When I was a teenager, I liked Joseph Conrad’s books (which bear re-reading as an adult). I remember reading Younghusband’s account of his travels in Sinkiang. These books undoubtedly were a reason why I traveled round the world when I was 20, going to some out of the way spots. The Dulan junipers, which we’ve discussed lately, are in central Asia and I thought that it might be interesting to see if there was any connection to the Silk Road, the formidable overland route through Central Asia, traversing both the Gobi and even more formidable Taklamakan deserts.
It turned out that Dulan is connected in a very interesting way to the one – and one that casts an interesting perspective on their use as a temperature proxy.
First here is the location map from Shao et al, A 1437-year Precipitation History for the Northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, describing a precipitation reconstruction from “Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii, Figure 1) growing in the mountains of the arid and semi-arid area in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau”. The figure is a little muddy, but you can identify the following key towns on this location map: Dulan, Wulan, Delingha and Chaka (Tsaka). Qinghai Lake (Qinghai Hu, Koko Nur) is a prominent geographic feature. The Shao et al junipers were sampled between 36 30N and 37 30N and between 97 and 99E.
Let’s step back a bit and locate the Dulan-Delingha are in the context of the Silk Road, a map of which is shown below. Dunhuang is located at 42N 92E and Lanzhou at 36N 103E. So the Dulan junipers are located in the sector between Dunhuang and Lanzhou, with the Gobi Desert to the north east and the very severe Taklamakan Desert to the west.
Figure 2. Map of the “Silk Road”.
There are different “filaments” to the Silk Road. In the sector between Dunhuang and Lanzhou, the main travel route today is in the “Hexi Corridor”/”Gansu Corridor”, but there is an alternative route via Xining and Delingha, passing near Dulan, which I will describe below. To avoid any confusion, I will first show a map of the Gansu Corridor to distinguish it from the Xining-Delingha route (since I had to work through this distinction to understand the geography.)
The left panel below shows a map of Gansu Province covering the “Hexi Corridor” or the “Gansu Corridor” between Dunhuang in the northwest and Lanzhou in the southeast. Major cities between Dunhuang and Lanzhou include Wuwei, Jinchang and Jiayuquan. For people interested in mining, Jinchang is the location of a huge nickel-copper deposit and industrial facility. A local description says that it is where “the oasis, desert and Gobi distribute in interlacement.” Zhangye, known as Ganzhou in ancient times, is the granary of the Hexi Corridor and a national-level historic and cultural city. Marco Polo once stayed there for a year. The city is known for the world’s largest indoor statue of Sleeping Buddha
Xining is shown in Qinhiang to the west of Lanzhou. The right panel, a location map from Sheppard et al 2005 about Dulan junipers, also locates the city of Xining, which is to the east of Dulan and the nearby juniper sites shown in the top figure and it is the Xining route that I will describe in more detail below.
Silk Road Travel Itineraries
An alternative route through Xining 101 34E 36 34N and the Dulan (36.4N 98E)/Delingha area, described in modern tourist itineraries.
The East Tibet Amdo and Silk Road itinerary describes an itinerary of 5 days from Lanzhou to Dunhuang “oasis” via Xining and Delingha, stopping in Delingha on the 4th night (“Day 8 below”) after a drive “over the Gobi Desert”. THe drive from Tsaka(Chaka) to Delingha goes right through the Shao et al location map. An interesting excursion in Dunhuang is described in which “camels carry you through the Singing Sand Dunes”. This service would no doubt be invaluable to the Crowley and Lowery quest for temperature proxies in the desert.
Day04 Lanzhou – Xiahe 280 km 1N in 2*Labrang hotel B/L
In the morning drive to Xiahe, which is 2,900 meters above the sea level and almost exclusively inhabited by Tibetans. In the afternoon visit Labrang monastery, the most important religious centre on the northeast border of the Tibet region. The monastery created in 1710, as one of the six grand monasteries in Tibet area, has served for centuries there to connect the Tibetan and Mongolian Lamaism.
Day05 Xiahe – Xunhua – Tongren 260 km 1N in 2*Huangnan hotel B/L
On the way to Tongren make a stop in Xunhua (the first station in Qinghai province), to visit the hometown of the 10th Panchan lama and especially the divine lucky tree. In the legend he was finally recognized as the ” holy child ” by help of recognition of the Pappel tree near the house his family lived. Arrive at Tongren in the evening.
Day06 Tongren – Xining 210 km 1N in 3*Qinghai hotel B/L
Visit Longwu monastery of Gelukpa sect which was initially constructed in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) as a monastery of Sakya–sect and Wutun village the center of Tibetan Regong-art, which is a successful mixture of religious art and folk art. Afterwards go to Xining, the capital of Qinghai province. This city is mainly inhabited with Tibetan but also a home of Uygur, Kazak and Hui minorities.
Day07 Xining – Kumbum – Koko Nor 26 km + 160 km 1 N in simple tent hotel B/L
While traveling, visit Kumbum monastery (Ta’er Si) of Gelukpa-sect, which was built in 1560 in Huangzhong county and also one of the six grand monasteries in Tibet. Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Lamaism “yellow hat sect”, was born here. As Kumbum Monastery has always been playing an important role to connect the Mongolian with the Lamaism, today many Mongolian come to this place for worship. Then cross over Sun-and-Moon-Mountain (Ri Yue Shan). In 641 Wencheng princess of Tang Dynasty passed by this mountain where today a sun-pavilion and a moon-pavilion are built on the summit for people to have a break. The suns and moon mountain has always been an distinguish line between meadow and agriculture area. After that make a short trekking by the Koko Nor Lake, the biggest salty lake in China, with an area of 4500 square kilometers and an altitude of 3,194m. high above sea level. The big lake is acclaimed as ” pearl on the highland ” and the scenery of which is unusually fascinating and appears different shapes even at the same time. “Koko Nor” in Mongolian language means “blue lake” because of the lunar shape and the color of the lake.
Day08 Koko Nor – Chaka – Delingha 460 km 1N in simple Haixi hotel B/L
After a appox. 200km long driving make a short stopover by the Tsaka salty lake where even the wind should be salty. Then drive over the Gobi Desert and arrive in Delingha in the evening.
Day09 Delingha – Dunhuang 470 km 2N in 4*Solar Energy hotel B/L On the way cross over Dangjin Shan pass which is more than 4000 m. high above sea level. After a long journey arrive in Dunhuang oasis.
Day10 Dunhuang B/L
In the morning camels carry you through the Singing Sand Dunes to the beautiful Crescent Spring Pool (approx. 5 km away from Dunhuang). Time permitting, climb a 200-meter-high sand hill nearby.
A slightly different itinerary is decribed here, outlining a 3-day itinerary from Xining to Golmud (36N, 95E) via Dulan. The Qaidam (Tsaidam) basin is described as “desert with some oasis dotted in”. After Dulan, instead of going to Dunhuang, this itinerary goes via Xiangride oasis (36 00N 97 54 E) to Lhasa. Xiangride oasis, located in the top location map near Dulan, is said to be the “last oasis seen in this desert”. This is important information for prudent dendroclimatologists, who generally try to keep track of the “last oasis” in their quest for temperature proxies.
Day 01 Xining – Kumbum – Koko Nor Lake 210 km
In the morning drive to Kumbum Monastery (Ta’er Si) of Gelukpa-sect, which was built in 1560 in Huangzhong County and also one of the six grand monasteries in Tibet. Then cross over Sun-and-Moon mountain (Ri Yue Shan). The Sun-and-Moon mountain has always been an distinguish line between meadow and agriculture area. After that make a short trekking by the Koko Nor lake, the biggest salty lake in China, with an area of 4,500 square kilometers and an altitude of 3,194m high above sea level. The big lake is acclaimed as “pearl on the highland” and the scenery of which is unusually fascinating and appears different shapes even at the same time.
Day 02 Koko Nor Lake – Dulan 320 km
In the morning drive to Dulan along the Koko Nor Lake, the biggest salty lake in China, with an area of 4,500 square kilometers and an altitude of 3,194 m above sea level. In addition a small island known as “the heaven of the birds” lies in the lake. After an approx. 200 km long driving make a short stopover by the Tsaka salty lake where even the wind should be salty. Late in the afternoon arrive in Dulan.
Day 03 Dulan – Golmud 360 km
Drive through the Tsaidam basin, among which most part is desert with some oasis dotted in. This basin lies in the north of the Amnyemaqen Mountain and the road to Golmud is just along the foot of the mountain. The Xiangride oasis is the last one seen in this desert. Late in the afternoon arrive in Golmud, which is a civilization center where Tibetan culture and Han culture melt each other.
Here is an account of an overland trip form Lanzhou to Golmud (and on to Lhasa) by a geologist with some pertinent pictures, with the relevant section in Lanzhou starting here. In his page on the Qaidam lake, he oberved camels, near Tsaka (Chaka) lake. Dendroclimatologists are keen students of biology and some believe that camels are harbingers of a nearny temperature-limited proxy.
The traveller observes the following of Dulan:
The terrain becomes an arid desert, whose bleak expanses are punctuated by small green oases where a river exits the mountains. One of the largest oasis is Dulan, where the land has been reclaimed from the sands, and irrigation yields green fields. Lines of trees have been planted as windbreaks, in an attempt to halt the shifting dunes (right).
Again, keen-witted dendrochronologists are ever on the look-out for shifting sand dunes, as a temperature-limited proxy may lurk nearby.
Some of the recent interest in Dulan junipers derives from their discovery in recently discovered tombs from the first mellnnium AD. Sheppard et al 2004 stated:
Between 1982 and 1999, large tombs that are thought to be remains from the time of the Tubo (Tufan) kingdom were surveyed, registered, and partly excavated….the textiles provide some chronological information by which the tombs have been dated roughly to the period from the fourth to the ninth century AD….
In 1999, numerous juniper trunks and wooden coffins from the tombs in the Reshui Valley, 20 km southeast of Dulan.
They compare their reconstruction with a time series of human occupation in the region (Chen et al., J Paleolimnology 1999).
Some even more recent archaeological discoveries in 2002 are mentioned here:
The Silk Road did indeed pass through Qinghai during the Tang period. Recent discoveries include unusual silver sculptural pieces,possibly of Sogdian provenance or inspiration, and of Byzantine coins. These underscore the point that significant trading routes ran through Qinghai, qualifying the corridor stretching from Xining to Golmud along the southern perimeters of both Kokonur (Qinghai Lake) and the Qaidam Basin as a Silk Road artery of significance. Dulan county was a hub of communications extending in different directions to Sichuan, Tibet and Central Asia, and along the Hexi Corridor to China in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and Sui-Tang period.
In 2002 Xu Xinguo’s discovery of painted coffin panels, the first known paintings of the Tubo-Tuyuhun period, during the excavation of two robbed tombs at Guolimu on the southern shore of Bayin Lake located 30 km east of Delingha city only serves to reinforce the picture of ethnic complexity that has emerged from Qinghai, making it clear that the Dulan area was a major centre during the pre-Tang and Tang periods. He outlined these most recent discoveries in the March 2004 issue of Cultural Relics World, arguing that these finds confirm his long-held belief that the Dulan area and its surrounds was the centre of a Tubo-Tuyuhun royal polity and that many of the graves discovered to date are those of the royal aristocracy that once dominated the area.
The Shao et al presentation showed a picture of a tree in a desert, which twq objected to. In correspondence with Prof Shao, she says that she did not know where the picture came from, as it was inserted in the presentation by a colleague and that the colleague is unable to recall the location of the picture as it was 5 or 6 years ago. I’ve read many geological reports and I’ve never encountered a situation where a geologist was unable to identify the location of a picture in a geological report. However, I think that it’s possible to reasonably hypothesize that the tree-in-the-desert picture in the Shao et al presentation came from the Qinhiang area somewhere near Dulan, as one can locate pictures of deep rooted trees in this area. Here is a description of the Qaidam desert which contains the following picture:
BTW just googling this area, it turns out that there are some interesting archaeological discoveries in the Chinese deserts that may have some bearing on climate change history. Here’s a recent report on a city discovered beneath the sands of the formidable Taklamakan desert that apparently disappeared in the Roman period.
Chinese and French archaeologists claim to have discovered the ruins of an ancient city which disappeared in the desert in Northwest China more than 2,200 years ago. The ancient city, shaped like a peach, is located in the center of the Taklimakan Desert …Carbon dating by French archaeologists shows that the city wall dated back 2,200 years. “We think the city had disappeared before the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-25 A.D.) as we did not discover any relics of Western Han and of the historical periods after the Western Han,” said Abdurensule, adding this was the oldest city ever discovered in Xinjiang.
If you’re interested, you can locate information about other lost cities in the desert. Maybe you’ll find some dendroclimatologists questing for temperature proxies in the ruins.