Q: A paper on Loulan.

Thoughts on the rapid disappearance of the ancient city of Loulan in Oasis —— Try to say that it was destroyed by an unusually large sandstorm climate.

Loulan was an oasis city-state in western China during the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, located at 98 22 ′ 22 ″ east longitude and 40 29 ′ 35 ″ north latitude. That is, Tarim Basin in Xinjiang, east of Taklimakan Desert and southwest of Lop Nur? In the desert of Qiang county. When was this city built? The exact age has not yet been determined. Most scholars believe that it was built in the Qin and Han Dynasties and disappeared in the middle of the 4th century, while others think it was lost in the 5th century. After a century of exploration, Chinese and foreign archaeologists and explorers initially found out that this ancient city covers an area of about 65,438+10,000 square meters, with a length of 300 meters from north to south and a width of 300 meters from east to west. There are streets, yamen, temples and houses in the city, which is the military, political, economic and cultural center on the Silk Road connecting the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions. Han Jindun stationed troops here to station wasteland and set up officers. Why did such an oasis city suddenly disappear into the vast desert in less than half a century? 1900, Swedish explorers discovered the Loulan site, which caused a sensation in the world. They were amazed at the sudden disappearance of this splendid civilization, which had been sleeping for 15 centuries and communicated cultural and economic exchanges between China and foreign countries, and attracted many archaeologists and humanities scholars to explore the reasons for the disappearance of the ancient city. A century has passed, and opinions vary. Generally speaking, there are views of Theory of Three Represents Theory: First, the "theory of natural environment change" was put forward for the first time; Main arguments: the retreat of icebergs leads to the decrease of river flow, desertification of land and abandonment of Loulan. Second, "the theory of political and economic center transfer"; Main argument: The Silk Road was diverted, Loulan lost its advantage and declined, and was finally abandoned. Third, "the theory that human activities destroy natural harmony"; Main argument: while creating a high degree of civilization, human beings are also creating desertification at an alarming rate. The disappearance of Loulan, like the tragedy of the disappearance of ancient civilizations in the world, abandoned the city because of the expansion of desertification. The third view was popular in the late 20th century. Media publications published articles regarding Loulan phenomenon as a typical example of human destruction of the environment and ancient civilization, and discussed that population growth, over-exploitation, vegetation destruction, drought, water shortage, desertification and human survival are the direct reasons for the rapid disappearance of ancient oasis cities. ?

Academic discussion is in line with the direction of advanced culture. As far as * * * is concerned, the imbalance and imbalance of human utilization of water resources will inevitably lead to floods or droughts. Overexploitation and deforestation of oasis ecological environment will inevitably lead to the intensification of drought, the expansion of desert and the disappearance of oasis. However, as Loulan's rapidly disappearing personality problem, we need to analyze specific problems and explore scientific conclusions that are in line with reality. Based on the frequent sandstorms in China in recent years and the new achievements of international natural disasters research, this paper puts forward a new theory that "the ancient city of Oasis Loulan was destroyed by sandstorms", which needs to be taught by experts and scholars and archaeological proof. In order to clarify this point, the following three issues will be discussed:

First, the general process of the rise and disappearance of the ancient city of Loulan; ?

Second, is the disappearance of Loulan gradual or abrupt?

Thirdly, it is proved that the rapid disappearance of Loulan is the basis of extremely special sudden climate-sandstorm. ?

( 1)? The rise and death of Loulan ancient city can be roughly divided into four stages, namely, the initial stage, the rising stage, the heyday and the death stage. ?

Start time of the first phase: 1997 Six ancient tombs of Gugugou dating back to 3800 years were discovered in Loulan area. The funerary objects are extremely simple, only a bag of jute and a straw basket containing more than 10 wheat. The tomb owners are all men, wrapped in linen, wearing pointed felt hats with feathers on them, and there are no funerary objects and tools such as pottery and metal. Archaeologist Wang Binghua said: "Life is primitive, poor and inefficient." . ( 1)? 1980 In the spring, a well-preserved female corpse was unearthed at the iron gate at the tail of Peacock River, and no other funerary objects were found, indicating that time has advanced for about 500 years, and Loulan's social productivity and social civilization have not improved. 200 1 1 Archaeologists have rediscovered Xiaohekou cemetery, which has been restored for 60 years and has extremely rich connotations. This tomb spans from about 1600 to 4000 years ago. Both the tombs in Gugugou and the tombs in Xiaohekou reflect that the residents in Loulan area started around 4000 years ago and developed very slowly. ?

The second stage is the rising period: the earliest place name "Loulan" appeared in the fourth year of Emperor Wendi in the Western Han Dynasty (BC 176). Attila modu chanyu said in a letter to Wendi that the Xiongnu army "gathered Loulan, Wusun, Hu Jie and the next 26 countries ...". (2)? Although Loulan is a country here, it is not clear whether it is a big country or a small country, whether it is a "country of residence" or a "country of travel", and what is its military and political status. Half a century later, in the second year of Jianyuan (BC 139), Han made Zhang Qian go to the Western Regions, and in the third year of Yuanshuo (BC 126), he returned to Chang 'an. In his report to Emperor Wu, he said: "Loulan and Gushi have battlements and salt marshes." (3)? Loulan is an oasis city near the water. Although the soldiers are weak and vulnerable, their status is very important, which affects the development of the western regions by the dynasty. "Loulan and Gu are in power, and they are miserable." (4)? To develop the western region, we must first open the main passage to the western region-Loulan. In the third year of Liang Wudi's reign (BC 108), he "captured the king of Loulan, and then broke his aunt's teacher". Loulan was a small country at that time, between the Han Dynasty and Attila. By the fourth year of Zhao Yuanfeng (77 BC), the forces of the Han Dynasty had taken control of Loulan and became a "Shanshan country". (5)? At the request of King Tu Jian of Shanshan, he sent a captain to guard the volunteer training not far from the city, and sent troops to settle the field to protect the Shanshan regime. Loulan has entered a period of rising from wasteland, but its development is not fast. In Yuan Di (48-33 BC), Loulan was still a small country among dozens of countries in the Western Region: hukou 1.570, population 1.4 1.000, and 29 1.2 people won the battle. Official position is to assist the country and food. (6)? Among the seven countries in front of Kunlun Mountain, the registered permanent residence and population rank fourth, and the number of soldiers won ranks third. It may not be outrageous to set the rise time of Loulan in the middle of the first century BC. ?

The third stage reached its peak: with the communication between the western regions and Central Asia in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Silk Road was unimpeded, and the cultural and trade exchanges between China and the West were frequent, and the ancient city of Loulan gradually reached its peak. 199965438+In February, a colorful coffin was found in a Wei-Jin tomb 48km away from Loulan. Colorful coffins reflect the cultural characteristics of the East and the West. It is painted with "Suzaku" and "Xuanwu" representing the sun and the moon in the east, and covered with silk velvet blanket representing the Roman style of western culture. The deceased was an elderly man wearing a cotton silk robe. Colored coffins were also found in Xiaohe ancient tombs, with yellow, orange and green patterns, painted with copper coins and flowers, and divided by diagonal lines. The Han bamboo slips unearthed from Loulan site, the missing Luwen bamboo slips, architectural remains, and documents such as Hanshu, Jin Shu and Zitongzhi Bamboo Slips all prove that the culture and economy of the ancient city gradually reached its peak from the middle of A.D. 1 century to the 1930s, with a time span of more than 300 years. ? The fourth stage of disappearance: there are only three bases to decipher the exact time of Loulan's disappearance: ① An ancient short film written by Lu Wen found in Loulan site is for sale: The book reads "His Majesty Jia Wasemona, the son of my king, was in office for eleven years in July, and he was far away from the country". (7)? The reign of King Vasomona was 32 1-334. According to this, 1 1 should be in 332, that is, the seventh year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. From the middle of the second century to the second half of the fourth century, Quluwen was popular in Khotan and Shanshan areas, obviously influenced by Loulan and Yilan languages, and now it is occasionally found in ancient Buddhist scriptures. (2) The age of Lu Wenjian bamboo slips and Han bamboo slips found in Loulan site only ended in 1930s, and no remains were found after the middle of 4th century. (3) In 399 AD, that is, in the third year of Emperor Longan of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the eminent monk Faxian went to India to seek dharma, taking Loulan as the route. Here, it is already "there is no bird in the sky, there is no beast in the sky, I look everywhere, and if I don't get what I want, I just take the dead eye as the standard ear." (8)? The above three points can be considered that Loulan disappeared between 332 and 339 AD, with a short time span and the characteristics of mutation.