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78-626: Lop Nur or Lop Nor ( Oirat : ᠯᠣ᠊ᠫ ᠨᡇᡇᠷ , romanized:  Lob nuur , from an Oirat Mongolic name meaning "Lop Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin) is a now largely dried-up salt lake formerly located in the eastern fringe of the Tarim Basin in the southeastern portion of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region , northwestern China , between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts. Administratively,

156-576: A Cyrillic-based script system has been implemented. It does not represent epenthetic vowels , and thus doesn't show syllabification. In Mongolia, Central Mongolian minority varieties have no status, so Oirats are supposed to use Mongolian Cyrillic which de facto only represents Khalkha Mongolian . Loulan Kingdom Loulan ( Chinese : 樓蘭 ; pinyin : Lóulán < Eastern Han Chinese lo-lɑn < Old Chinese rô-rân ), also known as Kroraïna (Krorayina) in native Gandhari documents or Krorän in later Uyghur ( Uyghur : كروران ),

234-404: A 32-foot (9.8 m) high earthen dome -shaped Buddhist stupa ; and a home 41 feet (12 m) long by 28 feet (8.5 m) wide, apparently for a Chinese official, housing 3 rooms and supported by wooden pillars . They also collected 797 objects from the area, including vessels of wood, bronze objects, jewellery and coins , and Mesolithic stone tools Other reported (2003) finds in

312-536: A Chinese colony of 500 men be established in Loulan. A later military colony was established at Loulan by General Suo Man. It was recorded that in 222 CE, Shanshan sent tribute to China, and that in 283, the son of the king was sent as a hostage to the Chinese court during the reign of Emperor Wu of Jin . Loulan was also recorded as a dependent kingdom of Shanshan in the 3rd century Book of Wei . The town of Loulan

390-404: A Chinese delegation was sent with orders to assassinate the king of Loulan. One of the envoys, Fu Jiezi , gained entry to Loulan by claiming to carry silk and valuables as gifts for the king. Having received Fu Jiezi’s gifts, the king got drunk, after which Fu Jiezi's guard stabbed him to death, severed his head and had it hung from a tower above the northern gate. Upon completing the assassination,

468-530: A Chinese puppet state. The newly installed king, fearing retribution from the sons of the assassinated king, requested that a contingent of Han forces be established in Yixun (伊循, variously identified as Charklik or Miran). Chinese army officers were sent to colonize the area, and an office of commandant was established at Yixun. A number of settlements in the Tarim Basin such as Qiemo and Niya were described in

546-947: A boat-shaped coffin wrapped in ox hide, containing the mummified body of a young woman. In 1979, some of the earliest of the Tarim mummies were discovered in burial sites at Qäwrighul (Gumugou), which is located to the west of Lop Nur, on the Könchi (Kongque) river. Forty-two graves, most of which dated from 2100 to 1500 BC, were found. There were two types of tomb at the site, belonging to two different time periods. The first type of burial featured shaft pit graves, some of which had poles at either end to mark east and west. Bodies were found extended, usually facing east, and sometimes were wrapped in wool weavings and wearing felt hats. Artifacts found included basketry, wheat grains, cattle and sheep/goat horns, bird bone necklaces and bracelets, nephrite beads, and fragments of copper (or bronze), although no pottery

624-678: A canoe. He had previously walked the dry Kuruk Darya in a caravan in 1900. In 1952 the terminal lake then shifted to Taitema Lake when the Tarim River and Konque River were separated through human intervention, and Lop Nur dried out again by 1964. In 1972, the Daxihaizi Reservoir was built at Tikanlik, water supply to the lake was cut off, and all the lakes for the most part then dried out, with only small seasonal lakes forming in local depressions in Taitema. The loss of water to

702-599: A different tribe: There are some varieties of Oirat that are difficult to classify. The Alasha dialect in Alxa League , Inner Mongolia , originally belonged to Oirat and has been classified as such by some because of its phonology . However, it has been classified by others as Mongolian proper because of its morphology . The Darkhad dialect in Mongolia's Khövsgöl Province has variously been classified as Oirat, Mongolian proper, or (less often) Buryat . Oirat

780-469: A direct result of government actions or as a consequence of social and economic policies. Its most widespread tribal dialect, which is spoken in all of these nations, is Torgut . The term Oirat or more precisely, Written Oirat is sometimes also used to refer to the language of historical documents written in the Clear script . In Mongolia, there are seven historical Oirat dialects, each corresponding to

858-473: A few thousand years old, were opened the bodies were often found to be mummified and grave goods well preserved. The earliest sites are associated with an ancient people of Indo European origin. Loulan or Kroran was an ancient kingdom based around an important oasis city already known in the 2nd century BCE on the north-eastern edge of the Lop Desert. It was renamed Shanshan after Chinese took control of

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936-544: A formal moratorium on nuclear testing the following day, although further subcritical tests were suspected. In 2012, China announced plans to spend US$ 1 million to clean up the Malan nuclear base in Lop Nor to create a red tourism site. In December 2023, a report emerged indicating that China was making preparations to resume nuclear tests in a remote desert. Satellite imagery provided evidence of these preparations, revealing

1014-554: A hostage to the Xiongnu and another to the Han court. Due to Loulan's association with the Xiongnu, the Book of Han records: The Emperor commanded [Jen] Wen to lead the troops by a suitable route, to arrest the king of Lou-lan and to bring him to the palace at the capital city. [Jen Wen] interrogated by presenting him with a bill of indictment, which he answered by claiming that [Lou-lan] was

1092-525: A relationship to Tocharian A and B, but transcription of the texts in this study has been rejected by other scholars. The native name of Loulan was "Kroraina" or "Krorän", written in Chinese as Loulan 樓蘭 ( *glu-glân in reconstructed Han dynasty pronunciation, an approximation of Krorän). Centuries later in 664 CE the Tang Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang mentioned a place in Loulan named "Nafupo" (納縛溥), which according to Dr. Hisao Matsuda

1170-421: A small state lying between large states, and that unless it subjected itself to both parties, there would be no means of keeping itself in safety; he therefore wished to remove his kingdom and take up residence within the Han territory. The Han emperor was satisfied with the statement and released the king, but retained his son as hostage. When this particular king of Loulan died, in 92 BCE, his court requested that

1248-603: A small stroke on the right to indicate vowel length. It was retained longest in China where it can still be found in an occasional journal article. However, in China, Buryat and Oirat are considered non-standard compared to Southern Mongolian and are therefore supposed to use the Mongolian script and Southern Mongolian grammar for writing. In practice the people use neither and resort to learning Mandarin Chinese and using hànzì to communicate with others in China. In Kalmykia,

1326-486: A step symbolized by the Han court obliging Loulan to adopt a new official name, the non-native exonym Shanshan . Because of its strategic position on what became the main route from China to the West, during the Han dynasty, control of it was regularly contested between the Chinese and the Xiongnu until well into the 2nd century CE. After the Han dynasty had gained control of Loulan, the renamed kingdom of Shanshan became

1404-448: A support area with multiple buildings. What was once a modest site with only a few buildings had transformed into a modern and sophisticated complex, complete with security fences. One of the new structures was a bunker that was fortified with earthen berms and lightning arresters, indicating its suitability for handling high explosives. Tests on miniaturization of missiles and warheads can also be possibly carried out at this site. However,

1482-581: A town called Nafubo (納縛波, thought to be Charklik) of Loulan, and wrote of Qiemo, "A fortress exists, but not a trace of man". According to the Book of Han , Han envoys described the troops of Loulan as weak and easy to attack. Shanshan was said to have 1,570 households and 14,000 individuals, with 2,912 persons able to bear arms. It further described the region thus: The land is sandy and salt, and there are few cultivated fields. The state hopes to obtain [the produce of] cultivated fields and look to neighbouring states for field-crops. It produces jade and there

1560-632: Is Gandhari Prakrit written in Kharosthi script; their use in Loulan and elsewhere in the Tarim Basin was most likely due to the cultural legacy of the Kushan Empire , and introduced by Gandharan migrants from the Kushan Empire. These Gandharan migrants are also believed to have introduced Buddhism to Loulan. Although Gandhari was used as the administrative language, some words generally thought to be of Tocharian origin are found in

1638-544: Is endangered in all areas where it is spoken. In Russia, the killing of a large fraction of the Kalmyk population and the destruction of their society as consequences of the Kalmyk deportations of 1943 , along with the subsequent imposition among them of Russian as the sole official language have rendered the language obsolescent: it is almost exclusively the elderly who have a fluent command of Kalmyk. In China, while Oirat

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1716-573: Is a transliteration of the Sogdian word Navapa meaning "new water." Sogdians, an Eastern Iranian people , maintained minority communities in various places in China at the time, especially Dunhuang in Gansu and Turfan in the Tarim Basin. Documents found in Loulan showed that Sogdians were present in the area in 313 CE, as well as Han Chinese and Tibetan tribesmen, indicating an ethnically diverse population in Loulan. The ruined city of Loulan

1794-607: Is also served by the Hotan–Ruoqiang railway , which loops around the south and west side of the Tarim Basin , part of the Taklimakan Desert railway loop, joined together with sections of the Golmud–Korla railway , Kashgar–Hotan railway , and Southern Xinjiang railway . Given the extreme dryness and resulting thin population, remains of some buildings survived for a significant period of time. When ancient graves, some

1872-693: Is an abundance of rushes , tamarisk , the balsam poplar , and white grass . In company with their flocks and herds the inhabitants go in search of water and pasture, and there are asses, horses and large number of camels. [The inhabitants] are capable of making military weapons in the same way as the Ch'o of the Ch'iang tribes. According to the Commentary on the Water Classic , General Suo Mai (索勱, also Suo Man) of Dunhuang introduced irrigation techniques to

1950-645: Is from 126 BCE. A letter from the Chanyu of the Xiongnu to the Chinese emperor, in which the Chanyu boasted of conquering Loulan, as well as the Yuezhi , Wusun , Hujie (呼揭) and another "26 states nearby". In the same year, the Chinese envoy Zhang Qian described Loulan as a fortified city near the great salt lake or marsh known as Lop Nur . During the late 2nd century BCE, Emperor Wu of Han ( r. 141 BCE – 87 BCE)

2028-558: Is still quite widely used in its traditional ranges and there are many monolingual speakers, a combination of government policies and social realities has created an environment deleterious to the use of this language: the Chinese authorities' adoption of Southern Mongolian as the normative Mongolian language, new educational policies which have led to the virtual elimination of Mongolian schools in Xinjiang (there were just two left as of 2009), policies aiming to curtail nomadism , and

2106-594: The Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture , Xinjiang and they are now completely surrounded by desert. By the 2nd century BC, Loulan had grown to dominate the region around the Tarim Basin . Archeological evidence suggests a sophisticated culture with major importance in the trade between central Asia and India. Southern merchants passed through mountain ranges such as the Karakoram , Himalayas and Hindu Kush as far north as

2184-463: The Book of Han as independent states, but these later became part of Shanshan. While the name of the kingdom was changed to Shanshan by the Chinese, the Loulan region continued to be known as Kroran by the locals. The region remained under Chinese control intermittently, and when China was weak in the Western Regions , Loulan was essentially independent. In 25 CE it was recorded that Loulan

2262-628: The Lop Nur Wild Camel National Nature Reserve . A highway from Hami to Lop Nur (Xinjiang Provincial Highway 235) was completed in 2006. The Hami–Lop Nur Railway , which runs 374.83 kilometres (232.91 mi) north to Hami, along the same route, opened to freight operations in November 2012. The railway is used to transport potassium-rich salt mined at the lake to the Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway . It

2340-797: The Northern Wei . At the end of the 6th century, the Sui dynasty reestablished the city state of Shanshan. After the 5th century, however, the land was frequently invaded by nomadic states such as Tuyuhun , the Rouran Khaganate , and the Dingling and the area gradually was abandoned. Around 630, at the beginning of the Tang period, Shanfutuo (鄯伏陁) led the remaining Shanshan people to Hami . The Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang passed through this region in 644 on his return from India to China, visited

2418-632: The Silk Road , which skirted the lake-filled basin. Loulan became a client state of the Chinese empire in 55 BC, renamed Shanshan . Faxian went by the Lop Desert on his way to the Indus valley (395–414), followed by later Chinese pilgrims. Marco Polo in his travels passed through the Lop Desert . In the 19th century and early 20th century, the explorers Ferdinand von Richthofen , Nikolai Przhevalsky , Sven Hedin and Aurel Stein visited and studied

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2496-616: The Tarim Basin but had progressively shrunk throughout the Holocene due to rain shadowing by the Tibetan Plateau . Lop Nur is hydrologically endorheic , it is landbound and has no outlet, and has relied largely on meltwater runoffs from the Tianshan , Kunlun and the western Qilian Mountains . The lake measured 3,100 km (1,200 sq mi) in 1928, but has dried up due to construction of reservoirs which dammed

2574-664: The "Wandering Lake" in the early 20th century due to the Tarim River changing its course, causing its terminal lake to alter its location between the Lop Nur dried basin, the Kara-Koshun dried basin and the Taitema Lake basin. This shift of the terminal lake caused some confusion amongst the early explorers as to the exact location of Lop Nur. Imperial maps from the Qing dynasty showed Lop Nur to be located in similar position to

2652-482: The 20th century. A mummy called the Beauty of Loulan was found at a cemetery site on the bank of Töwän River. The Xiaohe Cemetery is located to the west of Lop Nur. This Bronze Age burial site is an oblong sand dune, from which more than thirty well preserved mummies have been excavated. The entire Xiaohe Cemetery contains about 330 tombs, about 160 of which have been violated by grave robbers. A local hunter guided

2730-654: The Chinese Foreign Ministry has dismissed the report and its "utterly irresponsible" claims. China has denied any nuclear testing plans on the site. Lop Nur is home to the wild Bactrian camel , which is a separate species from the Bactrian camel . The camels have continued to breed naturally despite the nuclear testing. China signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996 but did not ratify it. Subsequently,

2808-415: The Han court release the king's son and heir be returned to Loulan. In the meantime, however, this prince from Loulan had been castrated for infringing Han law, without the knowledge of Loulan. The Han court replied that its Emperor had grown too fond of the prince to release him, and that another son should be enthroned in Loulan. The son of the new king was also sent to the Han court as a hostage, yet another

2886-591: The Swedish explorer and archeologist Folke Bergman to the site in 1934. An excavation project by the Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute began in October 2003. A total of 167 tombs have been dug up since the end of 2002 and excavations have revealed hundreds of smaller tombs built in layers, as well as other precious artifacts. In 2006, a valuable archeological finding was uncovered:

2964-513: The Taklamakan desert, to important trading cities like Loulan and its commercial rival Niya. This is evidenced by graffiti carved on stones along the route in Indic scripts such as Kharosti and Brahmi , while there are depictions of Siddhartha Gautama (evidencing the spread of Buddhism along the trade route). From here, Loulan was on the main route from Dunhuang to Korla , where it joined

3042-519: The area include additional mummies and burial grounds, ephedra sticks, a string bracelet that holds a hollowed jade stone, a leather pouch , a woolen loincloth , a wooden mask painted red and with large nose and teeth, boat -shaped coffins , a bow with arrows and a straw basket . The inhabitants of Loulan had mainly haplogroup R1b, with O1a also present. The inhabitants of Loulan had haplogroups such as H5a, T1a, R2, HV12, J1b, N1a, T2b, D4i, H2b, U5a, C7b. The Loulan people have

3120-462: The area. It is also likely that Swedish soldier Johan Gustaf Renat had visited the area when he was helping the Zunghars to produce maps over the area in the eighteenth century. The lake was given various names in ancient Chinese texts. In Shiji it was called Yan Ze (鹽澤, literally Salt Marsh), indicating its saline nature, near which was located the ancient Loulan Kingdom . In Hanshu it

3198-487: The atmosphere. In 2009, Jun Takada, a Japanese scientist, published the results of his computer simulation which suggests – based on deaths from Soviet tests – that 190,000 people could have died in China from nuclear-related illnesses. Enver Tohti, an exiled pro-Uyghur independence activist, claimed that cancer rates in the province of Xinjiang were 30 to 35% higher than the national average. On 29 July 1996, China conducted its 45th and final nuclear test at Lop Nor, and issued

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3276-650: The broader Xinjiang region is home to the Uyghurs , a predominantly Muslim ethnic group that has historically faced widespread detentions and stringent security measures in Xinjiang conflict . The Uyghurs have persistently voiced concerns regarding the health risks posed by the towering mushroom clouds and the release of radioactive fallout . China established the Lop Nur Nuclear Test Base on 16 October 1959 with Soviet assistance in selection of

3354-478: The camels were classified as an endangered species on the IUCN Red List . Since the cessation of nuclear testing at Lop Nur, human incursions into the area have caused a decline in the camel population. Wild Bactrian camels have been classified as critically endangered since 2002 and approximately half of the 1400 remaining wild Bactrian camels live on the former Lop Nur test base, which has been designated

3432-472: The continual flux of control in the area and how the inhabitants dealt with Chinese & nomadic invaders throughout its relatively short history. The earliest known residents in Loulan are thought to have been a subgroup of the Tocharians , an Indo-European people of the Tarim Basin. Excavations in Loulan and the surrounding areas have found mummies believed to be remains of these people, for example

3510-553: The documents, suggesting that the locals spoke a language that belongs to the Tocharian group of languages. This original language of Loulan is referred to as Krorainic or " Tocharian C ", due to its relatedness to the two other Tocharian languages. It has been partially reconstructed from around 100 loanwords and over a thousand proper names used in these Prakrit documents that cannot be ascribed to Indic. In 2018, documents from Loulan written in Tocharian C were published, indicating

3588-524: The flow of water feeding into the lake, and only small seasonal lakes and salt marshes may form. The dried-up Lop Nur Basin is covered with a salt crust ranging from 30 to 100 cm (12 to 39 in) in thickness. An area to the northwest of Lop Nur has been used as a nuclear testing site . Since the discovery of potash at the site in the mid-1990s, it is also the location of a large-scale mining operation. There are some restricted areas under military management and cultural relics protection points in

3666-445: The guard supposedly proclaimed: "The Son of Heaven (Han Emperor Zhao) has sent me to punish the king, by reason of his crime in turning against the Han...Han troops are about the arrive here; do not dare to make any move which would result in yourselves bringing about the destruction of your state." While the king's younger brother Weituqi (尉屠耆) succeeded him as king, the Han court apparently tightened its grip on Loulan from this point –

3744-458: The kingdom in 1st century BCE. It was abandoned some time in the seventh century. Its location was discovered by Sven Hedin in 1899, who excavated some houses and found a wooden Kharosthi tablet and many Chinese manuscripts from the Jin dynasty (266–420). Aurel Stein also excavated at the site in the beginning of the 20th century, while Chinese archaeologists explored the area in the latter part of

3822-532: The lake is in Lop Nur town ( Chinese : 罗布泊镇 ; pinyin : Luóbùpō zhèn ), also known as Luozhong ( 罗中 ; Luózhōng ) of Ruoqiang County , which in its turn is part of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture . The lake system, into which the Tarim River and Shule River drain from the west and east respectively, is the last remnant of the historical post-glacial Tarim Lake, which once covered more than 10,000 km (3,900 sq mi) in

3900-619: The limited occupational prospects in Chinese society for graduates of Mongolian schools. As for Mongolia, the predominance of Khalkha Mongolian is bringing about the Khalkhaization of all other varieties of Mongolian. Oirat has been written in two script systems: the Mongolian scripts and Cyrillic. Historically, the Clear script , which originated from the Mongolian script , was used. It uses modified letters shapes e.g. to differentiate between different rounded vowels, and it uses

3978-528: The lower Tarim River Valley also led to the deterioration and loss of poplar forests and tamarix shrubs that used to be extensively distributed along the lower Tarim River Valley forming the so-called "Green Corridor". In 2000, in an effort to prevent further deterioration of the ecosystem, water was diverted from Lake Bosten in an attempt to fill the Taitema Lake. The Taitema Lake however had shifted 30 to 40 kilometres (19 to 25 mi) westwards during

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4056-463: The north of the lake. The thick wall is made of packed earth and straw and was over 305 m (1,001 ft) on each side and 6.1 m (20 ft) thick at the base. It contains a large stupa and some administrative buildings and was occupied for a long time. It is usually thought to be the city of Loulan. L.B. – A site with stupas at 13 km (8.1 mi) to the northwest of the L.A. L.E. – A fortified town lying 30 km (19 mi) to

4134-480: The northeast of L.A. It is the only known city in the region with a northern gate. Since a northern gate was mentioned in the Han Chinese text about the assassination of the king of Loulan, it has therefore been suggested to be the capital of Loulan in the 1st century BCE, before the Han Chinese gained control the region. Others, however, argue that the northern gate does not refer to Loulan but Chang'an . The site

4212-425: The old lake of Lop Nur and identified many sites in the area. He designated these sites with the letter L (for Loulan), followed by a letter of the alphabet (A to T) allocated in the chronological order the sites were visited. Stein recovered many artifacts, including various documents, a wool-pile carpet fragment, some yellow silk , and Gandharan architectural wood carvings. L.A. – A walled settlement lying to

4290-444: The past 40 years due in part to the spread of the desert. Another cause of the destabilization of the desert has been the cutting of poplars and willows for firewood; in response, a restoration project to reclaim the poplar forests was initiated. The Kara-Koshun dried basin may be considered part of the greater Lop Nur. On 17 June 1980, Chinese scientist Peng Jiamu disappeared while walking into Lop Nur in search of water. His body

4368-542: The pastoralist and agriculturalist practices of their neighbours. The mummies were wrapped in cotton and silk, the former from the west and latter from the east, further providing evidence as to Loulan's commercial importance. The interactions between Loulan and the Han court (206 BCE – 220 CE) were described in some detail in the Book of Han (completed in 111 CE). The first contemporaneous mention of Loulan, in Chinese records,

4446-410: The presence of a drilling rig that had created a deep vertical shaft. This shaft was believed to be designed to contain the destructive power of radiation resulting from large nuclear explosions . Further analysis of the satellite images since 2017 also uncovered the development of new infrastructure at the site. This included the construction of new roads, power lines, an electrical substation, and

4524-550: The present Lop Nur dried basin, but the Russian geographer Nikolay Przhevalsky instead found the terminal lake at Kara-Koshun in 1867. Sven Hedin visited the area in 1900–1901 and suggested that the Tarim river periodically changed its course to and from between its southbound and northbound direction, resulting in a shift in the position of the terminal lake. The change in the course of the river, which resulted in Lop Nur drying up,

4602-630: The region by damming the Zhubin (possibly the Kaidu River ) to irrigate the fields and produced bumper harvests for the next three years. The Buddhist pilgrim Faxian who stayed in Shanshan in 399 on the way to India, described the country: [A] country rugged and hilly, with a thin and barren soil. The clothes of the common people are coarse, and like those worn in our land of Han, some wearing felt and others coarse serge or cloth of hair; — this

4680-426: The region, which are not open to the public. From around 1800 BC until the 9th century the lake supported a thriving Tocharian culture. Archaeologists have discovered the buried remains of settlements, as well as several of the Tarim mummies , along its ancient shoreline. Former water resources of the Tarim River and Lop Nur nurtured the kingdom of Loulan since the second century BC, an ancient civilisation along

4758-577: The region. The disinterred corpses were not Chinese or Indian but had fair hair and light skin, some over six feet in length; this has led to suggestions that those from the Shanshan kingdoms were descendants of migrants from the Eurasian Steppe . Genetic analysis of the mummies, however, suggests that the Early–Middle Bronze Age population may have arisen from an ancient genetically isolated local population but were possibly influenced by

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4836-471: The site, with its headquarters at Malan ( 马兰 , Mǎlán ), about 125 kilometres (78 mi) northwest of Qinggir . The first Chinese nuclear bomb test , codenamed " Project 596 ", occurred at Lop Nur on 16 October 1964. China detonated its first hydrogen bomb on 17 June 1967. Until 1996, 45 nuclear tests were conducted. These nuclear tests were conducted by dropping bombs from aircraft, mounted on towers, launching missiles, detonating weapons underground and in

4914-479: The so-called "Beauty of Loulan" which was found by Chinese archaeologists in 1979–1980 at Qäwrighul (Gumugou), around 70 km (43 mi) west-north-west of Loulan. The mummies have been dated to as early as 1800 BCE. Genetic and proteomic analyses of the mummies, however, suggests that the local population were genetically isolated but were influenced by practices of neighbouring populations. The official language found in 3rd century CE documents in this region

4992-495: The so-called "northern route," and was also connected by a route southwest to the kingdom's seat of government in the town of Wuni in the Charkhlik/ Ruoqiang oasis, and from thence to Khotan and Yarkand . A number of mummies, now known as the Tarim mummies , have been found in Loulan and in its surrounding areas. One female mummy has been dated to c. 1800 BCE (3,800-year-old), indicating very early settlement of

5070-577: The west of the lake with only a gateway in the city wall. It has been identified as Haitou by some archaeologists. L.L. – A fortress lying 5 km (3.1 mi) northwest of L.K., similar in construction but smaller. In 1979 and 1980, three archaeological expeditions sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Xinjiang Branch performed excavations in Loulan. They discovered a canal 15 feet (4.6 m) deep and 55 feet (17 m) wide running through Loulan from northwest to southeast,

5148-572: Was abandoned in 330 CE, likely due to lack of water when the Tarim River , which supported the settlement, changed course; the military garrison was moved 50 kilometres (31 mi) south to Haitou (海頭). The fort of Yingpan to the northwest remained under Chinese control until the Tang dynasty . According to the Book of Wei , King Bilong of Shanshan fled to Qiemo together with half of his countrymen after an attack by Juqu Anzhou in 442 CE; so, Shanshan came to be ruled by Qiemo. In 445 Shanshan submitted to

5226-431: Was also suggested by Hedin as the reason why ancient settlements such as Loulan had perished. In 1921, due to human intervention, the terminal lake shifted its position back to Lop Nur. The lake measured 2400 km in area in 1930–1931. In 1934, Sven Hedin went down the new Kuruk Darya ("Dry River") in a canoe. He found the delta to be a maze of channels and the new lake so shallow that it was difficult to navigate even in

5304-399: Was an ancient kingdom based around an important oasis city along the Silk Road already known in the 2nd century BCE on the northeastern edge of the Lop Desert . The term Loulan is the Chinese transcription of the native name Kroraïna and is used to refer to the city near the brackish desert lake Lop Nur as well as the kingdom. The kingdom was renamed Shanshan ( 鄯善 ) after its king

5382-421: Was assassinated by an envoy of the Han dynasty in 77 BCE; however, the town at the northwestern corner of Lop Nur retained the name of Loulan. The kingdom included at various times settlements such as Niya , Charklik , Miran and Qiemo . It was intermittently under Chinese control from the early Han dynasty onward until its abandonment centuries later. The ruins of Loulan are near the now-desiccated Lop Nur in

5460-471: Was called Puchang Hai (蒲昌海, literally Sea of Abundant Reed) and was given a dimension of 300 to 400 li (roughly 120–160 km) in length and breadth, indicating it was once a lake of great size. These early texts also mentioned the belief, mistaken as it turns out, that the lake joins the Yellow River at Jishi through an underground channel as the source of the river. The lake was referred to as

5538-494: Was discovered by Sven Hedin , who excavated some houses and found a wooden Kharosthi tablet and many Chinese manuscripts from the Western Jin dynasty (266–420), which recorded that the area was called "Krorän" by the locals in Kharosthi but was rendered as "Lou-lan" in Chinese. Hedin also proposed that a change in the course of the Tarim river resulted in Lop Nur drying up may be the reason why Loulan had perished. Aurel Stein made further excavations in 1906 and 1914 around

5616-669: Was discovered. The second type of burial, from a later period, also consisted of shaft pit graves, surrounded by seven concentric circles of poles. Six male graves were found, in which the bodies were extended on their backs, and facing towards the east. Few artifacts were found, except for some traces of copper, or bronze. Miran is located to the south-west of Lop Nur. Buddhist monasteries were excavated here, and murals and sculptures showed artistic influences from India and Central Asia , with some showing influences from as far as Rome . Oirat language In all three countries, Oirat has become variously endangered or even obsolescent as

5694-549: Was in league with the Xiongnu. In 73 CE, the Han army officer Ban Chao went with a small group of followers to Shanshan, which was also receiving a delegation from the Xiongnu at the same time. Ban Chao killed the Xiongnu envoys and presented their heads to the King, after which King Guang of Shanshan submitted to Han authority. This would ensure the first step of the ' Silk Road ' from central China to Shanshan would be under stable Chinese control. Around 119, Ban Yong recommended that

5772-543: Was interested in extending contact with Dayuan ( Fergana ), following the reports of it by the Chinese envoy, Zhang Qian . However, according to Chinese sources, Han envoys to Fergana were harassed by Loulan and the kingdom of Gushi (or Jushi). Consequently, in 108 BCE, Loulan was attacked by a Han force led by Zhao Ponu (趙破奴) and its king captured, after which Loulan agreed to pay a tribute to Han China. The Xiongnu, on hearing of these events, also attacked Loulan. The king of Loulan therefore elected to send one of his sons as

5850-487: Was never found, and his disappearance remains a mystery. On 3 June 1996, the Chinese explorer Yu Chunshun died while trying to walk across Lop Nur. 40°10′N 90°35′E  /  40.167°N 90.583°E  / 40.167; 90.583 Lop Nur, situated in the arid Xinjiang region of China's far west, serves as an extensive military base. This location was selected for nuclear testing due to its desolate and isolated nature, devoid of any permanent inhabitants, though

5928-438: Was occupied until the late 3rd century CE. L.F. – 10 km (6.2 mi) to the northwest of L.A., containing building foundations and a cemetery. Archaeologists discovered the body of a young man in a wooden coffin, wearing a felt hat and leather boots and lying under a woolen blanket. A bunch of ephedra twigs was placed beside him in a similar fashion to many much older burials found in the region. L.K. – A walled city to

6006-492: Was sent to the Xiongnu. After the death of this king of Loulan, the Xiongnu returned the hostage sent previously by Loulan – a prince named Chang Gui or An Gui (嘗歸 or 安歸), who became king of Loulan. When the Han court heard of this, it demanded that the new king present himself to the Han court. Chang Gui refused, on his wife's advice – because the Han court had previously failed to return hostages. In 77 BCE, after several Han envoys had been intercepted and killed in or near Loulan,

6084-475: Was the only difference seen among them. The king professed (our) Law, and there might be in the country more than four thousand monks who were all students of the hînayâna . The common people of this and other kingdoms (in that region), as well as the śramans , all practise the rules of India, only that the latter do so more exactly, and the former more loosely. The famous historical short story by acclaimed Japanese author Yasushi Inoue entitled "Lou-lan" recounts

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