulation.
The original form was a dome on a circular base. As Buddhism spread north then east from India, across the Pamir into the Tarim, the stupa developed into several distinctive and more complex new forms. The base became square and stepped, with staircases on one or all four sides. The dome became elongated and more tower-like.
All these forms are seen in the Taklamakan, the earliest probably dating to the second and third centuries (at Miran and Niya), and continuing throughout the first millennium (at Endere and Rawak). They are evidence of substantial Buddhist communities and considerable wealth.
Road Settlements
The soil of the Taklamakan is fertile and with irrigation it can support extensive agriculture. The southern oasis towns on the alluvial piedmont were dependent for their livelihood on the spring and summer meltwater from the mountains. Water was channeled through complex irrigation systems and stored in tanks for winter supplies.
The site of Cadota (Niya) was a thriving community from the first to the fourth century, becoming part of the larger kingdom of Kroraina by the third century. Farmsteads lined the Niya River for over 25 km into the Taklamakan Desert. Their residents cultivated orchards and vineyards, as well as keeping large herds of livestock.
Their substantial houses were built with frames made from local poplar wood, and these are often all that remains of them today. But objects discarded when the settlements were deserted provide a picture of life in these settlements. Also left behind were legal and administrative archives: manuscripts written on wood and leather in the Gandharan Prakrit language.
Karadong was on the route across the Taklamakan which followed the Keriya River. Here Stein discovered houses and a large rectangular complex that is now identified as a fortified post.
Landscape
Tamarisk cones are a ubiquitous and striking feature of the Taklamakan — mounds formed where the dense roots of this plant have prevented the sand from blowing away. It is remarkable how little these have changed since Stein’s day: many of our shots were matched using these natural landmarks. Even though water courses have changed, flash floods from summer melt in the surrounding mountains sometimes cause long dormant seeds to sprout, as in the ancient riverbed at Niya. Over many seasons the receding waters leave behind clay layers which, like the tamarisk cones, stand proud of the surrounding sand.
Around the existing rivers there are still forests of white and black poplars, while their desiccated ancestors emerge from the desert dunes. The wood continues to be used for building, while leaves and sap have many other uses, including as a yellow dye, a medicine and soap. The reeds growing in the riverbeds are also harvested and used as fences for the animal pens. Around the abandoned desert settlements, the dried remains of mulberry trees attest the former fertility of these now arid regions.
Travel
Crossing the Tarim Basin is a journey not only across space but also back in time. Travelling on foot and on horseback, Stein had to surmount the formidable mountain ranges between India and China to reach his starting point, Kashgar. Our starting point at Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, is nowadays reached easily by plane. But as we moved further away from Urumqi, we moved closer to Stein and other travellers of the past.
At first, the difference remains considerable, with wide roads and a railway now crossing the mountains and skirting the deserts. On the modern road which now bisects the Taklamakan, grids of netting keep the constantly shifting sands at bay. The sites at the fringes of the desert can be reached in some comfort and speed by 4-wheel drives — with skilful driving.
Further into the desert, sand trucks, driven by off-duty oil workers, track a slow and circuitous path, searching for navigable routes through the mountainous dunes. But even they cannot negotiate the deepest sands of the Taklamakan. Here Bactrian camels come into their own and the pace of the journey reduces to that of Stein a century ago and, indeed, to that of Silk Road merchants two millennia past.
Camp and Work
Working and sleeping in the desert has probably not changed in essentials since Stein’s day. At remote sites such as Niya and Karadong all supplies have to be taken in, including water: Stein’s camels carried large blocks of ice to see him through excavations in the desert winters. His provisions included powdered soups, marmite and, for a treat, Cadbury’s chocolate. He ate and worked at night, as we did, by the light of bonfires fed with the wood of ancient forests.
What has changed is the portability of equipment, with digital cameras, GPS, solar chargers and lightweight tents. Stein had to carry large cameras, glass plates and developing equipment for his photography, a plane table for his surveying and heavy canvas tents — although he also had the luxury of a Willesden Green Circular Canvas Bath and a folding table and chair.
Today, the local guides and camel men still ply the same trade and many probably come from the same families. Indeed, the custodian at Niya and our guide to the site in 2011 recognized his relative in one of Stein’s photographs.
Local Life
A century ago, when Stein travelled, the towns and villages fringing the Tarim were built in typically Central Asian style. Single-storey, flat-roofed adobe courtyard houses flanked the poplar-lined dirt roads. Irrigation channels ran alongside feeding the orchards and fields. The local magistrate usually had a larger house within its own garden — Stein often pitched his tent here.
Today the hearts of the old towns struggle to survive, increasingly hidden by new town centres with grids of paved roads, multi-storey apartments, offices and shops. Many towns now also have new museums displaying the finds from recent archaeological activity. Further into the desert the village houses remain the same, with the addition of electricity and TVs.
Trade continues as it has done for millennia. Each county town has its market day and bazaars with villagers travelling in on donkey cart, motorbike and on foot. Food still punctuates life, just as it did in Stein’s day, and banquets with local officials are an essential part of work.
Lead Curator and Designer: Vic Swift
With the assistance of: John Falconer, Josef Konczak, Susan Whitfield
Photographs by: M. Aurel Stein, Colin Chinnery, John Falconer, Rachel Roberts, Vic Swift
Photographic production: John Falconer, Josef Konczak, Lizzie Vickery, Sarah Wall
Photographic printing: John Falconer
Text: John Falconer, Susan Whitfield, Sam van Schaik
Video footage by: Rachel Roberts, Susan Whitfield
Video production: Matt Casswell, Josef Konczak, Rachel Roberts
Map produced by: Martin Lubikowski, ML Design
All images are from the British Library unless otherwise stated. We also thank the following institutions for the use of images:
The British Museum
The Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Victoria and Albert Museum
Many thanks to:
The Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology
With the support of:
The Arts and Humanities Research Council
Hahnemühle FineArt (UK)