Mazar Tagh is the site of a ruined hill fort in the middle of the

Taklamakan The Taklamakan Desert ( ) is a desert in northwest China's Xinjiang region. Located inside the Tarim Basin in Southern Xinjiang, it is bounded by the Kunlun Mountains to the south, the Pamir Mountains to the west, the Tian Shan range to the n ...

desert, dating from the time of the

Tibetan Empire The Tibetan Empire (,) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. It expanded further under the 38th king, Trisong De ...

. Like the

Miran fort Miran fort aka "Ruins of Milan" (米兰古城遗址) is a ruined defensive structure in Miran, Xinjiang, China. The fort was active during the Tibetan Empire, in the 8th and 9th centuries AD. It is similar in structure to the fort at Mazar Tagh ...

site, its excavation has yielded hundreds of military documents from the 8th and 9th century, which are among the earliest surviving Tibetan manuscripts, and vital sources for understanding the early history of Tibet. The site is now located north of the modern city of

Hotan Hotan (also known by other names) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Northwestern China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become an administrative area in its own right i ...

in the

Xinjiang Autonomous Region Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC: previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads ...

of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

History

Mazar Tagh was part of the ancient

Kingdom of Khotan The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Buddhism, Buddhist Saka kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin (modern-day Xinjiang, China). The ancient capital was origina ...

during the first millennium AD. Before the Tibetan army built a fort there, it seems to have been a Buddhist pilgrimage site known locally as "the Hill".Skjaervø, P.O. (2004). 'Iranians, Indians, Chinese and Tibetans: The Rulers and the Ruled of Khotan in the First Millennium.' In

Susan Whitfield Susan Whitfield (born 1960) is a British scholar, currently Professor in Silk Road Studies at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC), University of East Anglia. She previously worked at the British Library in ...

(ed.) ''The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith''. London: The British Library. pp.34-42. During the Tibetan Empire, the fort at Mazar Tagh was the main Tibetan military outpost for the Khotan region, performing a similar role to the Tibetan fort at Miran. During the Tibetan occupation, Mazar Tagh, like Miran, was home not only to soldiers but also to their families, civilian officials, and merchants.

Aurel Stein Sir Marc Aurel Stein, (; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at Indian universities. ...

wrote of the presence of an Islamic shrine on the hill at the time of his first visit in 1907, and noted modern Turkic name Mazar Tagh means "Hill of the Sacred Shrine". The hill still contains a functioning Islamic shrine (

Mazar Mazar of Al-Mazar may refer to: *Mazar (mausoleum), Muslim mausoleum or shrine Places * Mazar (toponymy), a component of Arabic toponyms literally meaning shrine, grave, tomb, etc. ; Afghanistan * Mazar, Afghanistan, village in Balkh Province * ...

Archaeology

Mazar Tagh was excavated by

in 1907 during his second Central Asian expedition,Stein, Mark Aurel (1921). Serindia. Oxford: Clarendon. p.1284-95 and again in 1913 during his third expedition.Stein, Marc Aurel (1928). Innermost Asia. Oxford: Clarendon. pp90-97 The fort contained five rooms (i to v in Stein's discussions) and a watchtower, which is still partially standing. As well as excavating the fort, Stein discovered a large refuse heap on the north and northeast slopes of the hill, which contained hundreds of discarded Tibetan military documents on paper and wood. The British Library holds 1,168 wooden documents under the pressmark IOL Tib N, and 321 paper documents under the pressmark Or.150000, found in the fort itself as well as the rubbish heap. Stein also recovered fragments of Khotanese,

Uyghur Uyghur may refer to: * Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China) ** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs *** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...

and Sogdian documents from the site. Several of the Khotanese texts refer to the rule of the Tibetan "masters". Stein also discovered other kinds of artefact, though in much smaller number, including arrows, sheathes, shoes, dice, a comb and a pen. These items are now at the British Museum under the pressmarks MAS.480 to MAS.509.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Portrait of a monk on wood from Mazar Tagh (earlytibet.com)Mazar Tagh information from the Stein Placename Database on the Digital Silk Road website
Archaeological sites in China Sites along the Silk Road Hotan Prefecture

History

Archaeology

See also

References

External links