Turpan - China
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Astana Graves
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Astana Graves are a series of
underground tombs located 6km from the
ancient city of Gaochang, and 42km from
Turpan, in Xinjiang, China.
The tombs were used by the inhabitants
of Gaochang, both commoners and locals,
for about 600 years from 200 AD - 800 AD.
The complex covers 10 square kilometers
and contains over 1,000 tombs.
Different plots for separate castes and
families are marked by gravel dividers.
Due to the arid environment many important
artifacts have been well preserved at
the tombs, including natural mummies.
A typical tomb is entered by a 10
meter sloping staircase.
The tombs are not very large, usually
only 2 meters high.
Some tombs also have murals inside.
The deceased were laid on a small raised
platform in the back of the tomb, surrounded
by possessions and even food.
Their faces were covered by cloths, some of
which have distinct Persian motifs.
A small funeral brick was placed to next to
each body, on which was written the person's
name and other biographical information.
These bricks have been incredibly useful
for historians to date the tombs' finds.
A new pavilion has been built outside the old graveyard.
The centerpiece is a large statue of Fuxi and Nüwa,
based on the silk banners found
on the inner ceilings of the tombs.
Hui Chin and I joined a conducted bus tour
from Urumchi to visit Turpan.
It was a very interesting trip and full of drama, as
there was many interesting places to visit and there
was also a number of arguments
on the bus about the tickets and
sights to be visited, the sitting arrangements on the
bus and also about the food and the quality and hygene
standard of the restaurants we have visited.
To cap it all of, my camera's battery ran flat, half
way through, our spare battery and another camera sitting
safely back at the hotel in Urumchi (laughing at our
misfortune), but a few weeks later I had even worst news,
when, after returning home, I found out that two of my
new 2Gigabyte SD memory cards, although seemed to work
perfectly at the time, have invisible pictures on them.
The pictures seem to exist alright,
with all around the 200 plus kilobyte
properties and showing as jpeg pictures, but can't be viewed.
I have lost some very interesting, unusual and irreplacable
pictures of Turpan, Urumchi, Bishkek in Kyrgizstan and pictures
of the countrysides of Kyrgizstan and Kazakstan.
_________o___O____o_________
Now altough we were there and had our visual and phisical
experiences, I have to take advantage of using
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia's
resources with our greatful thanks. Author.
_________o___O____o_________
Astana - Karakhoja Ancient Tombs
Astana - Karakhoja Ancient Tombs
Astana - Karakhoja Ancient Tombs
For a more information about
Astana Graves see Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This page was retrieved and condensed from
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astana Graves)
see Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, November 2007.
All text is available under the terms of the
GNU Free Documentation License
(see
Copyrights for details).
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
This information was correct in November 2007. E. & O.E.
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