Jiaohe ruins

We visited the ruins of the city Jiaohe, not far outside Turpan. The city was located on a small island where a river splits in two. The island is entirely occupied by a tall cliff with steep sides, providing very good natural defenses. On the top of the cliff, people carved out houses in the (sandstone?) rock. The city was the capital of the "Anterior Jushi Kingdom" from 108 BC to 450 AD. I wish I knew more about who this people were - they do not even have a Wikipedia entry in English. Turpan was the place where (at some point around 1900) remnants of the dead Indoeuropean language Tocharian were found, and it would be interesting to know whether the speakers of Tocharian lived here.

The site was at any rate very interesting. The sandstone is quite eroded, since the city has been abandoned since it was conquered by the Mongols in the thirteenth century.







We were allowed to enter down into one of the buildings, which was called "the government office". Miles took the opportunity to sit on the edge and wiggle his feet, to the great amusement of the Chinese visitors to the site.



Here is our excellent guide Alem, who took us around both Ürümqi and Turpan.



And finally my daily photo for September 2.


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Postat av: Anonym

Det måste verkligen ha varit en upplevelse!

Fin jid! Roligt att se att du använder den snygga hatten så ofta!

2010-09-12 @ 02:44:55

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