Library

This book is a monograph written by archaeologist Wang Binghua introducing the great archaeological discoveries in Lop Nur and Niya. Loulan, located in the Lop Nur wasteland, and Jingjue, located in the oasis on the banks of the Niya River, are both ancient countries in the Western Regions and must-pass places on the Silk Road. The two kingdoms have their own characteristics, but they have many things in common in their historical development process from prosperity to extinction, from vitality to decline, as well as the process in which their respective historical civilizations are revealed. The author of this book has nearly half a century of archaeological experience in Xinjiang. On the basis of decades of investigation and research, he has organized and summarized the gains of Chinese and foreign archaeologists at the two sites over the past 100 years. He tells it in two parts, condensing and refining his thoughts on the rise and fall of Loulan and Jingjue kingdoms, and discusses the historical lessons worth learning after the mulberry fields turned into seas of sand and the environment changed dramatically.