Comprehensive analysis of Loulan and Mayan civilization, culture, humanities, how they disappeared, etc.

The walls surrounding Loulan Ancient City[1] have collapsed in many places, leaving only intermittent walls standing alone. The city is square in shape and covers an area of ??about 100,000 square meters. The panoramic view of the Loulan ruins is ancient and solemn, and the dilapidated architectural remains in the city are lifeless, looking particularly desolate and tragic.

Overlooking the ancient city of Loulan, there is a beacon in the northeast corner of the city. Although it has been repaired in different periods of time, the architectural style of the earliest Han Dynasty can still be seen from it. To the southwest of the beacon is the ruins of "Three Rooms". This 100-square-meter house is built on a high platform. The middle room of the three rooms is wider than the east and west rooms. At the beginning of the 20th century, Sven Hedin unearthed a large number of writing slips in a room on the east side. Judging from the large wooden frame that remains in the west wing of the three-room building, it is inferred that this was once the seat of the city’s farming administration. Continuing to the west, there is a large mansion. In the courtyard, there are three horizontally arranged houses in the north and south. In the ancient city, this courtyard building is also relatively grand. In contrast, most of the houses to the south of the mansion are single rooms, short, scattered and dilapidated. Based on the unearthed documents, it is inferred that the three-room adjacent frame structure house is the remains of the official office of the ancient city of Loulan.

The Loulan were a powerful tribe in the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty. They lived in the east of the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang and on the northwest edge of Lop Nur. The capital of the Loulan people is the famous Loulan Ancient City. According to records, at that time, Loulan was a prosperous country on the "Silk Road" with a well-connected government, a prosperous economy and rich products. In 108 BC, the Loulan Kingdom surrendered to the Han Dynasty and paid tribute year after year. Later, it surrendered and rebelled several times, becoming a serious problem for the Han Dynasty at that time.

The ancient city of Loulan was once a paradise for people to live and multiply. It is surrounded by the vast Lop Nur, and in front of its door is a clear river. People can boat and fish on the blue waves, hunt in the dense Populus euphratica forest, and bathe in the gifts of nature. According to "Shui Jing Zhu", after the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the diversion of the Zhubin River in the middle reaches of the Tarim River, Loulan suffered from severe water shortage. Soller from Dunhuang led 1,000 troops to Loulan, and summoned 3,000 soldiers from Shanshan, Yanqi, and Qiuci. They crossed the Binhe River day and night and diverted water into Loulan, which alleviated Loulan's water shortage problem. But after that, despite the maximum efforts and attempts of Loulan people to dredge the river, the ancient city of Loulan was eventually abandoned due to water shortage. The disappearance of the ancient city of Loulan is a huge loss! [Edit this paragraph] The mystery of the disappearance of Loulan In March 1900, Swedish explorer Sven Hedin headed east along the Tarim River and reached the lower reaches of the Kongque River, hoping to find the elusive Lop Nur. On March 27, the expedition team reached a mound. At this time, something bad happened. Sven Hedin discovered that the water they brought leaked a lot. In an arid desert, no water equals death. So they went to look for water, and an incredible scene happened. An ancient city appeared in front of them: there were walls, streets, houses, and even a beacon tower.

Sven Hedin discovered a large number of cultural relics here, including coins, silk fabrics, grain, pottery, 36 pieces of paper with Chinese characters, 120 bamboo slips and several writing brushes...

< p>After Sven Hedin returned to China, he handed the cultural relics to Himmler in Germany for appraisal. After identification, this ancient city was the famous ancient country Loulan. The whole world was shocked. Subsequently, expedition teams from many countries followed... Through the long-term and unremitting efforts of historians and cultural relics experts, the mysterious veil of the ancient country of Loulan was lifted. Opened a corner.

In 1979, the Xinjiang Archaeological Institute organized a Loulan archaeological team and began to investigate and inspect the ancient roads in the ancient city of Loulan. In the lower reaches of the Kongque River on the road leading to Loulan, the archaeological team discovered a large number of ancient tombs. Several of the tombs have a strange and spectacular appearance: surrounding the tombs are seven layers of thin and thick logs, one on top of another, and outside the circle there are columns of logs spreading out in a radial pattern on all sides. The entire shape is like a big sun, which can't help but evoke various mysterious associations. What exactly it means is still an unsolved mystery.

Story 1: Loulan disappeared in the war. After the fifth century AD, the Kingdom of Loulan began to weaken. The powerful northern powers invaded, and the city of Loulan was destroyed and later abandoned.

Story 2: Loulan declined due to drought, water shortage, and ecological deterioration. The upstream river was cut off and rerouted, and people had to leave Loulan. Loulan once promulgated the earliest environmental protection law in the world found so far.

Story 3: The disappearance of Loulan is related to the north-south migration of Lop Nur. Sven Hedin believed that the cycle of Lop Nur's north-south migration was about 1,500 years. More than 3,000 years ago, a European tribe lived in the Loulan area. More than 1,500 years ago, Loulan once again entered a prosperous era. This is directly related to the wandering of Lop Nur.

Myth 4: The disappearance of Loulan is related to the opening of the North Silk Road. After the opening of the Northern Silk Road through Hami (Yiwu) and Turpan, the ancient Silk Road desert route through Loulan was abandoned, and Loulan also lost its former glory.

Myth 5: Loulan was destroyed by plague. A plague spread from other places claimed the lives of nine out of ten residents in Loulan City. Those who survived fled Loulan one after another and fled to other places.

Story 6: Loulan was defeated by biological invasion.

A kind of mole cricket insect introduced from the Mesopotamia and Mesopotamia has no natural enemies in Loulan. It lives in the soil and can live on the white plaster soil in Loulan area. It enters residential houses in groups. People cannot eliminate them and have to abandon them. Go to the city. [Edit this paragraph] The ancient Loulan country in history According to the records of "Historical Records·Dawan Biography" and "Hanshu·Western Regions Biography", as early as the 2nd century ago, Loulan was a famous "city outline country" in the Western Regions. It leads to Dunhuang in the east, Yanqi and Yuli in the northwest, and Ruoqiang and Qiemo in the southwest. The southern and northern routes of the ancient "Silk Road" separated from Loulan.

The governor of the Western Regions during the Wei, Jin and Qianliang periods of China. Located in the northwest of Lop Nur, Xinjiang. The city was named because the Chinese documents unearthed from the site used the phonetic pronunciation of "Loulan" and Luolu as "Kuluo Laina". At the beginning of the 20th century, the British Stein and others came here many times to rob and excavate. After the 1950s, Chinese scholars conducted investigations and excavations.

Loulan belongs to one of the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions, adjacent to Dunhuang, and had close relations with the Han Dynasty around BC. The records of Loulan in ancient times are based on the records of "Book of Han: Biography of the Western Regions", Faxian and Xuanzang. "Book of Han·Biography of the Western Regions" records: "The Shanshan Kingdom, whose real name is Loulan, has a king who governs the mud city. It goes to Yangguan for 1,600 miles and to Chang'an for 6,100 miles. There are 1,570 households and a population of 44,100. Faxian said: "The land is rugged and barren. The clothes of the lay people are the same as those in the Han Dynasty, but the color of the carpets is different. There are more than 4,000 Buddhist monks in the country." Xuanzang traveled there. At the end, he made a very simple description: "From then on, he traveled northeast for more than a thousand miles to the homeland of Nabobo, which is the land of Loulan."

The Loulan Kingdom in the Han Dynasty sometimes became the eyes and ears of the Xiongnu, and sometimes it was subordinate to the Xiongnu. The Han Dynasty played a two-faced policy, standing between the two major forces of the Han and the Xiongnu, and cleverly maintained its political life. Since Loulan was located at the strategic point of communication between the Han Dynasty and other countries in the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty could not cross this area to attack the Huns. The Xiongnu could not threaten the Han Dynasty without borrowing Loulan's power. Both the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu tried their best to implement a soft policy towards Loulan.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Bowang Hou Zhang Qian as envoy to the Dayue clan, but failed to establish an offensive and defensive alliance. After that, he sent a large army to attack the distant country of Dayuan, and sent envoys to the countries in the Western Regions many times. When these envoys passed through Loulan, Loulan could not bear the heavy burden and even killed the envoys. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty finally sent troops to attack Loulan. As a result, Prince Loulan was sent to the Han Dynasty as a hostage as evidence of surrender. Loulan also sent a prince to the Xiongnu to express his strict neutrality between the Xiongnu and the Han. Later, when the Han expeditionary army attacked a vassal state of the Xiongnu, King Loulan contacted the Xiongnu and stationed an ambush of the Xiongnu troops in the country, which angered the Han court. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once again sent troops to attack Loulan, approaching the capital of Jianni City. King Loulan was frightened and immediately opened the city gate to apologize. Emperor Wu asked him to monitor the movements of the Huns. In 92 BC, King Loulan died, and the prince who had been taken as a hostage in the Han Dynasty returned to succeed him. The prince was very sad and did not want to return easily, so his younger brother inherited the throne. The new king died not long after, and the Huns took this opportunity to inherit the throne with the eldest son of the former king who had been a hostage in their own country. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was shocked when he heard the news, and quickly sent envoys to persuade the new king to come to the Han court, hoping to seize the throne. As a hostage, failed. In the next two or three years, no major incidents occurred between the Han and the Xiongnu, and they seemed very stable. The border of Loulan is close to the Yumen Pass. Han envoys often pass through this gate to go to the countries in the Western Regions. They have to pass through the desert called Bailongdui in Loulan. There are often winds in the desert, which rolls the quicksand into the air and makes it look like a dragon. Travelers get lost. The Han Dynasty keeps giving orders. The Kingdom of Loulan provided guides and drinking water. Because the Han envoys repeatedly abused the guides, Loulan refused to obey their orders, and the relationship between the two deteriorated. Emperor Wu of Han eventually sent assassins to assassinate the new king. In order to marry a prince who was a hostage in the Han court, a beautiful concubine was sent back to Loulan to inherit the throne. But the king was terrified of assassination. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent troops to garrison Loulan in the name of protecting the king, thus gaining the initiative to conquer the Xiongnu and other countries in the Western Regions. The above is the relationship between Han Dynasty and Loulan during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After that, the power of the Han Dynasty weakened, and Loulan once again betrayed him. . [Edit this paragraph] The Mystery of the Ancient City of Loulan When traveling to Xinjiang, for an adventure traveler, there is a place that is full of attraction. This mysterious ancient city, known as "Pompei in the Desert", is Loulan, an ancient country in the Western Regions.

Guloulan is located on the west bank of Lop Nur, Ruoqiang County, Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang. It is one of the most desolate areas in Xinjiang. The long history and the fairy tale-like legends here are so fascinating; its mysterious disappearance on the earth and its unexpected appearance have aroused the interest of many people - many Chinese and foreign tourists and explorers have worked tirelessly along the route. Head west along the Silk Road to see this famous historical and cultural city - Ancient Loulan. In January 1979, the late Chinese scientist Peng Jiamu set out from the north bank of the Kongque River and walked through the desert to the Loulan site for inspection.

Loulan was historically a hub on the Silk Road and an important center for Sino-Western trade. Sima Qian once recorded in "Historical Records": "Loulan, Gushiyi has a city wall, near the salt lake." This is the first time the city of Loulan is recorded in the literature. During the Western Han Dynasty, the total population of Loulan was more than 14,000, with a large number of business travelers, bustling markets, neat streets, majestic Buddhist temples and pagodas. However, the Xiongnu were powerful at that time, and Loulan was once controlled by them. They attacked and killed Han Dynasty envoys and robbed merchants. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once sent troops to defeat it, captured King Loulan, and forced him to join the Han Dynasty.

However, Loulan followed the Xiongnu's counterinsurgency plan and repeatedly killed Han officials. In the fourth year of Emperor Yuanfeng of the Han Dynasty (before 77 BC), General Huo Guang sent Fu Jiezi and several warriors to Loulan, and designed to kill King Loulan Changgui. , made the younger brother who returned home king, changed the name of the country to Shanshan, and moved the capital to the south. However, the Han Dynasty did not relax the management of Loulan, "set up military guards, build wells and canals, and cultivate fields and accumulate valleys." , Loulan is still very prosperous.

After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Central Plains were divided and fighting endlessly. Loulan gradually lost contact with the Central Plains. The next time the soldiers met, "It was snowy in the Tianshan Mountains in May, and there were no flowers, only cold. I heard the willows breaking in the flute, but I had not seen the spring scenery. I fought with the golden drum at dawn, and I hugged the jade saddle at night. I am willing to put my sword at my waist to kill Loulan." (Li Bai) "Song under the Sea"). "The snow-capped mountains are covered by long clouds in Qinghai, and the isolated city looks into the Yumen Pass in the distance. The yellow sand will wear golden armor in a hundred battles, and Loulan will never be returned until it is broken." (Wang Changling's "Army") It can be seen that Loulan was still an important border town in the Tang Dynasty. However, at what time, this prosperous town mysteriously disappeared. Where is the ancient country of Loulan? It has become a mystery that has been speculated for centuries.

In March 1900, the famous Swedish explorer Sven Hedin led an expedition team to Xinjiang. They were marching hard in the desert. Aikedi, a Uyghur from my country, was returning to the original path to find his lost iron ax. When he encountered a strong desert wind, he unexpectedly discovered an ancient building under the sand. Castle. He told Sven Hedin about this discovery. The next year, Sven Hedin arrived at this mysterious castle and discovered many cultural relics. After research, he concluded that this ancient city was the long-lost ancient Loulan City.

The reappearance of Loulan City attracted explorers from all over the world to explore and search for treasures. The British Hungarian Stein, the American Heng Qianton, and the Japanese Ju Ruichao successively arrived at this "highly cultural ancient city ruins" and looted it. A batch of important cultural relics were discovered.

Loulan City was discovered from under the sand dunes, but a bigger mystery puzzled the explorers: why the prosperous Loulan City disappeared and the oasis turned into a desert and Gobi. Where is the sand buried in the city?

In 1878, the Russian explorer Przhevarsky inspected Lop Nur and found that the location of Lop Nur marked on the Chinese map was wrong. It was not in Kuruktag. At the southern foot of the mountain, it is at the foot of the Altyn Mountains. The Lop Nur Lake where Przewalski once bathed was filled with ripples of wild birds, but now it has become a desert and salt marsh. In other words, Lop Nur is a mobile place. The actual location of the lake is 2 degrees latitude south of the map location. In 1979 and 1980, Przewalski partially solved the mystery. Several detailed investigations finally revealed the mystery of this "Pompei in the Sand" that had been buried by wind and sand for more than 1,600 years, allowing people to see its true face -

The exact geographical location of the ancient city of Loulan is in the east longitude 89 degrees 55 minutes and 22 seconds north latitude 40 degrees 29 minutes and 55 seconds. It covers an area of ??more than 108,000 square meters. The remaining city walls in the east and west of the city are about 4 meters high and 8 meters wide. The city walls are made of rammed loess; the courtyard walls of residential areas are made of reeds tied into bundles or wicker braided and then plastered with clay. They are all wooden houses, with poplar pillars and clearly identifiable doors and windows. There is the only earthen building in the center of the city, with a wall thickness of 1.1 meters and a residual height of 2 meters. It faces south and looks like the residence of the ruler of ancient Loulan; The mound in the east of the city was originally a pagoda where residents worshiped Buddha.

How can Lop Nur wander? Scientists believe that in addition to crustal activity, the biggest reason is the accumulation of large amounts of sediment in the river bed. The sediment in the Tarim River and Kongque River gathered at the mouth of Lop Nur. Over time, more and more sediment accumulated, blocking the river channels. The Tarim River and Kongque River then found new channels and flowed to low-lying areas, forming new lakes. In the hot climate, the old lake gradually evaporated and became a desert. Water is the source of life for all things in Loulan City. The northward movement of Lop Nur Lake made Loulan City water thirsty and trees withered. The citizens abandoned the city and fled, leaving a dead city. In the raging desert storm, Loulan was finally annihilated by the sand dunes.

The disappearance of Loulan is also related to people's destruction of the ecological balance of nature. Loulan is located at the strategic point of the Silk Road. The Han, Xiongnu and other nomadic countries often provoked wars on Loulan territory; over-cultivation for the benefit of their own country caused serious damage to water conservancy facilities and good plants: "After the third century AD The riverbed of the lower reaches of the Tarim River flowing into Lop Nur was silted up by wind and sand, and changed its course to the south in the southeast of present-day Yuli. As a result, Loulan's "city was stagnant and inhabited," and "the country has been empty for a long time, and the city was deserted." , Loulan Ancient City

(1) Official Office

The "Three Rooms" are three houses side by side. It is one of the two adobe buildings in Loulan City and is the highest-standard building in the city. It may be the official government office at that time. Since Sven Hedin discovered the ancient city of Loulan and unearthed a large number of precious documents under the corner of three rooms, Tachibana Zuichao from Japan and Steining from the UK have excavated here and brought cultural relics out of the country. These cultural relics were later collected by museums and studied by experts, which led to the rise of the "Loulan Studies" craze internationally. ”

(2) Residential houses

Made of red willows and reeds. Today, the roofs and walls do not exist, but the layout at that time can be seen from the remaining wall roots.

(3) Pagoda

The pagoda is about 10 meters high and is the tallest building in Loulan City.

2. Haitou Ancient City

In 1988, the Lop Nur cultural relics team organized by the Cultural Relics Department of the Autonomous Region Department of Culture, with the cooperation and assistance of the army, found the treasure in the southwest of Loulan Ancient City after 32 days of hard work. "Haitou" (numbered as lk ancient city by Stein) and other two ancient cities were surveyed and mapped, the first topographic map of these two ancient cities in China, and a batch of precious cultural relic specimens were collected, further filling the archaeological gaps in the Lop Nur area.

3. Milan ruins

It is a large area. The ruins mainly include the Milan city wall, two Buddhist temples and cemeteries. Along the city walls and the bases of Buddhist temples, large pits dug in the east and west can be seen everywhere. Milan belongs to the area of ??the ancient Loulan Kingdom. During the Han Dynasty, China used to farm here. There is a controversial theory that this is the new capital of Loulan Kingdom after it moved its capital. "Excellent murals with Indian cultural characteristics" - winged angels, and Tibetan wooden slips from the 8th to 9th centuries AD have been discovered here; this is an important historical site that reveals the mysterious rise and fall of the ancient Loulan country, and is the first place where Buddhism spread eastward from Xinjiang to the mainland. It is an important area and is also a rare evidence of exchanges between Tubo and the Western Regions in historical records.

4. Washixia Ancient City

5. Xiaohe Cemetery

In May 1934, an expedition team set up camp by the Loulankum River. They are looking for an ancient cemetery with "a thousand coffins" hidden in the Qom River basin.

For two months, Rob "Camel Hunter" Oldeke and others searched again and again without success. Even Oldeke himself speculated that the ancient tomb had been submerged by the newly formed rivers and lakes in the past ten years or that it had been reburied by a strong black storm. At the end of the month, the expedition team advanced toward the oasis zone closer to the southwest of Robe Wasteland.

Soon they discovered a river flowing to the southeast. It is 20 meters wide and about 120 kilometers long. The water flow is sluggish and a series of small lakes are surrounded by reeds and tamarisks. It is a new river that emerged after the recovery of the Coom River, with a history of less than 10 years. Before they followed the river into the desert, they gave it the temporary name "Little River." There is a round hill 4-5 kilometers east of the "small river". From a distance, there is a dense patch of dead trees on the top of the hill, 4-5 meters high. The strange thing is that the dead trees are very close to each other, and they are connected to each other, supporting each other. Loulan female corpse

On the hills, mummies, skeletons, dismembered bodies, huge wooden boards and thick woolen fabric fragments were everywhere. In a boat-shaped wooden coffin, there is a well-preserved female corpse. When the coffin was opened, the tight shroud turned into powder at the first touch. After uncovering the rotten cloth covering her face, a young and beautiful girl was revealed, with her eyes closed and the corners of her mouth slightly raised, as if she had just fallen asleep under a spell, with a mysterious and knowing smile on her face. This is the legendary "Princess Loulan" or "Queen Rob". She has been sleeping under the desert for more than 2,000 years. She has long hair and is petite, only 5.2 feet tall.

On the 10×16 square meter top of the mountain, there are huge painted wooden pillars, exquisite wooden fences, life-size wooden statues, and the eye-catching Xiangtang (ground building of the cemetery). Experts determined that it was by no means built for ordinary Loulan people, but an important mausoleum.

In 1998, a group of archaeological experts went through all kinds of difficulties and difficulties to reach the Luobu Desert. They unexpectedly saw some traces similar to abandoned city walls, exposed without any cover under Huang Tian's restored appearance of the Loulan female corpse. Under the guidance of a hundred-year-old Rob, it was confirmed that this was a ruined Rob village.

The creek may be an ancient site in Loulan - a public cemetery for the residents of the ancient city. After nearly a hundred years of busy work by explorers and archaeologists, many large-scale tombs and funerary objects have been discovered in the Luobu Desert. So, in the Loulan Desert that has been silent for thousands of years, will there be hidden masterpieces or undiscovered miracles like the Terracotta Warriors and Horses in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang?

6. "Tomb of the Sun"

It is located on the north bank of the ancient Kongque River. It was discovered by archaeologists Hou Can, Wang Binghua and others in the winter of 1979. There are dozens of ancient tombs, each of which is a tomb for the deceased surrounded by a round wooden stake in the middle and wooden stakes more than a foot high outside. It forms 7 circles and forms several rays, in the shape of sun rays. According to carbon 14 dating, the Tomb of the Sun is 3,800 years old. Which ethnic group and tribe is it the cemetery of? Why is it buried here? Where do these people live? Whether the tomb was built with the sun as a totem or for some other purpose... 20 years later, it is still a mystery. What about the nearly 2,000-year rupture between Lop Nur civilization and Loulan civilization? Perhaps when the mystery of the Tomb of the Sun is solved, there will be a conclusion.

The "Lolan Beauty" who was an Indo-European race 3,800 years ago was unearthed here. Nearly 10 ancient human relics were discovered. Some stone balls, handmade Gaza pottery fragments, bronze fragments, triangular winged copper arrowheads, animal bones, beads and other human relics were exposed on the surface of the loess that was not completely covered by the sand dunes. . There are also some stone knives, stone spears, stone arrowheads, small stone leaves, stone cores, etc. dating from 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. This clearly shows that Loulan, which is now a barren land, was indeed green and lush, with a forest coverage rate of 40% since the late Neolithic, the Bronze Age, and the early Han Dynasty.

[Edit this paragraph] Where did the Loulan people come from? Who once lived and multiplied in the mysterious land of Loulan? And whose ingenuity created the dazzling oasis civilization? Research on this issue has always been fascinating and confusing.

Lin Haicun, a professor at the Department of Archeology at Peking University, said: "The Loulan people use the Central Asian Quelu script as their official script, but the Loulan native language is an Indo-European language, which is called 'Spitting Fire' in academia. Luo language'. ""The conclusions of Loulan anthropological research and the results of Loulan linguistic research once again remind us that in distant ancient times, there was an Indo-European tribe living in Loulan, far away from Europe." Therefore, the view of this book is that, The Loulan people are "an ancient Indo-European tribe wandering in the East."

However, there is no consensus on the question "Where did the Loulan people come from?" There is a view that the Loulan people are Aryans. Yang Lian, an archaeological expert in Loulan from the Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters that when he went to Loulan in the 1980s, he saw a man in his 30s who was very tall, about 2 meters tall. He specially took a photo of him, and the boy standing with him only reached his chest.

According to recent research conducted by a Chinese anthropologist from the perspective of genetics and artifacts, the Loulan people are closer to the ancient Afghans. This is another brand-new argument.

The well-preserved female corpse, with light-colored hair, well-developed eyebrow arches, and straight nose bones, clearly has Caucasian characteristics. This is completely consistent with the results of physical anthropological measurements of human bones unearthed from the cemetery by anthropologists. During the Loulan Kingdom of the Han Dynasty, the racial composition of Loulan residents developed again. They coexisted with the Caucasian race, and there are also Mongoloid races among them. The ancient residents of the old continent of Asia and Europe once used this land that was not green and grassy as their foothold, hoping to build a beautiful home here! [Edit this paragraph] The exploration history of the ancient Loulan country In 1901, the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin discovered the "Ancient City of Loulan" in the north of Lop Nur with the help of a local guide. He claimed that it was "the reappearance of Pompeii in the desert" and caused a sensation in the world. Chinese and foreign scholars believe that the ancient city of Loulan is the most important historical relic discovered so far in the prosperous ancient Loulan Kingdom on the Silk Road. It is of great significance to the study of the ancient history of Xinjiang and even Central Asia, the historical changes of the Silk Road, and the exchanges between Chinese and Western cultures. Integration plays a vital role.

A large number of archaeologists, geologists, and geologists arrived one after another. They are:

The Huntington Expedition of the United States in 1905;

The Stein Expedition of the United Kingdom in 1906;

Mitsurui Ohtani of Japan in 1908-1909 Super expedition team;

1910--1911 The second expedition team of Japan's Mitsui Otani and Kurui Chao.

The value of the cultural relics unearthed by these expedition teams in Loulan Ancient City and Lop Nur area shocked the world, and their richness is incalculable. In addition to Neolithic age stone axes, woodware, pottery, bronzes, glass products, ancient coins, etc., there is an extremely wide variety of cultural relics. Among them, the Jin Dynasty handwritten "Warring States Policy" and Han brocade are the most precious. This handwritten calligraphy paper is only a hundred or two hundred years later than Cai Lun's invention of paper in 105, and six or seven hundred years earlier than the oldest European calligraphy paper. The excavated Han brocade is colorful and quite exquisite. Some embroideries have the words "Han Ren embroidered Wenwan (Wan), the descendant of Wuji (i.e., the descendants are all in the house)". Some embroidered "prolong life and longevity", "prolong life and bring happiness" or "prolong life and benefit future generations". The production period is in the 1st-2nd century. Another major excavation achievement was the discovery of a letter written by Li Bai, who was the chief historian of the Western Regions in the Western Jin Dynasty, to King Yanqi, the so-called "Li Bai Document". Based on Li Bai's document, the ancient city of "Haitou" was discovered, which is a good foundation for the study of Loulan in the later period. He took away a large number of ancient cultural relics and wrote and published a series of monographs on the study of ancient Loulan in Lop Nur. He praised Loulan as a "treasure land buried in the desert", a "museum" left behind by history, and "the Pompeii of the East".

Chinese scientists began to visit Loulan in 1927. The famous archaeologist Huang Wenbi and the geographer Chen Zongqi, who came to Loulan with the Sino-Swedish Northwest Scientific Expedition, visited the north shore of Lop Nur several times to inspect and excavate the ruins, and unearthed more than 70 Chinese inscriptions with clear dates of the Western Han Dynasty. Wooden slips, beacon fire sites of the Han Dynasty were excavated, and a considerable number of bronze, iron, lacquer, wooden, bone, stone, pottery, and fragments of silk and linen fabrics were also unearthed. Huang Wenbi published a monograph "Archaeology of Lop Nur" on his archaeological work in the Lop Nur area. The ancient civilization of the Loulan area opened a new page in the hands of Chinese scholars. Huang Wenbi was the only Chinese archaeologist who had visited the Lop Nur area for inspection before the liberation of my country.

The Loulan adventure craze in New China has once again caused an international sensation. The most positive response was from Japan. The book "The Kingdom of Loulan" written by the famous Japanese historian Mr. Kazutoshi Sawa has been published in two editions. Among the books for Japanese primary school students, there is an introduction to the ancient city of Loulan. Loulan can be said to be a household name in Japan.

In the late 1970s, Japan's NHK TV station and China Central Television jointly produced the TV film "Silk Road". At that time, the Institute of Archeology of the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences was invited to assist in the filming of the TV film. They organized a team to overcome many difficulties and went deep into the Lop Nur area three times, and once again obtained Chinese wooden slips and documents (including a small amount of French) from the Wei and Jin Dynasties, as well as a large number of ancient coins, woolen fabrics, silk fabrics, leather products, lacquerware and other precious cultural relics.

The Military Region Surveying and Mapping Brigade cooperated with the expedition team to conduct in-depth surveys of Loulan and drew a topographic map of the ancient city of Loulan. After accurate measurements, it was determined that the ancient Loulan City was located at 89 degrees 55 minutes 12 seconds east longitude and 40 degrees 30 minutes 57 seconds north latitude. The ancient city covers an area of ??120,000 square meters and is slightly square in shape, with a side length of about 330 meters. The walls built alternately with soil, reeds and branches are still vaguely identifiable. An ancient river running roughly from northwest to southeast runs through the city. The remaining main houses in the city are still well preserved. Except for the missing roofs, other parts, such as doors and windows, are clearly identifiable. In the ancient city, wooden beams, purlins, and rafters used to build houses can be found everywhere, and they are in a mess. Some of these poplar wood building materials are drilled or even engraved with patterns, showing a considerable level of craftsmanship. They are particularly eye-catching and provide precious materials for the study of ancient architecture. In addition, there are also architectural ruins such as ancient beacon towers and granaries. As for cultural relics such as pottery pieces, felt pieces, ancient copper coins, and silk fragments, just a little digging on the surface and underground can bring "antiques" to light.

The Japanese called 1988 the "Year of Loulan" and launched commemorative activities centered on the Loulan exploration: such as organizing an inspection group of 100 people, holding a large-scale exhibition "Sven Hedin and the Kingdom of Loulan", and holding Lecture conferences, Loulan photography exhibitions, and Loulan in China show that Loulan’s research has already entered the world. [Edit this paragraph] Reasons for the disappearance of the ancient Loulan country. Lop Nur was once the largest lake in the arid area of ??northwest my country, with an area of ??12,000 square kilometers. At the beginning of the last century, it still reached 500 square kilometers. At that time, Loulan people built more than 100,000 square meters beside Lop Nur. The ancient city of Loulan, but by 1972, it finally dried up. What caused Lop Nur, which was once rich in water and fish, to turn into a vast desert? What is the reason that caused the ancient city of Loulan, which was the hub of the Silk Road, to become an inaccessible desert? This has always been a scientific mystery.

Recently, the Lop Nur Environmental Drilling Scientific Investigation Team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a comprehensive and systematic environmental scientific investigation of Lop Nur. The expedition team believes that: According to preliminary inferences, with the rapid uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau 70,000 to 80,000 years ago, Lop Nur migrated from south to north, and aridity gradually intensified, eventually causing the entire lake to dry up. Such an explanation is obviously not satisfactory. Professor Zhou Kunshu from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences believes that the reasons for the drying up of Lop Nur are very complicated. This is both a global problem and a regional problem. In addition to natural reasons, there are also man-made factors.

1. Global climate drought is the background

About ten thousand years ago, the earth's environment underwent unprecedented changes, that is, from the dry and cold environment of the last glacial period to the humid environment of the post-glacial period. environment, taking this opportunity, human culture also entered the Neolithic Age from the Paleolithic Age. Ten thousand years later, the geological environment has experienced three major stage changes. The warming period from about 10,000 to 8,000 years ago, the high temperature period (suitable climate period) from about 8,000 to 3,000 years ago, and the high temperature period (suitable climate period) from about 3,000 years ago. This year has been a cooling period. The changes in these three major environmental patterns are confirmed by paleoenvironmental research on geology, biology, chemistry and physics. Only the time of the three stages is slightly different due to different methods, locations or research objects. This change in environmental climate has planned the scope and methods of human activities.

Take Loulan as an example. Humans set foot here during the Neolithic Age. The population flourished here during the Bronze Age. This was during the high-temperature period. Lop Nur Lake was vast and the environment was suitable. But after entering the cooling zone, the water and soil environment deteriorated, river water decreased, lakes shrank, and deserts expanded. Drought intensified around 2000 years ago, which was manifested in the occurrence of ice advance, accumulation of loess, disappearance of lakes and marshes, and sea retreat in the vast areas of northern China.

The ancient city of Loulan perished from around BC to the fourth century (from the Han Dynasty to the Northern Wei Dynasty in the Central Plains), which was a period when drought intensified. In fact, during this aridification process, not only the ancient city of Loulan perished, but also due to the expansion of the desert, the demise of Niya, Kaladun, Milan City, Niyang City, Khan City, Tongwan City, etc. occurred successively.

The demise of the ancient city of Loulan occurred against the background of drought in northern China and even the world's climate. It is not an isolated space, but because Loulan is located in an arid inland, where humanities and nature The changes in the environment are just more significant.