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The Introduction of Ancient Astana Tombs

Known as the "Underground Museum" and widely valued by Chinese and foreign archaeologists and historians, this group of ancient tombs is 40 kilometers southeast of Turpan city proper and 6 kilometers from the ancient city of Gaochang. Astana means "capital" in Uygur and Karakhoja is the name of a legendary hero of the ancient Uygur Kingdom who removed the evils from the people by killing a vicious dragon. They are now the names of two local villages.

The tombs were the public cemetery of ancient Gaochang, available for use by both the city’s upper and lower classes. In total, 456 tombs have been discovered and excavated. Buried in these tombs are nobles, officials and others from the period beginning in the Western Jin and ending in the middle of the Tang dynasty. Curiously, the tomb of King Gaochang is found nowhere in the group of tombs, but the renowned general Zhang Xiong of the Qushi Gaochang Kingdom was buried here with his wife and son Zhang Huaiji. Almost all of the corpses in the more than 500 tombs have not rotted; instead they have become dried-up bodies, a phenomenon more unusual than the mummies found in the pyramids of Egypt. Most of the dried-up bodies are complete and intact.

Thanks to the dry and hot climate, more than ten thousand cultural relics have been found, including over 2,700 books, epitaphs, paintings, clay figurines, pottery, gold, coins, and textiles, which date between from 273 to 772 A.D.. Earthen figurines and thousands of other unearthed cultural relics are well-preserved and as color-ful as new ones. The unearthed boiled dumplings of the Tang dynasty are the same shape as those of today and the stuffing of the dumplings is still fresh. Furthermore, on a bail of horse fodder are written the words "Judge Cen" and"Minister Feng". JudgeCen is the famous frontier poet Cen Shen of the Tang dynasty and Minister Feng is Feng Changqing, the governor of Beiting Prefecture of the Tang dynasty. Most of those buried here were people of the Han nationality, but also some minority nationalities, such as the Cheshi, Hun, Di, Xianbei, Gaoche, and Zhaowujiuxing.