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The Southern Route of the Silk Road along the Taklamakan Desert : Going through Khotan

The concept of the Silk Road has fascinated Europeans for more than a century, symbolizing the exchange between the West and the East since Ancient Times. However the issue of what was the path followed by it was not an easy one to solve. The first one to really assess the issue has been without a doubt Aurel Stein, coming from the west through Kashgar and entering the Taklamakan desert in September 1900 to go South to Khotan during his first expedition to  Serindia. Stein will come back several times afterwards, always extending its outreach in order to determine the maximum number of sites on the Silk Road.

It is during those expeditions that Stein supposed the Silk Road had several routes, two of them going through the Taklamakan, one north and one south depending on the periods.

Setting up the route
We don't exactly know when the South | Taklamakan Route has been used for the first time but some silk from 1500 BC has been found in Bactria, suggesting the use of the route very early in history. Khotan was maybe a source of nephrite for China as soon as 645 BC. However from the sources we have, such as writings from Si Maqian, it seems the route was poorly known before the 2nd century BC and that it took all its importance during the Han when Khotan had one of their garrisons in order to protect it. It also shows the importance that this route had to them. What it for sure is that some bronze Sino-Kharosthi coins based on the tetradrachm from the 1st century AD have been found in Khotan, suggesting an already well established relationship between China and the Indo-Greek empires through | Khotan in the beginning of our era. Moreover it seems from mtDNA analyses that Central Asian population present a DNA sharing genes with Eastern Asians and Europeans suggesting frequent admixtures and hence suggesting regular contacts between them. In fact the foundation of Khotan is already about a wedding between an Indian and a Chinese, recurrent phenomenon which is also found in South East Asia and particularly about Funan. All these factors suggest that interaction between Khotan and its neighbors, whether South, West or East has taken place from very early times even if sometimes unnoticed at the end of the communication chain. It is probably from its central position between the West and the East as well as from those relationships that the communication network grew in order to give birth to the Southern Silk Route whence more suitable means of transport to get on long distances and particularly on long distances through the desert arose.

The importance of Khotan
Khotan was very important to China among other things because it was a source of nephrite, very demanded material in China since the Hongshan period. In fact it seems that it was one of the main provider of the material. Being near the Kunlun mountains, in Spring and in Summer when the ice melts and the water flows in Khotan, big nephrite boulders are brought, some of very different colours. It actually explains the name of the two rivers flowing in Yoktan, Karakash (Black Jade) and Yurungkash (White Jade). Khotan was also an important Buddhist centre from very early ages, its mythical creation during the reign of king Asoka being on purpose. Indeed, king Asoka was above all known to be the main factor of diffusion of Buddhism in India, hence linking to him linked Khotan directly to Buddhism ,. Furthermore Khotan is usually associated with the guardian of the North for mythical reasons as well. Buddhism became later a big factor of diffusion since Chinese monks came to Khotan in order to study the scriptures that were stored there, some in early Brahmi forms.

The mountains
The mountains bordering the southern edge of Khotan are not to be taken merely. In fact there are not only the source of nephrite but also brought water, which the Tianshan Mountains, north of the Taklamakan desert didn't do. Shade coming from the high Kunlun Mountains (nearly 6 000 meters on the high edges bordering the Taklamakan desert at Yotkan's level ) was probably well appreciated on the route. They were able to provide a more stable environment as well to the kingdom, located in a small valley in great part. Indeed the temperatures range from -10° Celsius to 0° Celsius in January (the coldest month) and from 20° celsius to 30° celsius in July (the hottest month). It is heavily contrasting with the temperature at the center of the desert than can go as low as - 24° celsius and as high as 40° celsius. These temperatures although low are totally bearable and allow a caravan to travel in better conditions whether in winter or in summer. It permits as well the existence of a myriad of small oases in the desert that were without a doubt used by the caravans. Such small oases were already represented on the maps from Stein and the more recent researches have confirmed indeed that it is highly probable that this was the way taken by the southern Silk Road.

Northern Enemies
Another good reason to avoid the Northern routes in certain times was the presence of non-friendly people living in the north, for instance the Uighur or the Turkic. But it turned out right for the other way round as well when the Tibetan dominated the zone in the late 7th to 8th century CE. Hence the route had probably been used all the time, maybe complementing the northern one that was more susceptible to Huns or Mongols attacks, except for that period of domination.

The exact Route
There is few doubts that the route had to get through Anxi, which was indeed the city responsible for Khotan from the Chinese point of view. From the evidence we have the road thereafter went through Dunhuang. Indeed, letters and agreements such as the king of Khotan giving his daughter to the ruling family of Dunghuang in AD 941, the links between them were tight. The logical route and the least costing one was probably to go from there to Miran. At a point this city became Tibetan, cutting the route and leaving numerous writings in the late seventh, eighth century AD. How they went from there to Khotan is a bit harder to answer. From what we know they probably went from one oasis to another one, staying along the mountains.



From these map containing the elevation we see that although the routes is relatively high the slope is quite nice with an average of 0.7%, -0.6% except at the extremities. The slope is indeed an important factor moreover with animals carrying heavy packages. Yotkan is also situated in a nice valley that probably protected it from too harsh weathers.

The most precise map for Khotan's oases on the way is without a doubt Stein's ones that show how green it could be in the quite prosperous Khotan :



Was it a linear route?
We generally assume that the aim of the Silk Road was to go from east to west, sometimes the other way round. But is it really that simple? Form the 5th century AD, Khotan was able to produce its own silk, hence not really needing the Chinese one anymore. They also had their cotton thanks to the cool climate and the water brought by the Kunlun Mountains. It is a sure thing that the route went to Yarkand and then split, one way through the Karakorum to Gandhara and another one to Kashgar before going to Samarkand. But if we pay attention even to Google Earth, we notice hydrologic traces going from South to North through the desert, starting from Yotkan to Aksu through Mazar-tagh. The maps published by Stein as well let us think that maybe Khotan was not merely a way through the Taklamakan. It didn't only allow to go from east to west but from south to north as well. Did many people take that way is certainly a more difficult question. However Mazar-tagh, which is pretty far from the usually accepted silk road, is in the middle of the desert and there has to be a reason for it.