The entire group of tombs is about 5 km long from east to west and about 2 km wide. Each tomb features a slope, a burial passage and an earthen cave chamber with a plan in the shape of an A figure.
Of the more than four hundred tombs excavated, almost all of them did not contain coffins, and many of the bodies inside became relatively well-preserved dry corpses.
This group of tombs is called an underground museum by Chinese and foreign archaeologists. Since the tomb group is near two villages in the Turpan region, the names of the villages are Hala and Cho and Astana. So this ancient tomb group was named as the Astanahara and Zhuogu Tombs.
In Uyghur, Hala and Zhuo are legendary warriors who slay evil dragons to kill people, while Astana means "Kyoto". This legendary name casts a veil of mystery over the tomb.
Buried here are the noble officials and commoners of the ancient Gaochang Kingdom. Spanning roughly from the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty to the middle of the Tang Dynasty, they were mostly Han Chinese, but also had residents of some ethnic minorities such as Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Gaoche.
Due to xinjiang's dry and hot climate, many of the excavated cultural relics are very well preserved, and some of the paintings, clay figurines and clothing are as bright as ever, and the copper eye mask is one of them.
This copper eye mask is shaped in the shape of a one-piece peach, forged from thin copper sheets, with dense, neatly arranged holes drilled at the edges and center. The eye mask is surrounded by a ring of lace of cotton wool cloth, and a cotton ribbon remains at one end of the eye mask. Now it is in the collection of the Turpan Museum in Xinjiang.
Compared to the glasses we use today, this copper eye mask looks a bit clumsy and unassuming. What exactly was the purpose of this eye mask in the ancient Xinjiang region of ancient China? This also starts with the excavation of the eye mask.
Artifacts unearthed from the tomb include three brocade silk coverings, all of which are connected to the same shape of metal eye masks. The covering, also known as the mask or mask, is a covering that covers the face of the deceased directly during Chinese funeral ceremonies since the pre-Qin dynasty.
According to the masking method, the mask is divided into a cap type and a multi-cloth type. The hood-style mask was a clothing and ornament that was often worn by the ancient Xinjiang people in their daily lives at that time, and was buried underground as a burial object after death.
The Chinese Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang gave him such a mask when he traveled to India to learn the scriptures. According to xuanzang's apprentices Hui Li and Yan Wu's "Biography of the Three Tibetan Masters of the Great Ci'en Temple", Xuanzang's journey westward to seek the Dharma reached the west of Yumen Pass in 627 AD and was received with great enthusiasm by King Gaochang. This made Xuanzang, who had experienced a lot of ups and downs along the way, very moved. King Mi Wentai of Gaochang not only invited him to preach Buddhism, but also retained him to assist in the administration of the dynasty.
In the face of such a generous Xuanzang did not move, he vigorously pushed back, but could not get out, had to show his determination in the form of hunger strike.
Deeply impressed by Xuanzang's cultivation and determination to sacrifice himself for the Dharma, The two became brothers in front of the Buddha and reached a reconciliation. Qi Wentai promised to do his best to support Xuanzang's westward journey. Xuanzang also promised to stay in Gaochang for three years when he returned from India to seek the Dharma.
In the winter of 627, Qi Wentai held a solemn farewell ceremony for Xuanzang. In addition to the king and queen, other members of the royal family and nobles of Gao Changguo, as well as monks and people, also came to see Off Xuanzang. Qi Wentai purchased 30 different sets of robes for Xuanzang and gave them 100 taels of gold, 30,000 pieces of silver, and 500 silk horses. In order to resist the wind and sand and cold in Xinjiang, special gloves and masks have been specially made.
According to the literature at the time, Qi Wentai provided Xuanzang with enough travel expenses for 20 years. Like the special mask given to Xuanzang by King Qi Wentai of Gaochang, this copper eye mask should also be a living tool for ancient Xinjiang residents to resist wind and sand and cold.
Through these small holes in the center of the eye mask, even today the wearer can still clearly see the foreground of the eye. The fabrics and straps sewn along the edges of the blindfold are also very user-friendly. Make the wearer feel comfortable and convenient. The fabric at the edge of the blindfold has been ground into two pieces. This copper eye mask should have been used by the tomb owner for a long time before it was buried.
Xinjiang is located in the hinterland of Eurasia, with abundant sunshine and scarce precipitation, forming a region and climate characteristics of desert Gobi and large wind and sand. And because the snowfall and snow period here are very long, the local people living in such an environment for a long time are easily damaged by the strong ultraviolet rays reflected by the snow, causing visual impairment, and when it is serious, it will also lead to blindness, which is called snow blindness.
Under such climatic conditions, ancient Xinjiang people would wear such copper eye masks when they went out, which could not only shield the wind and sand and ultraviolet rays, but also play a role in preventing snow blindness.
In addition to the copper eye masks, other metal eye masks of other materials have been unearthed at the Astana tomb site. Most of these metal eye masks were daily necessities of the ancient Gaochang kingdom from the 4th to the 7th century AD.
Their emergence had a lot to do with the rich mineral resources and developed casting technology of Gaochangguo at that time. According to the "Biography of the Three Tibetan Masters of the Great Ci'en Temple", Xuanzang passed through Yinshan when he left Gaochangguo for Yanqi Kingdom. The mountains are tall and steep, and there are silver mines everywhere.
The silver money of the countries of the Western Regions comes from here. The Silver Mountain here, at the southern tip of today's Toxun County in the Turpan Basin, was the choke point of the ancient Silk Road. At the same time, Tianshan is rich in gold ore and iron ore, which provides rich mineral raw materials for the Gaochang casting process.
Gaochangguo is located in the oasis region of the Turpan Basin in ancient Xinjiang, where counties have been set up since the opening of the Silk Road and the Han Dynasty. Gaochang gradually became the gateway for the rulers of the various dynasties in the Central Plains to govern the Western Regions, and also became a concentrated area for ethnic minorities and Han Chinese in the Western Regions.
Xinjiang has a large wind and sand, long snow, and harsh climatic conditions have brought a lot of inconvenience to the travel of ancient Gaochang people. The living customs and costume culture of the people of Gaochangguo were deeply influenced by the central plains culture and the culture of the western region.
As a unique outfit when traveling, in addition to eye masks and masks, a hat ornament called Mi Li is also popular in the clothing of the ancient Gaochang people.
This painted handmaiden on horseback was excavated in 1972 in Tomb No. 187 of the Astana Tomb Group and is now in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum. The black scarf wrapped around the female figurine's head is Mi Li.
Mi Li was originally a costume of the Huqiang people that closely resembled a mask, and was a unique costume of the ancient Xinjiang people to shield them from wind and sand and cold.
It is generally made of black cloth, which can reach the length of a person's chest, and the rest is completely covered except for the eyes and nose.
Unearthed at the same time as the riding lady figurine daimi, there is also this painted equestrian maid figurine. It vividly recreates the scene of the women of Gaochang in the Western Regions traveling on horseback wearing veiled hats at that time. The drapery hat is transformed on the basis of the power separation, and its main body is made of a skeleton of a kind of rattan or mat with a harder texture, which is bandaged with cloth, and then embellished with a circle of mesh on the brim of the hat, so that the mesh veil covers the face without obstructing the line of sight.
The figurine holds the reins in her hand, sits on horseback, and wears narrow sleeves on a chest and dark blue pants on a green background, and black boots. The hood she wore on her head was embellished with a mesh that covered her face. The mesh yarn is light and soft, and seems to be floating with the wind, showing us the elegant and dignified temperament of the women of Gaochang in the western region at that time.
A similar drapery was also a very popular piece of clothing in Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty at that time. By the middle of the Tang Dynasty, especially during the reign of Wu Zetian, the social atmosphere was increasingly open. The exotic female headdress of the drapery is becoming increasingly popular. Women wear it everywhere in the palace and in the folk, and the hood culture has been injected with new blood.
Over time, the material and style of the eye mask also changes. The eye veils that were popular in the northern part of the Central Plains during the Ming and Qing dynasties of China were the result of the improvement of the Gaochang eye mask, which also reflected the convergence and integration of multi-ethnic cultures in Chinese history.