21 May, 2014
MessageToEagle.com - Ancient people believed that once you entered
this place there was no way out.
A very long time ago, there were houses and temples
here. Today, everything is buried under the sand.
Precious ancient relics are hidden deep under the
"Sea of Death", or the Taklamakan desert.
Archaeologists are beginning to discover some of the
secrets that have been hidden in this mysterious region. Still, it seems that
we are only scratching the surface and only time will tell what more wonders
are waiting to be unraveled.
The Taklamakan Desert's buried secrets from the
past
The Taklamakan desert is the largest desert in China
and it is also considered to be the world's second largest shifting-sand desert
covering an area of over 33, 700 square kilometers (over 13,000 square miles).
In Uigur language, Takla Makan means 'you can get into it but can never get
out' and that is why the desert is also called 'the Sea of Death'.
The Taklamakan Desert is the largest desert in China.
Image credit: www.4deserts.com
The desert is very significant to the people in this
region.
According to an ancient legend, once a long time ago,
a powerful Supernatural Being who saw the hardship being faced by the people in
this area, thought that he could help them by using the two magic objects in
his possession namely the golden axe and the golden key.
He gave his golden axe to the Kazakh, so they split
the mountain Altai and diverted water from the mountains to the fields.
One of the mummies found in the Small River Cemetery
near the eastern end of the Tarim River in the Taklamakan Desert
The Supernatural Being planned to give the golden key
to the Uigur so that they could open the door of the treasure-house of the
Tarim Basin, but unfortunately his youngest daughter lost the key. This angered
him so much that he held her a captive in the Tarim Basin and thus the
Taklamakan Desert was formed. In more modern times,
historians learned that the Taklamakan desert played a vital business role.
There are oases located on two routes around the
desert that served as important trading spots on the so-called Silk Road.
Of all the precious goods crossing this area, silk was
perhaps the most remarkable for the people of the West.
In 1896, Swedish explorer Sven Hedin made a surprising
discovery at the oasis town of Dandan Oilik, in the heart of the Taklamakan
Desert.
In an interview with English People Daily, Zhang Yuzhong, former deputy director of Xinjiang
Archeology Research Institute, said: " In the past, experts in China and
abroad had believed there was no trace of humans in the desert.
But Sven Hedin found many remains of houses. Then
Aurel Stein, another explorer known as a pioneer of the Silk Road, stayed there
for two weeks, and found the remains of another 18 residential houses and
identified some temples. He also found documents from the Tang and Han
dynasties.
In 1900, Hedin once again visited the Taklamakan. In
this expedition, he found the ruins of the ancient city Loulan, buried under
the sand.
The Taklamakan desert is as beautiful as dangerous,
people say…
Zhang said, "The ancient city of Loulan is the
capital of the Loulan kingdom, which dates back even further than Dandan Oilik.
These two discoveries, Dandan Oilik and Loulan, are
signature archeological events in Xinjiang."
In 1910, ten years after Loulan was found, a local
hunter discovered a tomb near a creek 175 kilometers away from Loulan.
It was named the "creek tomb". Built using
more than 100 wooden poles erected on a sand dune, the tomb is regarded as one
of the most intriguing mysteries in ancient Asian civilization.
Several mummies have been found in the Taklamakan
desert.
Zhang said, "It belongs to the early bronze age,
whose history in Xinjiang stretches back to 4,000 years ago.
Half a century later, in 1979, a female corpse dating
back nearly 4,000 years was discovered in Loulan. The corpse was well
preserved, and nicknamed the "Beauty of Loulan".
The mummy nicknamed the "Beauty of Loulan".
To the right is her face as reconstructed by an artist.
In 1995, ancient brocade appraised as made in Sichuan
province during the Han dynasty, was found at Niya ruin in the south of the
Taklamakan Desert. It became one of the top archeological finds that year.
In 2003, during a dig at the "creek tomb",
another well-kept female corpse was found. Also estimated at over 4,000 years
old, the corpse still had beautiful facial features, thick eyelashes, and a
visible smile. Her beauty once again stunned the world, 24 years after the
discovery of Loulan beauty. A funeral system involving "reproduction
worship" was also revealed."
Who inhabited this region and what contact did they
have with the European continent?
A Tocharian man with red-blond hair; his clear
European features still visible after nearly 3,500 years in his desert grave in
Taklamakan.
In the late 1980's, several well-preserved mummies
were discovered in the Taklamakan desert.
The perfectly well-preserved mummies are estimated to
be at least 3000 years-old. The corpses reveal that the people had long
reddish-blond hair, European features and didn't appear to be the ancestors of
modern-day Chinese people. Archaeologists now think they may have been the
citizens of an ancient civilization that existed at the crossroads between
China and Europe
It would seem an entire secret ancient world is hidden
beneath the sand. What more surprising discoveries will archaeologists
encounter at this dangerous and mysterious place?
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