Silk on the Silk Road: Scholarship and Scepticism Susan Whitfield 丝绸之路：一条 丝绸 之路 The Silk Road：A Road of Silk 赵 丰 主编 上海 003 丝绸论文集 英文版 图书在版编目 CIP 数据 绸之路 : 一条’ 绸‚之路 : The Silk Road: A Road of Silk : 英文 / 赵丰主编 . -- 上海 : 华大学 出 社 , 2016.9 ISBN 978—7—5669—1138—4 ‧ .  … . 赵… . 古 绸—中 英文 绸之路—文化史—文集—英文 ‪ .  K876.94-53  K203-53 中 —文集— 书馆 CIP 数据核字 (2016) 第 228171 号 丝绸之路 : 一条 丝绸 之路 : The Silk Road: A Road of Silk Editor in chief Zhao Feng 赵丰 Deputy editors Zhang Weiwen 张蔚雯 Lu Fangfang 陆芳芳 An Weizhu 安薇竹 Miao Huicui 苗荟萃 Li Ying 李影 Designers Sun Peiyan 孙培彦 Publisher Donghua University Press 1882 West Yan’an Road, Shanghai, 200051, Tel: 86–21–62193056 Hangzhou Fortune Art Printing Co., Ltd Hangzhou Fortune Are Printing Co., Ltd Seotenber 2016 978–7–5669–1138–4 / TS·726 Layout Printing First Edition ISBN Zhao Fan 赵帆 Unless otherwise indicated, the copyright for all the photographs belongs to the holding institution (the Musée Guimet or the Bibliotheque nationale de France). The copyright for the text belongs to the authors. All rights reserved. 004 丝绸论文集 英文版 Unearthed early silks from the Silk Road in Russia (3rd century BC — 4th century AD) Svetlana Pankova Since 2000: the State Hermitage, Department of archaeology of Eastern Europe and Siberia, curator of archaeological collections from Southern Siberia (Altai, Tuva, Minusinsk regions). 2011: PhD in history/archaeology: Dissertation “Tashtyk carved drawings (stylistic and scene analysis, cultural and historical identification)”. Institute for the History of material culture, Saint-Petersburg. At the moment: senior research fellow, curator of the archaeological collections from Southern Siberia. 1990–2004, 2012 Participating in archaeological expeditions (mostly excavations of Scythian time burials in Southern Siberia, exploration of rock art sites) As a museum curator, I often deal with preparing exhibitions and their catalogs in the Hermitage and other places. Now I focus mostly on studying a certain collection — that of the Oglakhty cemetery in Minusinsk valley with its special burial rites, mummified bodies, clothes, wooden objects, imported textiles etc. Together with a textile expert from the Hermitage laboratory of scientific examinations we have just prepared a paper on silks from the Oglakhty cemetery (the Hermitage collection) Selected works: On ancient tattoos: Tattooed mummies from the large Pazyryk mounds: new findings. 2005 One more culture with ancient tattoo tradition in Southern Siberia: tattoos on a mummy from the Oglakhty burial ground, 3rd–4th century AD. 2013 Various about the Oglakhty collection: Radiocarbon dating of the Oglakhty grave using a wiggle matching method. On costumes and weapons as reflected in objects of art: Warriors of the tashtyk miniatures: attribution opportunities. 2011 (In Russian) On rock art (all in Russian): Oshkol rock art site in Khakasia. 2012 Petroglyphs on the Georgievskaya mountain (engravings of the Tashtyk culture). 2012 Petroglyphs at the Sosnikha mountain. 2012 Petroglyphs on kurgan flagstones of burial mound Podkamen in Northern Khakassia). 2013 I 054 n this paper I am presenting a brief overview of the early silks available in Russia, unearthed in the course of archaeological excavations within the country and to less extend abroad, but kept in Russian Unearthed early silks from the Silk Road in Russia (3rd century BC — 4th century AD) Svetlana Pankova Figure 1. Map. Early silk finds stored in Russian museums. museums. Many finds have not been published and little is known about them, so my review doesn’t claim to be complete. Summarizing early silk finds I give more detailed information on the samples stored in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint-Petersburg. All known early silks were unearthed from burial sites, most of them located in Southern Siberia or Central Asian region (Fig.1). This is so not only because of the region’s proximity to China, but mostly because of the climatic conditions and some construction peculiarities of local burials that enabled textiles and other organic remains to be preserved. Other silk pieces were discovered in Western Siberia and Crimea. Available information about silks found in these places is quite scare but it’s necessary to mention them to provide an overall picture. 1. Western Siberia Silks found here come from a group of elite nobility burial sites, located mostly along the middle reaches of the Irtysh river. They date back to the 2nd–4th centuries AD and refer to the Sargat archaeological culture. According to L.I. Pogodin who excavated elite tombs of Isakovsky burial mound in 1989, small silk remains were found in at least 30 complexes of the Sargat culture, some of them along with metal threads ( 1996, 123)Ⅰ. Very small pieces of silk and gold threads with silk core were found there as remains of the cloths (ex. Sidorovsky I, Isakovsky I, Abatskiy III, Nizhneingalinsky I burial mounds), but being robbed 1 Silks with metal threads are not discussing here. Summaries of such finds were given in Kovpanenko 1986 and Pogodin 1996. 055 丝绸论文集 英文版 and disturbed these burials don’t provide detailed information of these garments. Most of textile finds are presented in publications briefly without illustrations ( , 1997, 55; 2001). There is an unpublished manuscript called ‘Complex experimental survey of the archaeological textiles of the 1st–4th centuries AD from the Omsk State University’ written by V.P. Golikov and D.L. Voskresensky. Among the artifacts made of silk and embellished with metal thread embroideries were also coverlets, mirrors bags, capes and a quiver’ edging. According to L.I. Pogodin’s conclusion, gold embroidery artifacts in terms of technical peculiarities of the metal threads, silks structure and embroidery itself are analogous to analyzed samples from Tillia-Tepe (Afganistan) and Sokolova Mogila (Ukraine, Southern Bug area) ( 1996, 132–134). 2. Crimea Several samples of early silks have been unearthed from high level burials in Crimea, in necropolises referring to the 1–3st centuries AD. One of the first finds was made in 1842 by D. Kareisha in Panticapeum (near contemporary city of Kertch, eastern Crimea) in the slab tomb with a wooden coffin. Silk fabric of dark yellow-brownish color found here served as a wrapping of cremated bones put into the silver funeral urn. It was a self-patterned textile with twill pattern on taffeta background ( 1961, 29, tabl. IX; 1994, fig.61; - 1973, cat. 28). The pattern presents rows of lozenges with small lozenges inside. Three small fragments of this textile are stored in the State Hermitage, the Antic World Department. Interestingly, there are silks of the same kind, acquired in Crimea almost at the same time and kept currently in the British museum. There is a suggestion that silks from London and Saint-Petersburg might be parts of the same textile considering their similar thread-count and weave structure (Granger-Taylor and Wild 1981, 303). Tiny silk pieces were found also in tomb 28 of Panticapeum necropolis, excavated by V.I. Zinyko and O.V. Sharov in 1990 ( 2013, 496). The biggest fragments of silks come from Ust-Alma necropolis in the South-West Crimea. A part of a sleeve made of unspun silk threads and dyed with purple ( 2000) was found in 1996 in the male burial 2 of the tomb 620 — the same where a set of lacquered boxes was found. Remains of gold thread cloths have been found in the same cemetery. The tomb dates back to the middle or third quarter of the 1 century AD (Loboda et al. 2002). 3. The Altai Mountains Next group of early silks are finds from nomadic burials of the Scythian-type Pazyryk culture, 4th–3rd centuries BC. Up to now they are the earliest silk finds in Russia. Textiles and other organic remains have been preserved in these tombs because of the ice emerged in the grave pits, thanks to severe climate and peculiarities of tombs’ construction including stone mounds above the wooden chambers (Rudenko 1970). Silks were unearthed mostly in the burials of elite level nobility. They come from five cemeteries and are stored in three museums in Russia. 3.1 Collections from the burial mound called Pazyryk, excavated in 1948–1951 by S.I. Rudenko, are stored in the State Hermitage Museum. Silks were found in mounds 3 and 5 (Rudenko 1970, 206, Fig.89–92,134). Alongside the silks a fragment of Chinese mirror and numerous lacquered artifacts were 056 Unearthed early silks from the Silk Road in Russia (3rd century BC — 4th century AD) Svetlana Pankova discovered in these tombs, testifying significant contacts with China started at the end of the 4th century BC (Bunker 1991; . 2013). According to radiocarbon and dendrochronological studies of the chamber logs, mound 3 was constructed in the early 3rd century, mound 5 — in about 250 BC (Alekseev et al. 2005, 80). A piece of jin silk (warped faced compound tabby, with two warp ends of green and brownish colors) measured 13.8×8 cm comes from tomb 3 (Fig.2). Its function is unknown; there are traces of seams intersecting in the center of a fragment ( - 1961, tabl. II, 2; 1994, fig.13; 2009, fig.9). In the same tomb a silk tabby object 19,8 cm high of sand color, conventionally called a pouch, was found (Fig.3). Its upper part is of a funnel shape, lower part is rounded and there is a waist between them, so that the item resembls a buterol ( 2009, fig.8; , 2005, fig.4.13). There was nothing inside and it’s difficult to say what was the purpose of the ‘pouch’. It was sewn of two similar pieces but the threads of the original seam have been lost. Tiny red and green tabby pieces are preserved on felt fragments that were once details of a headgear. Similar headgear, without silk but covered with lacquered flakes was found in the same tomb (Rudenko 1970, fig.155 b; , 2005, fig.2.59 a). In mound 5 at Pazyryk unearthed silk artifacts were related to horse equipment. Large pieces of plain silk decorated with chain-stitch embroidery cover a felt shabrack (Fig.4). Embroidery made of black, brown and beige threads depicts shoots of a plant with leaves and flowers and phoenixes. A piece of undyed silk 2 m long, 44 cm wide, identified as tussah was cut in two equal pieces to cover both sides of the horse-cloth. Only an upper part, intended to be invisible under a saddle, wasn’t covered with the silk. But initial pieces proved to be too narrow for the horse-cloth and additional strips 9 cm wide of the same embroidered Figure 2 Pazyryk, kurgan 3. A piece of warp faced compound tabby. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Figure 3 Pazyryk, kurgan 3. A ‘pouch’ Figure 4 Pazyryk, kurgan 5. Plain tussah made of tabby silk. The State Hermitage silk with chain-stitch embroidery (a cover Museum, St. Petersburg. of a felt shabrack). The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 057 丝绸论文集 英文版 textile were attached to the right sides of both pieces. It was made regardless the pattern of embroidery ( 1961, tabl. XLIX-LIX; 1994, fig.15–16; 2009, fig.10–12). Two horizontal through incisions intended for the girth belt were made in right and left sides of the shabrack that broke both silk and underlying felt. A woolen saddlecloth from the same tomb is embellished with fur and lacquer rectangular applications alternating with 13 crosses of plain silk measured 4×4 cm ( - 1994, fig.14). Following Nunome Zzunro conclusion about the difference between the warps and wefts density ratio in the Southern (Changsha) and Northern (Loyan) China (Nunome 1979, 229, tabl.14, 4), E.I. LuboLesnichenko defined plain silks from the Pazyryk burials as products of the Changsha region. The same, to his mind, is true for the jin silk piece and embroidery as their patterns are close to those on silks and lacquered objects from burials in Changsha (Hunan province) and Mashan (Hubei province) of the ZhanGuo period. These counterparts led him to suppose a connection between the Chinese state of Chu and the Altai nomadic rulers in the 4–3 centuries BC ( 1994, 221–222). 3.2. A narrow stripe of plain silk (12 cm long) is preserved in a high level tomb at Bashadar referring to the same Pazyryk culture, 3 century BC; materials are also housed in the State Hermitage. 3.3. In the burial site of Katanda, mound 2 (so-called Large Katanda Mound, 4th century BC) excavated in 1865, quite different silk objects were found (now in the State Historical Museum in Moscow). Both of them were placed ‘on a burial chamber’s wall’, enrolled in a fur coat. One object is a so-called tailcoat, made of sable fur covered with silk. This textile is usually described as of dark olive color, a plain tabby silk ( 1926, 84; , 2005, 58–59, Fig.2.31). The second object is usually called a breast-cover although its function is not clear. It’s described as an object of trapezium shape 31 cm high, with its upper side of 41 cm and lower side of 56 cm. The object has several long ties, made also of fur and covered with a greenish silk fabric ( 1926, 86–87; , , 2008, Fig.2, 3–5). Black and white photos, available in these publications, don’t provide a sufficient idea about exact appearance of the silk. Until recently both objects have been on display in the State Historical Museum, but now they are stored in a sealed container under inert atmosphere with no light. Conservators and researches of the Museum are currently dealing with them (ibid.). 3.4. Two silk artifacts were found in Ak-Alakha 3, mound 1 (277 BC), on high mountainous Ukok plateau. A woman buried here wore a large silk shirt, 113 cm long. According to undertaken examination, it’s made of undyed tussah silk, plain tabby weave ( 2001; , 2005, 181–182, Fig.2.42, 2.5b). According to N. Polosmak a part of a selvage provides us with information about the width of the textile that was no less than 130 cm, with the density of 30 warp threads and 18 weft threads per cm (2001, 111–112; , 2005, 30). Silk of the shirt has been studied in Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute and in the Abegg Foundation, and researches of both centers came independently to conclusion about non-Chinese origin of the textile ( 110–112). ( 2001, Next to the woman’s head a pouch of rectangular shape was found, made of a sand color tabby silk , 2005, 182, tabl. 1.1–1.3, without photo). A small wooden piece covered with golden foil was inside. According to warp/weft density ratio the silk was most likely produced in Southern China (ibid. 2005, 31). 058 Unearthed early silks from the Silk Road in Russia (3rd century BC — 4th century AD) Svetlana Pankova 3.5. The only silk finds from an ‘ordinary’ person grave in the Altai Mountains were tiny fragments of red silk from Ulandryk I burial mound, kurgan 1 ( 1987, 156; without photo). The burial is dated back to the final stage of the Pazyryk culture, about 2–1 centuries BC (ibid., 131–132). st 4. Northern Mongolia and Transbaikal region Next group of early silks comprises finds from the burials of approximately 1st c. BC — 1st c. AD that are affiliated to the Xiongnu nomadic group. They are Noin-Ula burial site in Northern Mongolia, Ilmovaja Padj and Tsaraam cemeteries in Transbaikal region of Russia, Republic of Buryatia (Fig.1). 4.1. Silk finds from Noin-Ula are the most numerous and of the best preservation. There was no ice in these tombs, but other factors contributed to the good preservation of organic remains, including textiles. They were severe climate of Northern Mongolia and the deepness of burial pits (up to 18 meters), specific of soils and the pressed filling of grave pits that enabled conditions with little oxygen. Eight elite level tombs in the Noin-Ula Mountains, some 100 km to the north of Ulan-Bator, were excavated in 1924 – 1925 by the Mongol-Tibetian expedition of the Russian Geographical society led by P.K. Kozlov. Over a thousand textiles have been found in the tombs, including about two hundred and a half silk pieces, both separate and incorporated into objects like clothes, headgears and footwear as well as carpets, pennants and cases for plaits ( tabl. XII, XL, XLI etc.; 1969; - 1962, 1961; Elikhina 2012, ill. on pages 132– 139). Most of the silk fabrics are plain silks. Among others there are 18 types of polychrome-patterned silks, including textiles with a piled pattern, 7 types of monochrome-patterned textiles, two fragments of zhicheng textiles, patterned gauze silks with a rhombic design ( 1994, 43 – 44; Lubo-Lesnichenko 1995, 63). Among 16 types of embroideries are various chain-stitches, feather stitch and satin stitch. Most of the collection is stored in the State Hermitage Museum. A part of unearthed materials, including silks, was brought to Mongolia in 1920-s (now in the National Museum of Mongolian History). Some pieces of silk from the so-called ‘Ballod’s kurgan’ excavated in 1913, when the site was just discovered, were brought to the Irkutsk Regional Local lore Museum ( 2014). Several silk fragments from Noin-Ula found their way to the Philadelphia Museum of art (2000 years ... 1944, p.I, plate 1). First studies of Noin-Ula fabrics, including silks, were undertaken in 1920-s by groups of specialists from different institutions of then Leningrad and Moscow under the guidance of the Archaeological Technology Institute (a part of the State Academy for the History of Material Culture). Some results of these investigations were published ( , 1932). From late 1950-s onwards silks and embroideries from the Hermitage collection were analyzed and published in black and white by E.I. LuboLesnichenko (1961, 1963, 1985, 1987). Later results of these studies were included in his book devoted to the early silks and their participation in foreign relations of ancient and early medieval China (1994); K. Riboud studied these silks in comparison to examples found in the Tarim basin (1968 b; 1977a, b; 1983), often in collaboration with G. Vial who focused on technological peculiarities of fabrics (1968). Since then many silks have been presented on display in the Hermitage and other museums ( ... cat. 207–210, 213–218; Expedition Silk Road ... cat. 1–7). colorful catalog of the Noin-Ula collection, including silks, is preparing in the Hermitage at the moment. 059 丝绸论文集 英文版 In 2006 – 2013 excavations at Noin-Ula burial site have been conducted by the RussianMongolian expedition and four elite level tombs contained several silks — warp-faced compound tabbies and embroideries (Polosmak et al. 2011, Fig.2.47; Fig.2.6, 3.36; , 2015, 2012; 2014). After being restored these finds were brought to the Institute of Archaeology, Mongolian Academy of Science. 4.2. Much smaller collection comes from the cemetery called Ilmovaya Padj near the Russian-Mogolian frontier, 23 km northward Figure 5. Ilmovaja Padj, grave 128. Pieces of silk served as a cover of a wooden coffin. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. from the town of Kyakhta ( 1946; 1946). Excavations conducted in 1928–1929 revealed tombs, similar to Noin-Ula burials but of smaller size, simpler constructions and worse preservation. Fragments of silks found there served mostly as close-fit covers of wooden coffins, both from inside and outside. Information about excavations and finds was briefly published, but with almost no photos. The only well-known silk from that site is a jin fabric with inscription (Falkenhausen 2000, B 7b; Riboud 1968 a; 1972/73) actually preserved in 13 pieces (Fig.5). Apart from them there are more than 40 silk pieces out of at least 12 different textiles, but they are mostly small fragments, mainly plain tabby silks. There are two samples of jin and several gauze pieces (Fig.6). 4.3. Many silk fragments were discovered in the course of excavation in the Tsaraam Valley, 1.5 km to the south of the Naushki village, near the Russian-Mongolian frontier. Burial Complex 7, central in the cemetery, was studied in 1997–2005 (materials are kept in the Figure 6. Ilmovaja Padj, grave 123. Pieces of gauze textile. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Science, Saint-Petersburg). It belonged to ‘a representative of the Xiongnu elite, possibly one of the shanyu (chieftains)’ 060 Unearthed early silks from the Silk Road in Russia (3rd century BC — 4th century AD) Svetlana Pankova (Miniaev 2011, 173). Silks preserved in pieces in the tomb, disturbed by robbers, were mostly remains of textiles covering the walls of the wooden chamber and cases for braids, fixed on the walls. According to C. Moulherat, they are taffeta, warp-faced compound tabby, gauze and complex gauze fabrics (2008). 5. Southern Siberia, Minusinsk Basin Another group of silks comes from the burials of the 3–early 4th centuries AD in the Minusinsk Basin — a small steppe area in the northern part of the Altai-Sayan mountainous system. Most of the silks are preserved in the graves of the Oglakhty cemetery on the left bank of the Yenisey river ( - 1994, 61, 71, 194). The site was investigated in 1903 by A.V. Adrianov (Tallgren, 1937), then it was studied in 1969–1973 by L.R. Kyzlasov (Kyzlassow 1979). 13 tombs were excavated of more than a hundred in the cemetery. Three of the excavated tombs proved to be well-preserved due to the dry microclimate conditions in hermetically sealed wooden chambers. It is here where silks were found. The materials are stored in three museums of Russia; most of the silk finds are housed in the State Historical Museum in Moscow (tombs 1 and 2 unearthed in 1903) and in the State Hermitage (tomb 4 excavated in 1969). Since 1970-s polychrome silks from these graves have been studied by K.Riboud and E.I. Lubo-Lesnichenko who defined their analogies in the Tarim basin sites and demonstrated their differences from Noin-Ula fabrics (Riboud 1971; 1972/73; 1987; Riboud, Loubo-Lesnichenko 1973; 1995; - 1994). Tombs 1 and 2 of the Oglakhty cemetery contained three objects decorated with figured silk (warp-faced compound tabbies). Pieces of different polychrome silks cover cylindrical hair garments made of birch-bark (Tallgren 1937, Fig.22–23; Riboud, Loubo-Lesnitchenko 1973, Pl.2 A-B, 12 A; Grand Exhibition 1988, 152). A head of a funeral puppet, made of leather and filled with grass, is covered with red silk on the face area and with polychrome silk fabric in its top (Tallgren 1937, Fig.5–7). In the Hermitage collection there are 4 pieces of different plain silks and 11 polychrome fragments from grave 4. All of them have been recently analyzed in the Hermitage Laboratory for Scientific and Technical Expert Evaluation in terms of their fiber characteristics, weaving structure and dyestuff composition. Then they were compared with available counterparts from Tarim basin sites both from old and recent excavations. Information obtained is now preparing for publication. Due to excavations of many Oglakhty-like graves it is clear that faces of the dead were usually covered with painted gypsum masks. Pieces of plain silks were put on the face under the masks: they were mentioned by researches studying such burials in the early XXth century, imprints of thin textile pieces are sometimes available on the inner surface of the masks (Vadetskaya 2004). Two silk fragments are visible below the mask in the tomb 4: on the mouth (Fig.7) and on the right eye. Most of the polychrome silks from Oglakhty grave 4 were found next to the so-called puppet — a lifesize humanlike figure made of leather and filled with grass. On the top of its leather head there is a small silk pocket, 4×4.5 cm — this is what remained of a pouch for a plait, found nearby (Fig.8). Only a small piece of figured silk has survived, but separate threads preserved in the seam show its initial rectangular shape. In terms of general scheme of the pattern the fabric is similar to textiles with striped background and sand color pattern found in the Tarim basin sites (Wang Mingfang 2008, Fig.2 a, b; Riboud, Loubo-Lesnitchenko 1973, Pl. 12 B) and from Oglakhty grave 1 (ibid. Pl. 12 A). Function of the other small fragments is unclear, but all of them have holes along the perimeter resulting from sewing threads that have not survived. Despite small size of the pieces two of them find 061 丝绸论文集 062 英文版 Figure 7. Oglakhty, grave 4. A piece of plain silk covering the mouth under the gypsum mask. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Figure 8. Oglakhty, grave 4. A piece of jin silk on the head of a funeral puppet. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Figure 9. Oglakhty, grave 4. A piece of jin silk with cloud scrolls sewn to two other fragments. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Figure 10. Oglakhty, grave 4. Pieces of jin silk with ‘tiger-skin’ pattern. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Unearthed early silks from the Silk Road in Russia (3rd century BC — 4th century AD) Svetlana Pankova Figure 11 Oglakhty, grave 4. Funeral model of a quiver embellished with figured silks. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. certain counterparts among silks unearthed on the Tarim basin sites. For goldish-blue fabric with cloud scrolls (Fig.9) analogical are silks from the Loulan area (Stein 1928, vol.III, pl. XXXVII, XXXV; China ... Fig.4.65) and cemetery of Sampula (Sampula ..., 2001, p. 134, № 227). Pieces with a ‘tiger-skin pattern’ (Fig.10) find analogies among textiles from these areas and Niya (Stein 1928, vol.III, pl.XLIII; China ... Fig.4.68; Legacy of the desert king ... Fig.42). A funeral model of a quiver is decorated with a stripe made of 5 polychrome silk pieces (Fig.11). According to recent examination two of them could belong to one and the same fabric (considering the number and color of warp ends, warp and weft density). Three other pieces are of different textiles, though quite similar to each other. The pieces are very small so it was mainly Chinese characters within certain details of ornament that allowed exact analogies to be found. Analogies for two pieces of one textile are silks unearthed from cemeteries near Loulan (Riboud, Loubo-Lesnitchenko 1973, Pl.11; Feng Zhao, Zhiyong Yu 2000, 69) and known from a private collection (The general history ... 2000, Fig.2–4–13). Of interest is the fact that two fragments of the quiver edging are sewn together by means of 2-plied silk thread (S2Z), whereas other fragments are stitched just by sinew threads. It makes me suppose that these two pieces could be sewn together separately. Spun silk threads can be related to local silk production in the Tarim basin centers, appeared in 4–5 centuries AD (Wang Mingfang 2008, 39; Feng Zhao 2008, 79–81) or even earlier ( - 1994, 170–171; Li Wenying 2012, 127–128). It’s here where the pieces could be stitched together. Up to the present Oglakhty cemetery is the northernmost site in which jin-silks were found. Most of the similar textiles come from the burials of Loulan area, which can be the point Oglahkty silks come from. Oglakhty cemetery can hardly be considered as belonging to the high social group of population. So the 063 丝绸论文集 英文版 way local people obtained these silks could be different from those of imported luxury objects acquired by Scythian time nobility and the Xiongnu. Worth mentioning is the fact that most of the silks available in the Oglakhty graves were related to specific funeral objects — burial masks, human-like burial puppets and funeral models of different objects that could reflect the special attitude of local people to the silk fabrics. Most of the silks mentioned above need further study and deserve separate publication. Bibliography Bunker E. 1991. The Chinese artifacts among the Pazyryk finds. In: Source. Notes in the history of art. Vol.X, № 4. Summer. 20–24. Vadetskaya E. B. 2004. New facts about tashtyk funeral masks. In: Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 1 (17). China: 7000 years of silk. The general history of Chinese silks. 2000. Soochow university press. The Grand Exhibition of Silk Road Civilizations. 1988. The Silk Road: The Oasis and Steppe Routes. Nara. 277 p. Granger-Taylor H., Wild J. P. 1981. Some ancient silk from the Crimea in the British Museum. In: The Antiquaries Journal. Vol. LXI, part II. 302–306. Falkenhausen L.von. 2000. Die Seiden mit chinesischen Imschriften. In: A. Stauffer & Schmidt-Colinet. Die Textilien aus Palmyra. Neue und alte Funde. Meinz-am-Rhein. 58–81. Elikhina J. 2014. The Noin-Ula Burial Mounds in Northern Mongolia. In: Expedition Silk Road. Journey to the West. Treasures from the Hermitage. Hermitage Amsterdam. 98–103. Kyzlassow L. 1971. Das Grabmal am Jenissei. In: Ideen des exakten Wissen. Wissenschaft und Technik in der Sowjetunion. Stuttgart. Nr.8. 517–522. Feng Zhao and Zhiyong Yu (ed.). 2000. Legacy of the desert king. Textiles and treasures excavated at Niya on the Silk Road. Hangzhou — Urumqi. Li Wenying. 2012. Silk artistry of the Qin, Han, Wei and Jin dynasties. In: Kuhn D. (ed.). Chinese silks. New Haven, New York, Beijing. 115–167. Loboda, I. I., Puzdrovskij, A. E. und Zajcev, J. P. 1996. Prunkbestattungen des 1. Jh. n. Chr. aus der Nekropole Ust’-Al’ma auf der Krim. Die Ausgrabungen des Jahres. In: Eurasia Antiqua. 8. Loubo-Lesnitchenko E.I. 1963. Chinese silk embroidery from Noin-ula. In: Artibus Asiae. Vol.XXVI. 3/4. Lubo-Lesnichenko E.I. 1995. Concerning the chronology and ornamentation of Han Period textiles. In: Orientations, May. 62–69. Miniaev S. 2011. Xiongnu royal tomb complex in the Tsaraam valley. In: International Journal of Eurasian studies. Beijing. 153–180. Moulherat C. 2008. La nécropole imperiale de Tsaaram. Quelques exemples de textiles conservés au musée de l’Hermitage à Saint-Petersbourg. Paris: Centre d’étude et de recherche sur le textiles anciens (Unpublished). Pankova, Svetlana V., Vasiliev, Sergey S., Dergachev V.A., Zaitseva, Ganna I. 2010. Radiocarbon dating of Oglakhty grave using a wiggle matching method. In: Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 38(2): 46–56. Novosibirsk. Polosmak N.V., Bogdanov Ye.S., Tseveendorzh D. 2011. The Twentieth Noin-Ula tumulu. Novosibirsk (In Russian). Riboud K. 1968a. A comparative study of two similar Han documents. Polychrome figured silks from Lou-Lan a d Ilmovaya Pad. In: Bulletin de CIETA. № 28. Riboud K. 1968b. “Les soieries Han”. I. Aspects nouveaux dans l’étude des soieries de L’Asie Centrale. In: Arts Asiatiques. XVII. Paris. 93–116. Riboud K. 1971. New soviet finds at Oglakhty and their analogy to Aurel Stein textiles — Han period. In: Bulletin de CIETA, II, №34. Lyon. 30–39. 064 Unearthed early silks from the Silk Road in Russia (3rd century BC — 4th century AD) Svetlana Pankova Riboud K. 1972/73. Some remarks on strikingly similar Han figured silks found in recent years in diverse site. In: Archives of Asian Art. Vol.26. 12–25. Riboud R. 1977a. A closer view of early Chinese silks. In: Studies in textile history. In memory of Harold B.Burnham. Toronto. 252–269. Riboud . 1977b. A detailed study of the figured silk with birds, rocks and tree from Han dynasty. In: Bulletin de CIETA. №45. Riboud K. 1983. Han dynasty specimens from Noin-Ula and Mawangtui in loop-warp weave. In: Bulletin de CIETA. I, II. Riboud K. 1987. China’s buried past. Hali, №37. 33–41. Riboud K. & Loubo-Lesnitchenko E. 1973. Nouvelles découvertse soviétiques a Oglakty et leur analogie avec les soies façonnées polychromes de Lou-Lan — dynastie Han // Arts Asiatiques XXVIII, 139–164. Rudenko S. 1969. Die Kultur der Hsiung-Nu und die Hügelgrçber von Noin Ula. 1969. Rudolf Habelt Verlag GMBH, Bonn. 320 p. Rudenko S. I. 1970. Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron Age Horseman. University of California Press, Berkeley. Sampula in Xinjiang of China. 2001 Revelation and study of ancient Khotan civilization. Urumchi. Stein A. Innermost Asia. Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia, Kansu and Eastern Iran. Vol III. Oxford, 1928. Tallgren A.M. 1937. The South Siberian cemetery of Oglakty from the Han period // Eurasia Septentrionalis Antiqua. Helsinki. XI. P. 69–90. Vial G. 1968. “Les soieries Han”. II. Analyse technique sur un spécimen de Noin-Oula. In: Arts Asiatiques. XVII. Paris. 117–142. Zhao Feng. 2008. Eastern Influence on local textiles in Xinjiang during the 3rd–4th centuries. In: Western Imprints: Textiles from Han and Jin dynasties in China. Hangzhou. 77–94. Wang Mingfang. 2008. Polychrome woven silk and embroidery of Zagunluk between the 3rd–6th centuries. In: Western Imprints: Textiles from Han and Jin dynasties in China. Hangzhou. 18–40. 2000 years of silk weaving. An exhibition sponsored by Los Angeles County Museum in collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts. 1944. New-York, E.Weyhe. In Russian . ., . ., . ., . ., :« ». . .( .). 2005. : . . 2009. // . ., . . . . 1973. . LXVII. : . . 5–21. . . ( .). 1932. // . .XI. №7– 9. 107 . // . . 127– 134. –1 . . 2001. . 110–113. A.A. 1926. . . 1986. . . 1946. 69–72. . . 2000. . I . . . . . 1987. . . . . . 145 . . VIII. IV . . №3. . . I. 70–106. 1865 . // . . . 1961. - // )// - // . . — IV . . . ( . 112–122 (in Ukranian). . 302 . V . . . — III . . . 065 丝绸论文集 英文版 . . 68 c. - . . 1994. . . .: « - ». 326 . . . 1987. . ., . ., . 2013. « ». 132 . . . 1996. 123–134. . . 2001. . . 2012. . . 2014. . ., . 232 . . ., 136 . A.E. 2013. . . . 2013. . ( . I : - // . 336 . . №1 (43). // . (IV–III . : . . 2005. . . 2015. ( - . . .) // , ). « . . 1962. . . 1946. . . 2014. ( : 066 . . №6. 64–87. . .). : : . 1. . . . ( - . . ». In: . . 258–277. . XXV. 233–248. :“ ”. 198 c. // . 81–86. . . : // . . 1997. . ., - , . 494–497. .- . 206 . ) // ) ( 150- . VIII. 51–67. // . . ).