Dandan Oilik

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Dandan Oilik (also Dandan Öiliq, Uiliq or Uilik, is translated as "place of ivory houses") is a city ​​sunk in the sands of the Taklamakan desert ( China , Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region ). It is located northeast of Khotan (Hotan) in the district of Qira (Chira / Cele).

In historical times, Dandan Oilik was an important trading post along the Silk Road ; excavations revealed Buddhist murals from the 8th century, as well as a fragment of paper in Middle Khotanese and Indian Brahmi script from the 7th or 8th century. The British Museum also exhibits painted memorial plaques from the 6th century that can be attributed to Buddhism. Before the spread of Islam to the east in the 8th century, Dandan Oilik was an important center of Buddhism.

After the city had been forgotten for centuries, it was rediscovered in 1896 by the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin on his first expedition. Sir Aurel Stein carried out excavations in 1900. After researchers were last on site in 1928, the city fell into oblivion again and was considered nowhere to be found. It was not until 1998 that the ruins of Dandan Oilik were rediscovered by an expedition led by the Swiss Christoph Baumer .

The site of Dandan Oilik ( 丹丹乌里克 遗址 , Dāndānwūlǐkè yízhǐ ) has been on the list of monuments of the People's Republic of China (6-218) since 2006 .

Picture gallery

Letter fragment

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  1. ^ Society for the exploration of Eurasia ( Memento of the original of July 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.exploration-eurasia.com
  2. British Museum, London ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English).  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.britishmuseum.org
  3. Christoph Baumer: Three skeletons in the sand. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . Folio 2002 ( nzzfolio.ch ).

Web links

Coordinates: 37 ° 46 ′ 28.5 ″  N , 81 ° 4 ′ 23 ″  E