Peking University, May 3, 2022: What was life like for Chinese border guards over a millennium ago? An intriguing discovery of military documents, letters, dice and wine containers at the ruins of a beacon tower may offer some clues.
From 2019 to 2021, archaeologists launched an excavation project on 2,300 square meters of the Keyakekuduke Watchtower Site in the desert of Yuli county, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
They unearthed 12 ruins, such as dwellings, a wooden fence and ponds, as well as over 1,400 cultural relics, including paper documents from the beacon tower site dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
It was recently selected as one of China's top 10 archaeological finds of 2021.
Evidence, including carbon-14 dating, indicated that the Keyakekuduke Watchtower Site was operational between 692 and 790 during the Tang Dynasty. It was situated on the Loulan path, a significant section of the ancient Silk Road.
As part of the early warning system of frontier defense, the watchtower was usually manned by one commander and five soldiers, and they worked in shifts.
The soldiers on the tower would use smoke in the daytime and light fires at night to transmit military signals, says the site excavation project's team leader Hu Xingjun from the regional institute of cultural relics and archaeology.
Three semi-basement rooms, believed to be barracks, were found on the western side of the beacon tower. "In the summer, the nearby waterways dried up, sandstorms frequently hit the area, and the ground temperature might exceed 50 or 60 C," says Hu. "These rooms could be the only place where soldiers were able to resist the summer heat."
Many crop specimens, such as wheat, grain and millet, were also unearthed. "When abundant fish bones, fishing nets and well-preserved wooden traps were discovered, we speculated that the soldiers fished and hunted for food as their grain supplies may have been insufficient," Hu says.
Archaeologists found residual bones of mounts, including horses, cattle and camels at the ruins. Interestingly, dog remains were also unearthed, suggesting that dogs might have been kept by garrison soldiers at that time.
The Keyakekuduke Watchtower Site is strong evidence of the Tang era government's good administration of the western regions and its continuous safeguarding of the ancient Silk Road, says Rong Xinjiang, a history professor at Peking University.
Archaeologists found a pile of "stuff" covered in sand on a leeward slope near the ruins. Many paper documents, wooden slips, textiles and other relics were buried inside.
Judging from the letters unearthed, experts concluded that the soldiers hailed mostly from what is now the northern and northwestern parts of China. It may have taken them several months to arrive at the garrison site from their hometowns.
Hu was moved by a soldier's letter to his wife: "My wife, don't be sad. Take care of the wheat and sheep, and don't leave them unattended…"
"He encouraged his wife to make a good living at home and expressed his love and care implicitly," Hu says. "Piecing together these fragments of paper documents and interpreting them was like traveling through time to converse with border guards from the Tang Dynasty. We can feel their nostalgia for home and dedication to the country."
Several surprising discoveries shed light on how they spent their leisure time. These include the remains of literary works, three dice, one of which is ceramic and the other two made of bone, and gourd containers used for storing wine.
The restoration and protection project on the Keyakekuduke Watchtower Site is expected to launch this year.
"Over a millennium ago, these soldiers left home and guarded the border for the sake of peace in the western regions and along the ancient Silk Road. Their courage and persistence are admirable," says Hu, who hopes that future generations can peer into the history and get some inspiration from these beacon tower ruins.
