An Assessment on Archaeological Works at the Tarim Basin and Historical Artifacts worth of Museum
(53rd Annual Meeting of the PIAC, St. Petersburg 2010)
The Tarim Basin which is one of the ancient residential areas of the Turkish People of the Central Asia is located today to the south of the present Eastern Türkistan, and cities in this area are located at the significant route of the Historic Silk Road and it was considered for centuries that they played an important role as a bridge between East and West Civilizations. Inasmuch as the fact that the Agricultural Zone covers fertile fields with underground and over ground natural richness since the ancient times, it has been the homeland of the communities from “Sak”, “Hun”, “Tuhar” (Tuhri) and “Ari” races and other “Altay” communities who are their relatives who were accepted as common ancestors of the Turkish Peoples of the present Central Asia that have lived since the prehistoric ages. According to the information that we have got from sources of China, in addition to Saka and Hun Empires 36 city-states such as “Küsen”, “Suli”, “Udun”, “Yerken”, “Pişamşan”, “Otuma”, “Vayır” (Lopnur), “Unsu” and “Kiroren” were established at vegetable gardens (Bostanhklar) in the Tarim Basin and while they have played an important and effective role in formation of the present Turkish Peoples of Central Asia, they have also left a trace which cannot be erased eternally from the World’s Civilization history. A lot of historical artifacts pertaining to the civilization of mankind, principally related with historical, geographical, and linguistic and literature, artistic and archaeological sciences, were buried here.
The Tarim Basin has attracted the attention of scientists from various regions of the World since the second half of the 19th Century. Until now, at the Tarim Basin, scientists such as N. M. Przhevalsky, Aurel Stein, Albert von LeCoq, Sven Hedin, Paul Pelit, P.K.Kozlov, S.F.Oldenburg, Otani Coul, Feng Jia-sheng, Geng Shi-min Abdukeyum Hoca, Doklun Kamberi, Kurban Veli and Niyaz Kadir have made archaeological excavations and found numerous valuable historical artifacts. Examples of the World’s Civilization History such as “Balbal” (gravestone), pots and pans (Potteries), trimmed ceramics, jewelries made of various precious metals, mirrors, stylish human face, engraved daggers, statues, pictures, woolen and cotton clothes, carpets, rugs and “kilims”, and various garments, female and male mummies, medical articles and musical instruments, etc. unearthed as the result of excavations carried out at the region by the above mentioned famous scientists have been exhibited and displayed today at Museums in cities like Petersburg, Berlin, London, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing and Urumqi (Urumçi), etc. These masterpieces have been shedding lights as a first hand source onto scientific studies of Turcologists and Scientists who deal with Altay on fields of history, geography, archaeology and history of art.
In this statement an assessment has been made on archaeological excavations carried out in 1980s at various regions as ancient “Çerçen”, “Miran” (Capital of the ancient “Kiroren State”) at the Agricultural Zone and in Akşehir and historical artifacts which are worthy of displaying in museums that have been obtained.