Niya ruins

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Not to be confused with Niya Kingdom.

Niya

Cadota
尼雅

Textile from Niya, showing influences from the East and the West.

Shown within Southern Xinjiang

Location Xinjiang, China

Coordinates 38.021400°N 82.737600°E

Type Settlement

Site notes
 Condition In ruins

The Niya ruins (simplified Chinese: 尼雅遗址; traditional Chinese: 尼雅遺址;

pinyin: Níyǎ Yízhǐ), is an archaeological site located about 115 km (71 mi) north of
modern Niya Town on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin in modern-day Xinjiang,
China. The ancient site was known in its native language as Caḍ́ ota[citation needed], and in
Chinese during the Han Dynasty as Jingjue (Chinese: 精絕; pinyin: Jīngjué, Old
Chinese tseng-dzot, similar to Caḍ́ ota[citation needed]). Numerous ancient archaeological
artifacts have been uncovered at the site.

Niya was once a major commercial center on an oasis on the southern branch of the
Silk Road in the southern Taklamakan Desert. During ancient times camel caravans
would cut through, carrying goods from China to Central Asia.[1][2]

Contents

 1 History
 2 Excavations
 3 See also
 4 Notes
 5 External links

History

In Hanshu, an independent oasis state called Jingjue, generally thought to be Niya, is

mentioned:

The seat of the king's government is the town of Jingjue, and it is distant by 8,820 li
[probably 3,667 km/2,279 miles] from Ch'ang-an. There are 480 households, 3,350
individuals with 500 persons able to bear arm. [There are the following officials] the
commandant of Jingjue, the leaders of the left and the right and an interpreter-in-
chief.

— Hanshu, chapter 96a, translation from Hulsewé 1979. [3]

Niya became part of Loulan Kingdom by the third century. Towards the end of the
fourth century it was under Chinese suzerainty. Later it was conquered by Tibet.[4]
Excavations

Niya site where Aurel Stein found wooden tablets

In 1900, Aurel Stein set out on an expedition to western China and the Taklamakan
Desert. In Niya he excavated several groups of dwellings, and found 100 wooden
tablets written in 105 CE. These tablets bore clay seals, official orders and letters
written in Kharoshthi, an early Indic script, dating them to the Kushan empire, or to
Gandharan migrants influenced by Kushan and Indian bureaucratic traditions.[5][6]
Other finds include coins and documents dating from the Han dynasty, Roman coins,
an ancient mouse trap, a walking stick, part of a guitar, a bow in working order, a
carved stool, an elaborately-designed rug and other textile fragments, as well as many
other household objects such as wooden furniture with elaborate carving, pottery,
Chinese basketry and lacquer ware.[5][6][7] Aurel Stein visited Niya four times between
1901 and 1931.

Wooden tablet inscribed with Kharosthi characters

Official approval for joint Sino-Japanese archaeological excavations at the site was
given in 1994. Researchers have now found remains of human habitation including
approximately 100 dwellings, burial areas, sheds for animals, orchards, gardens, and
agricultural fields. They have also found in the dwellings well-preserved tools such as
iron axes and sickles, wooden clubs, pottery urns and jars of preserved crops. The
human remains found there have led to speculation on the origins of these peoples.[8]

Some archeological findings from the ruins of Niya are housed in the Tokyo National
Museum.[1] Others are part of the Stein collection in the British Museum, the British
Library, and the National Museum in New Delhi.

Ancient texts showed some king names.[9]

See also

 Tarim mummies
 Shanshan
 Loulan Kingdom
 Charklik
 Dandan Oilik
 Miran

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Niya.

Notes

1.

 Boulnois, Luce (2005). Silk Road: Monks, Warriors & Merchants. Hong Kong: Odessey
Books & Guides. pp. 458, 501. ISBN 962-217-721-2.
  "The Most Important Findings of Niya in Taklamakan". The Silk Road. Retrieved 2007-
07-21.

  Hulsewé, A. F. P. (1979). China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – AD 23: an
annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. E.
Brill, Leiden. pp. 93–94. ISBN 90-04-05884-2.

  Susan Whitfield (2004). "Krorain: Settlements in the Desert (Niya and the Oases of
Kroraina)". The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith. The British Library. ISBN 1-932476-
12-1.

  "An Archeologist Follows His Dreams to Asia". Archived from the original on 2009-02-13.
Retrieved 2012-05-16.

  "Sir Aurel Stein & the Silk Road finds - Akterek, Balawaste, Chalma-Kazan,
Darabzandong, Farhad-Beg-yailaki, Kara-Yantak, Karadong, Khadalik, Khotan, Mazartagh,
Mazartoghrak, Niya, Siyelik and Yotkan". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved May 16,
2012.

  "New Delhi : Aurel Stein Collection :: Niya".

  "Niya yields buried secrets". China Daily. Retrieved 2007-07-21.

9.  论尼雅遗址的时代

 http://history.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/hansen-religious-life-niya.pdf

External links

 Finding Niya artifacts

 Niya Maps on Toyo Bunko Digital Silk Road Project