新疆吐鲁番阿斯塔那墓地西区2004年发掘简报

The Excavation of the West Zone of the Astana Cemetery at Turfan, Xinjiang in 2004

阿斯塔那墓地西区南边紧邻水渠．由于水渠堵塞决口致使大量渠水流入墓地．造成一批墓葬毁坏，其中两座受害比较严重，墓室坍塌，另外几座墓葬也因进水遭到了不同程度的破坏，情况十分危急。2004年3月，经请示并得到上级文物主管部门同意后，吐鲁番地区文物局立即组织考古人员．对受损较严重的9座墓葬及时进行抢救性清理。现将发掘情况简报如下。

In March 2003, Turfan Prefectural Bureau of Cultural Relics organized archaeological team to conduct rescue excavation to nine burials in Astana Cemetery. All of the burials were cave tombs with ramp passages, which included single burials, couple joint burials and collective burials. The burial furniture was mats woven with reeds, which was popular during the periods of the Qoco Kingdom of the Qu Family and the Xizhou Prefecture of the Tang Dynasty. In the single burials, there were some cases of burying with human figures made of straws, which might be used as the spouse. In M396, a silver coin of Sassanian Persia minted in Khusrau II＇s reign was unearthed, the shape and design of which are similar to that of the ones unearthed in the Gouxi, Munage and Badam Cemeteries. Many manuscripts were unearthed from these burials, some of which had exact dates, such as ＂the first year of Zaichu Era （690 AD）＂ , ＂the seventh year of Kaiyuan Era （719 AD）＂ , ＂the first year of Yongchang Era （689 AD）＂ etc. The burial structure, grave goods and unearthed manuscripts all showed that the dates of these burials would be the Xizhou Prefecture of the Tang Dynasty （640-795 AD） .