TNT History Mini-Series: A German Archeologist's Adventures in East Turkistan (1913-14)/Part VI/FINAL

//Ed. note:  After completing his work at Tomçok (Tumşuk).
Von Le Coq headed for Kashgar to prepare his findings for 
transport back to Germany.  He left Kashgar in February 
1914 and only reached Germany at the end of March.  The 
last 80 crates filled with his findings passed across the 
Russian border just a week before the start of World War I
(1 August 1914).

The photographs with Ottoman Turkish captions 
accompanied the translation of Von Le Coq's German
article in the Istanbul publication "Yeni Mecmua" in 
June 1918.//

The Tomçok (Tumşuk) area is around Wei-t'ou and Wen-su at
upper left on the map.


We made some significant and worthwhile discoveries in the old ruins
in the vicinity of Tomçok (Tumşuk).  The name Tomçok comes from
'Tomsk: Gage" and is the name of a place where the mountains form a
pointed outcropping.  The reason for the name of this city stems from
a string of sharp rocks in the north that extend to the Taramisk Dessert
and are met by three ranges of outcroppings from the south.  The road
to Maralbaşi and Kashgar runs between these rocks.


                                Paul Pelliot, seated left.

The large ancient temple ruins at the northern elbow are in very poor
condition but the Frenchman Paul Pelliot and his team had quite a bit
of success in their research work here (1908).  Pelliot found statues of
the Kandahar style that were quite striking.  On the other hand,
Dr. Stein (Aurel Stein) worked in the same area but his efforts did not
bear fruit.

In any event, our team succeeded in finding numerous heads (busts),
Buddhist statues and some adornments, all of which were of the
Kandahar style. However, although they were Kandahar-style they
had been made in plaster casts, rather than being cut from Himalayan
'arduvaz' (slate).  At the same time, while these casts were of the
Kandahar style of the regions to the west, it was certain that the
works we found did not come from someplace else.

Far right: "Tomçok (Tumşuk): statue head extracted from 
the temple on the west side of the eastern hill and the 
upper portion of the idol."

Second from right: "Tomçok (Tumşuk): statue head 
extracted from the temple on the west side of the eastern 
hill."

Two photos on left: "Tomçok (Tumşuk): statue heads 
extracted from the temple on the west side of the eastern 
hill." 

Here we found manuscripts for the first time. Some of these were
Sanscrit texts with the contents relating to Buddhism and they were
written on 'huşağacı' (birch) bark or paper.  The contents concerned
Buddhist religious themes and letters, along with a few orders issued
by commanders and written in the language of the Iranian Saks.

On the east side of the rocks that extended from the southern range
there was a singular and quite magnificent structure with its own
unique style and its staircase emerged in the course of our excavation.
Only the walls of a large temple remained.  On the east side of this
temple two small buildings had been built and on the wall of one of
them was a picture of a monk praying. In the other building we found
a beautiful frieze with a picture of a duck.  The frieze had a spiral
frame that called to mind Iranian embellishments.  We found a number
of elegant heads (busts) here, some of which had Sasani helmets and
others that had conical hats of the ?Firiçya? style.

Within a few of the temples on top of the small rocks in the center we
found some very elegant wooden carvings.  In addition, there was a
large structure on the big western rock and its most important elements
were some very nice Kandahar-style statues and two temples with
sculptures.
,

          Albert Von Le Coq, 1928.

The mountain range ended in the south at a large swamp inhabited by
wild pigs.  A mat maker who lived on the slope of the mountain on
the fringe of the swamp hosted us here for a while.  On top of the
'ardavuz' (slate) rocks there a large structure that resembled a
fortification yielded pieces of a large statue of Buddha from its debris
and other small items.  During excavation, we found a manuscript and
an engraved tree branch under the structure's door.

In all, our finds totaled 150 crates, each weighing 75-80 kilograms.
Upon our return to Kashgar, we had to prepare to leave immediately.
The crates had to be lightened for transport and this created quite a lot
of work for us.  We were in difficult straits money-wise, too.  In
February (1914) we set out for Germany and arrived there after a very
arduous journey at the end of March.  The last of our 80 crates did not
get past the Russian border until a week before the outbreak of the war
(World War I).

Albert Von Le Coq

Translated from German by Ahmed Cemal

         
//END of PART SIX/FINAL//