Chenla Titles

The dominant honorific title in the early history of the Chenla kingdom was the PON. Always male, the title was inherited through the female line. Pon are seen as district chiefs, organizers of temple donations and transactions and water resources, until they disappear from the historical record in 719 C. E. The mratan, on the other hand, was a title that appears to have been approved by the sovereign for aristocrats given special functions and was not inherited. The growing numbers of the latter suggest increasing central control over regional administration. Under JAYAVARMAN I OF CHENLA, who ruled 635-80 C. E., there was a proliferation of titles. A certain Jnanacandra was described as an amatya, or official, of high birth. There is also mention of a rajasabhapadi, “president of the royal court.” Officials were given the right to carry symbols of their status, and this president was honored with a white parasol and a golden vase. A family from Dharmapura held the priestly position of hotar. There were a samantagajapadi (chief of the elephants) and a dhanyakarapati (chief of the grain store). The king also had a sabha, or state council. All these titles suggest that Jayavarman I had a growing bureaucratic administration. Although his ancestors had been given the divine title dhuli jen vrah kamraten an (dust of the feet of the lord) after their death, Jayavarman was the first king to bear the title while still living.

Angkor Titles

The kingdom of angkor in Cambodia saw a great proliferation of titles. Vap, for example, meaning “father,” were first encountered in a retrospective inscription describing a land grant to a follower of jayavarman ii (c. 770-834 C. E.). INDRAVARMAN I (877-99 C. E.) appointed Amarab-hava as a chief of religious foundations, and YASHOVARMAN I (r. 889-910 c. e.) later gave him the title acaryadhipati, or head acarya. Under Yashovarman, a mratan was given the title vyapara of the second rank and charged to determine land boundaries. His successor, Harshavarman I, issued an order to an official with the new title rajakulamahamantrin exempting the foundation from the tax on rice. rajen-DRAVARMAN (r. 944-968 C. E.) appointed one Ksetrajna as royal barber with the title mahendropakalpa. JAYAVARMAN V (r. 968-1001) commanded two officials with the title khlon glan (chief of the warehouse) of the second and third ranks to settle a land dispute. The dynasty founded by Jayavarman II, over its two centuries of development, incorporated many titles and grades. The hotar and vrah guru fulfilled religious duties. The klon visaya was concerned with land ownership, and even at the village level there were klon sruk.

After the long civil war that finally saw SURYAVARMAN I (r. c. 1002-49) enthroned, the king ordered all his officials to swear an oath of allegiance. Many tamrvac of the first to fourth ranks offered their lives and unswerving devotion to the king in the presence of the sacred fire. Some names were later erased, perhaps because they failed in their intention. The long family inscriptions inscribed at the same time list hereditary court functions, such as carrier of the royal fly whisk and chief of the fan carriers. These symbols of kingship and those charged with their employment reflect a court that incorporated a legion of grandees, many of whom were related to the royal line. The author of the sdok kak thom inscription, Sadasiva, was successively given the exalted titles kamsten an Jayendrapandita and dhuli jen vrah kamraten an Jayen-dravarman. ZHOU daguan noticed the graded titles at Angkor in 1296-97. He set down their titles: Mratan had gold handles for their parasols, while those of the sresthin were made of silver.

Todaiji The Todaiji was the centrally important Buddhist temple of the Nara capital, heijo-kyo, in Japan. This city was occupied between 710 and 784 C. E., with a brief period of five years when it was abandoned during a rebellion against Emperor Shomu. In 743 C. E., when the court was located 40 kilometers (24 mi.) to the north at Shi-garaki, the emperor ordered the casting of a massive bronze of Buddha in his guise as Vairocana, source of creation. Known as the Daibutsu, it was to be covered in gold. On the court’s return to Heijo-kyo in 745 C. E., the Todaiji was selected as the location of this statue. Shomu ordered a huge team of workers to level the area to the east of the Heijo-kyo, and all the copper supplies of the country were directed to the casting of the statue. When completed in 749, after at least two years of casting, it stood nearly 11 meters (36.3 ft.) tall, reaching almost double that height when its lotus pedestal is included. It was surrounded by a large hall that originally measured 52 by 47 meters (172 by 155 ft.) and stood to a height of 47 meters. It was rebuilt on a smaller scale in the 12th century, but, even so reduced, it remains the largest single wooden building in the world. Two pagodas, each about 100 meters (330 ft.) high, were added to this complex.

The construction of this structure, described as the largest state temple ever constructed in Japan, involved a huge deployment of resources. In March 1988, this process was illuminated by the discovery of 226 MOKKAN, wooden slips containing written records, just outside the hall for the bronze Buddha. These included shipment tags for the 400 tons of copper that went into the casting. One record notes the receipt by the palace of 7.6 tons of high-grade copper.

As the center of Nara buddhism, this temple played a key role in the life of the state. It is also known that the authorities invested in agricultural estates known as shoen. That at Kuwabara was founded in 754 c. e. and included irrigable rice land, sluices, farm tools, and agricultural buildings. The profits were accumulated by the temple.

Tomb models and reliefs During the warring states PERIOD (475-221 B. C.E.) and the long life of the HAN DYNASTY (206 B. C.E.-220 C. E.) in China, rulers and wealthy nobles were interred with rich assemblages of mortuary offerings. These included wooden and ceramic models that provide compelling evidence for houses, boats, agricultural practices, and people. The available texts state that during this period the concept of MINGQI, which helps in the interpretation of the symbolism underlying these models, evolved. Mingqi describes articles of spiritual importance, which can be regarded as spirit articles. Thus a figurine may be taken to represent the person designated to serve the tomb occupant in the afterlife. In the state of CHU during the Warring States period, such figurines were made of a block of wood with movable arms affixed by dowels to the body. Quite the best example of the use of wooden figures where in former times sacrificial victims had been placed in the tomb is from Burial 1 at Changtaiguan in Henan province. There are seven chambers in a tomb measuring 10 by seven meters (33 by 23 ft.). The middle room contained the coffins in which the dead were interred with rich offerings of jade and gold. That representing a stable to the north included two figurines of drivers. Two cooks had been placed in the kitchen to the south. Behind the main chamber is the study, in which two figurines represent clerks. Their high status is reflected in the quality of their clothing. A guard was placed in the storage room, which contained large pottery vessels. Immediately behind the tomb chamber, another room included four figurines, one of which had a bamboo point impaling its chest, together with a mysterious antlered creature with a long protruding tongue and staring eyes.

At Zhangqui in Shandong, the models assumed miniature proportions. Modeled from clay, an ensemble of 36 figurines was recovered, of which 10 were dancers standing barely eight centimeters (3.2 in.) high. There are also musicians playing the zither, drums, and bells, and a further 10 people are thought to represent the audience.

QIN SHIHUANGDI TOMB FIGURES

The pits associated with the mortuary complex of qin SHIHUANGDI (259-210 B. C.E.), the first emperor of China, are one of the foremost archaeological sites in the world. The complex is located near Xi’an. When digging a well in 1974, farmers encountered a jumbled mass of life-size clay soldiers, still bearing their original paint and holding bronze weaponry. They had stumbled on the silent army that had protected the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi, for two millennia.

Set in a rectangular walled precinct 2.25 by one kilometer (1.35 by 0.6 mi.), the tomb complex is known from two sources. The first is archaeology, and the second is the historical record as described by sima qian. Pit 1 contains rows of terra-cotta warriors in long, parallel chambers. A chariot and four horses stand out toward the front. The infantry soldiers stand erect, holding long-handled bronze spears or a quiver of arrows, the edges still sharp to the touch. The uniforms and body armor provide a remarkable insight into the appearance of the qin army. A second pit nearby contains the cavalry division of more than 100 chariots and 100 war horses, while the third pit houses the army headquarters staff.

HAN DYNASTY MODELS OF PEOPLE

This practice of including models of people rather than sacrificial victims continued with the Han dynasty. Thousands of clay models of soldiers have been recovered from a pit adjacent to the tomb of a king of Chu at Shizishan in Jiangsu province. Infantry and cavalry were represented, but there were no chariots. The same mix of foot soldiers and cavalry is seen at a rich royal tomb at Yangji-awan in Shaanxi province of the same Western Han date. In contrast to the Qin army, which was represented by life-size figures, those from Yangjiawan stand about a half-meter (1.65 ft.) in height. There are 1,800 foot soldiers, 580 horse riders, and some model chariots. The infantry soldiers were arrayed in rows and columns, each person in full battle dress richly painted in red and black and holding a shield, likewise painted with identical red heraldic symbols on a black background. Tomb 1 at MAWANGDUI in Hunan, dated to about 168 B. C.E., included wooden figurines of ladies-in-waiting to the marchioness of Dai. Standing a half-meter tall, they wore costumes splendidly rendered in black and red designs. Perhaps the most extraordinary assemblage of figurines is that from the pits adjacent to the tomb of Han Jingdi (188-141 B. C.E.). These cover an area of almost 10 hectares (25 acres) and are said to contain at least 40,000 figurines at about a third life-size, each painted and clothed in silk or hemp garments.

HAN HOUSE MODELS AND RELIEFS

The clay models and reliefs of houses and agricultural activities provide much insight into the social conditions under the Han dynasty. A model of a fortified domestic residence of the Eastern Han dynasty from the far south, in Guangzhou, shows a series of buildings in a walled compound. The walls have watchtowers at each corner, and, although only 40 centimeters square (6.4 sq. in.), the model includes the lord of this estate, his servants, and armed guards. Just such an armed retainer for a local magnate is seen in a tomb from Sichuan. He wears a round cap and has a sword at his belt. A scene incised on a stone slab from Yinan in Shandong, dating to the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, shows the house of a relatively well-to-do person. It provides an intimate aerial view of the property, which had two ranges of buildings on one level, each surrounding a courtyard. Access to the house was through a large doorway decorated with a mask, beside which there stands a frame from which a gong or drum is suspended. Two tall watchtowers lie beyond the walls, and birds are flying over trees. One hen is feeding chicks on the ground. The residence includes rooms grouped around two courtyards. The first contains a circular well surrounded by a wooden fence, and a pulley and rope are suspended from a wooden frame. Two doors, one ajar, lead to the second court. These doors are embellished with face masks. A box, a large vessel, and possibly a table lie in this second court around which the living rooms are grouped. A second Han-period house was depicted on an impressed brick from Sichuan. This is a rather larger residence that incorporates four courts. Two men converse in an elegant columned room, while cranes disport themselves in the court in front of them. A servant is seen sweeping the ground of a second court, while a dog plays. There is also a tall storied tower with steps leading from the ground floor to the rooms above.

AGRICULTURAL MODELS AND RELIEFS

A grave of the Western Han dynasty at Shaogou in Henan province contained the model of a well almost a halfmeter in height. There are even a pulley wheel and ceramic vessel for drawing water from a depth and a trough alongside for water storage. Such wells could have been used to irrigate field plots. Agricultural activities are themselves represented in a model of a person holding a hoe from Sichuan province, and a figure is seen in an Eastern Han burial from Laodaosi, Shaanxi province, holding a spade. Such iron spades had a considerable impact on farming during this period. The most informative of agricultural models, however, is from Shuangfuxi-ang in Sichuan. Dating to the Eastern Han dynasty, it is a flat plaque measuring 81 by 48 centimeters (32.4 by 19.2 in.). The surface is divided into two by a wall. On one side of the wall, two kneeling figures are seen in a field, transplanting rice. Behind them lie heaps of manure for spreading. The other scene shows a farmyard with a pond and aquatic animals: a duck, crab, water snail, and lotus plants. There is even a small boat. This model, from an area subject to monsoon rains, illustrates that the system of transplanting rice into small plots demarcated by low banks was already developed. Transplanting in this manner provides for higher yields than broadcasting, because it reduces competition for light and nutrients between the growing plants. It is the backbone of rice agriculture throughout the lowlands of Southeast Asia at present.

Rice Agriculture

Rice was a particularly important crop, because surpluses could be stored and used to support the many specialists and administrators who made up the upper reaches of Han society. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that advances in rice processing and storage are also prominent in the clay tomb models. One relief, also from Sichuan, shows a group of people harvesting with handheld sickles; another shows people husking rice with a tilt hammer. This is a much more efficient procedure than use of an old-fashioned pestle and mortar. A model of a granary for storing rice from Hernan province shows the sophistication of such a structure, with its floor raised to prevent dampness from penetrating the storeroom above and a row of windows to provide ventilation. This granary also had a pitched roof, and the walls were decorated with red painted designs that include depictions of people working on the placing of the grain within. Pigs and chickens were raised on a large scale, and other clay models show a hen coop and a pig pen. The latter was attached to a latrine, depicting the use to this day in China of animal and human wastes to fertilize the fields. It was elevated above the level of the pigsty and reached by a flight of nine steps, presumably to provide room below for the collection of wastes.

Other Industrial Activities

There are also clay reliefs that portray other industrial activities undertaken during the Han dynasty. One shows a winery. There are rows of vessels for producing wine, a shop, a customer, and even a worker leaving to deliver a consignment. Another shows in great detail salt production in Sichuan. The brine was raised by bucket and pulley from its source and reticulated by a long pipe to the workshop, where it was boiled in a row of pottery vessels over an enclosed furnace. Meanwhile, in the background, two men are seen hunting with bow and arrows and their dogs. A market scene reveals a special walled precinct, in which people run their stalls and purchasers, who have entered by the East Market Gate, as indicated in an explanatory inscription, buy There is also a tower from which a flag was flown when the market was open for business.

Such tomb models and scenes illustrate with impressive clarity aspects of life during the Qin and Han dynasties.

Further reading: Bagley, R. W Ancient Sichuan. Seattle and Princeton: Seattle Art Museum 2001; Loewe, M. Chinese Ideas of Life and Death. London: Allen and Unwin, 1982; Loewe, M., and E. L. Shaugnessy, eds. The

Cambridge History of Ancient China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Tonglushan Tonglushan is one of the largest and most impressive copper-mining sites in China. It is located about 140 kilometers south of Wuhan in Hubei province. The intensity of exploitation can be appreciated when it is considered that the deep mine shafts penetrated up to 60 meters (198 ft.) below the present ground surface and were then interlinked with tunnels to gain access to the malachite and cuprite ores. This great depth reached well below the water table, and long wooden troughs had to be installed to carry underground water to sumps, where it was raised to the surface in wooden buckets. There was also a system of closing off older shafts to direct air to that part of the mine being worked at a particular time. In earlier centuries, the pits and shafts were as narrow as 50 centimeters (1.65 ft.), but with the advent of more efficient iron tools, this span was more than doubled. The underground workings had to be reinforced with wooden supports and frames to guard against roof collapse, and in the airless lower reaches of the mine, these have survived. Other wooden items preserved in this manner include the wooden buckets used to raise water and the ore itself and the windlasses that aided both operations.

The word Tonglushan means “great smelting place,” and as early as 18 c. e. contemporary records describe how the hill shone with verdigris flowers after heavy rain. The ancient mining complex was recognized when further exploitation began in 1965, and for a decade beginning in 1974, intensive excavations revealed the full extent of the early activity at the site and the extent of ore extracted. The slag resulting from a millennium of mining, which began toward the end of the second millennium B. C.E., covers 140 hectares (350 acres), and it has been estimated that the total weight is in the vicinity of nearly a half-million tons.

Bronze was a vital commodity in early Chinese civilization. Probably introduced from the West via the ancient silk road during the late third millennium B. C.E., it was employed in the casting of ritual vessels during the XIA DYNASTY (2100-1766 B. C.E.). During the shang state (1766-1045 B. C.E.) there was an extraordinary increase in the quantity and quality of such castings, and in addition bronze was used for chariot fittings and weaponry. The Shang bronze workers employed the piece-mold technique, and some of their castings weighed much more than 100 kilograms (220 lbs.). Bronze continued to be highly valued during the succeeding Zhou dynasty (1045-256 B. C.E.), and some of the finest of all bronzes are from the period of the Qin dynasty, in particular the horse-drawn chariots from the tomb complex of qin shi-HUANGDI, the first emperor of China.

The need to secure regular supplies of copper was a preoccupation of major states. Copper was strengthened by the use of bronze for weaponry during the troubled times that characterized the period of the Zhou dynasty; a state without ready access to copper ore would have been seriously weakened. Tonglushan lies in the area controlled by the kings of the state of chu. As may be seen in the Chu cemeteries such as XIASI, bronzes were abundant in aristocratic graves, and the Tonglushan mine must have contributed much wealth to the rulers. The complex is also of vital importance not only because wooden artifacts have been preserved in the underground workings, but because its use spanned the introduction of iron. Thus the impact of iron on mining technology can be gauged.

The ore was initially hacked out with bronze mattocks and pickaxes, but from at least the third century B. C.E. such bronze implements were replaced with iron tools, including hammers and spades designed specifically for this mining operation. On reaching the surface, the ore was hand sorted and then crushed by anvils and heavy stones. Several large enclosed furnaces have been excavated. Iron ore was used as a flux to assist smelting, and the resulting ingots contained up to 93 percent copper and 5 percent iron. The furnaces themselves had the refinement of two chambers, a lower one for tapping the molten copper and an upper one for firing the chamber.

The social dimension of the Tonglushan mine is little known, but it is self-evident that it employed many hundreds of miners in its heyday, as well as a specialized staff of copper processors on the surface. Part of the complex has been transformed into a museum.

Tonle Sap See great lake.

Toprak-kala Toprak-kala is a walled city covering 250 hectares (625 acres), located on the right bank of the lower Amu Dar’ya River in ancient Khwarizm (Uzbekistan). Excavations that took place between 1945 and 1950 revealed evidence for three major phases of occupation. The city was founded during the first century c. E. and was to become a royal capital of the kushans. It continued to be a royal center into the sixth to eighth centuries. The defensive walls incorporated vaulted corridors and were built of sun-dried brick. The top was crenellated, and the sides were equipped with loopholes. A moat lay in front of the walls, crossed by an entrance only at the southern side. The city had a rectangular form divided by a street system into a series of blocks. The southern half of the city contained the residential area; a citadel that dominated the lower city was visible from a great distance. It incorporated a massive palace with more than 100 rooms on the ground floor alone, and numerous sculptures and fine wall paintings have survived. Some of the sculptures are thought to depict members of the ruling royal families. An almost complete statue in unfired clay probably represents a queen. She wears an elegant robe of Hellenistic inspiration. There is also the head of a warrior wearing a headband. These had been placed in niches in one of the great halls. This part of the city also contained a large open area in which thick ash layers were encountered. It is thought to have been a fire temple for Zoroastrian worship. Excavations also revealed a workshop for manufacturing bows and written records in the Khwarizm language on wood and leather containing the accounts of the city.

Toro Toro is one of the most important excavated sites of the Japanese yayoi culture (300 B. C.E.-300 C. E.). This culture represents a major change in the prehistory of central and southern Japan, because it involved the widespread adoption of wet rice agriculture, metallurgy, maritime exchange, and the development of social elites. The technique of rice production was similar, if not identical, to that of mainland China at the same time, and it is beyond reasonable doubt that Yayoi farmers were indebted to the long tradition of rice cultivation in the Chang (Yangtze) Valley. All contributed to the rapid development of the early Japanese states. Few Yayoi sites have provided such complete evidence for the way of life of agricultural communities that stand at the origins of the Japanese civilization.

RICE CULTIVATION

Toro is located in the delta of the Aba River where it reaches the southern shore of central Honshu. This region was subjected to regular flooding, and the occupation, which spanned the latter part of middle Yayoi and the early years of the late period (about 50-150 c. e.) was more than once damaged by serious floods, the last of which sealed its end. These floods laid down deposits that have led to the preservation of organic remains in profusion as well as prehistoric rice fields. Rice cultivation involved the construction of low banks to control the flow of water across the landscape. At Toro these have survived and were retained in place by vertically placed posts. The individual plots were about 30 by 30 meters (100 by 100 ft.) square. Ditches that crossed the cultivated area, again revetted with wood, could have borne water to the rice fields when necessary, and one of these was equipped with a sluice gate to control water distribution. The large size of the Toro rice fields is unusual. Many other sites have revealed far smaller fields, even as small as four by seven meters (13 by 23 ft.) in extent. The survival of wooden clogs of virtually identical form to those in use today by workers transplanting rice suggests further parallels of rice cultivation with China.

FARM IMPLEMENTS

Wooden farm implements have survived. Large blades are thought to have been used for plowshares. Plowing itself represents a major advance in agricultural efficiency, since traction animals and a plow can put a much greater area under cultivation than human labor alone, and turning and harrowing of the soil produce larger returns of rice. There were also spades, rakes, and hoes among the inventory of surviving wooden tools.

THE SETTLEMENT

In the settlement itself, which lay adjacent to the rice fields, the outlines of substantial wooden houses have been identified. The interiors were equipped with a central hearth and wooden benches around the periphery. The houses were probably roofed with a thatch of rice straw, some of which has survived. Matting was placed on the floor. Rice was stored in wooden structures and processed by using wooden pestles and mortars. Stone net sinkers and bone fishhooks were employed, and both freshwater and saltwater fish bones have survived. Domestic cattle were raised, and deer were hunted, presumably with the bow and arrow, as seen on Yayoi bronzes. Iron tools were used to fashion the many wooden artifacts, which included swords and scabbards, and trade carried exotic glass beads to the site.

Tosali See sisupalgarh.

T’osong-ni T’osong-ni was the capital of the Chinese commandery of lelang in North Korea. The expansion of the HAN DYNASTY in the late second century b. c.e. saw the establishment of commanderies, or provinces, in captured territory In Korea, the commandery of Lelang was founded in 108 b. c.e. and endured for at least three centuries. T’osong-ni was probably the capital of this province. It is located on the southern bank of the Tae-dong River, opposite the modern capital of Pyongyang. Its walls enclosed an area of 31 hectares (77.5 acres) and fortified a hill that already afforded natural protection from attack. Excavations that began in 1936 revealed all the items of material culture typical of a Han colony. There were Chinese coins and the molds for local casting of currency. Bronze mirrors, eave tiles, and seals, one of which bore the title of the governor of Lelang, were recovered. Beyond and south of the walls, five cemeteries have been identified, containing more than 2,000 Han tombs. These were either subterranean pits containing chestnut wood chambers or surface tombs of brick covered by a mound. The grave offerings reflect the wealth of provincial society. They include fine bronzes, ceramic vessels containing food, LACQUER tables and plates, and personal ornaments of jade. Iron weaponry included typical Han crossbow mechanisms, swords, daggers, and halberds.

Tra Kieu Tra Kieu is a walled city of the cham civilization, located in the kingdom known as amaravati in Vietnam. As with other Cham centers, it was located at a junction of two rivers. Tra Kieu has also given its name to a Cham art style current during the 10th century C. E., and the most famous example of this period is the pedestal found at Tra Kieu itself. The base, 1.75 meters square (2.1 sq. yds.), was embellished with superbly carved scenes of the life of Krishna as described in the Bhagavad Purana. The original name of Tra Kieu was Simhapura, and the first excavations were undertaken by J. Y. Claeys in 1927-28. He uncovered the foundations of a sanctuary structure and recovered much statuary and some INSCRIPTIONS, as well as evidence for settlement in the fifth and sixth centuries C. E., but most of the evidence, including 11th-century Chinese coins, is of later date. More recent excavations have encountered a stratigraphic sequence three meters (10 ft.) deep, and 18 radiocarbon dates indicate initial occupation in the last two or three centuries b. c.e. until at least the sixth or seventh century C. E. One fragment of Indian pottery from the lowest layer is similar in style to the ceramics from ARIKAMEDU in India, indicating the early existence of maritime trade. Later layers included a considerable quantity of locally made ceramics strongly influenced by Chinese wares, as well as tiles and bricks.

In Tra Kieu style, Indian influence pervades the design and even the clothing worn by the people carved on the reliefs of the pedestal from that site. One scene shows Krishna about to cure a female hunchback; another shows merchants bearing offerings to the god. The quality of the carving is outstanding, and details of the personal jewelry, clothes, and hairstyles are revealing of the upper ranks of Cham society. Indian influence is also evident on a second pedestal from Tra Kieu, named after the dancers and musicians portrayed on the sides. The pose of the dancers with the hands and fingers outstretched remains a widespread feature of this art in Southeast Asia to the present day The role played by music in ritual and dance is at once evident from the vibrant renditions of the musicians on this same pedestal.

Transoxiana The region known as Transoxiana (in modern Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) occupied a strategic position on the ancient SILK ROAD that linked the empires of China and Rome from 200 b. c.e. onward. It had been occupied by numerous peoples and received cultural influences from Achaemenid and Seleucid Persia, India, PARTHIA, the Scythians (sakas), and Greece. During the early first millennium, the kushans and the sassanian EMPIRE impinged on Transoxiana. It lies south of the Aral Sea and has the Amu Dar’ya River (Oxus) as the western border and the Syr Dar’ya River (Jaxartes) on the eastern flank. Three ancient regions lay within these two rivers: BACTRIA, SOGDIANA, and Khwarizm. From termez the Silk Road linked with a route leading south to begram, tax-ILA, and MATHURA.

See also achaemenid empire.

Travan A travan was an artificial tank or pond. They are often mentioned in the CHENLA and Angkorian INSCRIP-

TIONS in Cambodia as demarcating land divisions. This is clearly illustrated in an inscription from Tuol An Tnot, dated to 681 c. E. King jayavarman i of chenla united two foundations. The description of the land boundaries includes references to the travan of various PON (local leaders). Where a travan was dug to below the water table, it would have been a constant source of water during the dry season. Robert Acker has suggested that they were important in maintaining rural food production for this reason.

See also angkor.

Tribhuvanadityavarman (r. 1165-1177) King Tribhu-vanadityavarman (protege of the rising Sun of three worlds) of Angkor in Cambodia was a usurper who seized the throne in about 1165 c. E.

It is said that this event led to jayavarman Vii’s returning from Champa. In the civil war that ensued, Jayavarman (r. 1181-1219) was victorious and became one of Angkor’s greatest kings.

Tripuri Tripuri is an urban center on the bank of the upper Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh state, central India. Excavations were undertaken on the mound, which rises to a height of seven meters (23 ft.), between 1951 and 1959. Five periods of occupation were encountered, beginning in about 1000 b. c.e. with ceramic remains and a stone industry. During the second period, which began in about 400 b. c.e., Tripuri was probably a major center, if not the actual capital, of the MAHAJANA-PADA of Cedi. The site by now incorporated mud-BRiCK houses with terra-cotta tiles and punch-marked coinage. Exchange is seen in the presence of carnelian and agate beads, and there was an iron and glass industry. Late stone SEALS of this phase, which lasted for one or two centuries, belong to the period of the maurya empire. The site continued to flourish under the period of Mauryan dominance during the third phase, which lasted until 100 B. C.E. when satavahana influence is seen in the presence of their coinage. During the ensuing period, dated from 100 B. C.E. into the second century C. E., two Buddhist monasteries were constructed; the final phase yielded sealings that contain a sequence of royal names belonging to a local dynasty postdating the Satavahanas.

Turpan Basin The Turpan Basin lies to the northeast of the TARIM BASIN and occupies a strategic location on the ancient silk road that linked China with the West. Its eastern border gives access to the Gansu Corridor. It covers an area of 250 by 300 kilometers (275 by 330 yds.) and incorporates Lake Ayding, the second lowest location in the world. Environmentally, the basin is very dry, but water from the surrounding mountains feeds rivers that form oases, thus encouraging irrigation and agricultural settlements. A series of states developed in the Turpan

Basin largely through their control of trade. Yarghul, founded in at least the third century B. C.E., was the main center, until it was superseded by Idiqut in the fifth century C. E. During the long struggle to control the Silk Road between the Han Chinese and the XIONGNU, Turpan occupied a vital strategic location because it provided access to the caravans for the Xiongnu. In 108 B. C.E., a Han army defeated the people of Turpan and opened up a route for the control of the so-called western regions.

Idiqut was a walled city, the defenses standing to a height of 11 meters (36.3 ft.). The area within incorporated a palace and residential and commercial precincts. The nearby cemetery of Astana has yielded a rich array of grave goods, which illustrate clearly the widespread trade links. There are silks and both Persian and Roman coins. The textiles were particularly well preserved and reveal a continuation of a long tradition of fine weaving evidenced in the prehistoric fabric remains from such sites as Zaghunluq and Subeshi.

See also han dynasty.

Turquoise Turquoise is a blue-green gemstone widely used in the ancient world in the manufacture of jewelry. The principal source is the region of Kyzyl Kum between the Amu Dar’ya and Syr Dar’ya Rivers in Uzbekistan. There are also sources in Iran and India. There is evidence for the manufacture of turquoise beads at the INDUS valley civilization site of Mundi-gak. Turquoise was widely used for jewelry and for decorative inlays in China, at least from the period of the LONGSHAN CULTURE (c. 2500-1800 B. C.E.).