Shaping the Stein collection’s Dunhuang corpus (2): the items from Cave 17’s ‘miscellaneous’ bundles

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In a previous blog post , we looked at the instrumental role played by Wang Yuanlu during the selection of the items from the Cave 17. Wang, who directly chose from the small repository what to hand over to Stein for inspection, was very keen to divert his attention from the so-called ‘regular’ bundles, which were composed for the most part of Buddhist sutras in Chinese and Tibetan. During their first ever transaction, which took place between 21 May and 6 June 1907, Wang Yuanlu therefore began by handing over the ‘miscellaneous’ bundles, which he seemed to hold in low estimation. To Stein’s delight, these contained mixed and diverse materials, such as manuscripts in non-Chinese languages, illustrated scrolls, paintings, drawings, ex-votos, textiles, etc. Stein picked out any of the items that jumped at him as being particularly interesting and made sure to put them aside for ‘further examination’, the phrase that he used to refer to their removal in his transaction with Wang. This
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New Directions on the Silk Road: Beyond East and West

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IDP's conference, 'Archaeology of the Southern Taklamakan: Hedin and Stein's Legacy and New Exploration', finished on Saturday after three days of stimulating papers by a enthusiatic and knowledgeable group of multidisciplinary international scholars.

One of the themes that emerged was the limitations of understanding Taklamakan cultures in terms only of east-west interactions. Several speakers spoke of the importance of pastoralist routes from desert to mountain and desert to steppe, while one suggested that we think in terms of circular routes of influences — perhaps conceptualising them as clouds rather than routes.

The papers and both formal and informal discussions showed both how little we understand about these cultures but also showcased the richness of the archaeological materials both from historical and modern explorations.

The papers were all recorded and will be put online on the conference website, along with details of forthcoming publications.

The image above shows the conference delegates and attendees in the British Library piazza.

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