Development of the Xin Jiang area from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age

At that point, human activities had already reached the entire Xin Jiang area, mainly in the northern Turpan Basin, the vicinity of Talimu Basin and the western and eastern Dzungaria Basin. A significant number of rock paintings were found in the northern Turpan Basin, which is located in the east of Xin Jiang. The geographical environment of the archaeological remains mainly consisted of mountains (52%) and bank terraces (38%); whereas that of the graves consisted more of bank terraces (49%) than mountains (38%). This indicated that the inhabitants’ preference of site-selection for “life” and “after-life” was completely opposite, however, the specific reason for this is yet to be determined. Nomadism was the main way of life and economic format in the era, with some agricultural life. Even though the era is called Bronze Age-Early Iron Age, there were not many discoveries of copper ware or ironware. There were some remains of high-quality copper mines, however, no such remains of iron mines have been discovered yet. The size of most remains was below 100,000 square meters, and the architectures were mainly composed of stone, which indicated that the architectural techniques had already reached a very high level in that era. A significant amount of seashells was also discovered, which showed the close connection of this area with the coast. The discovery of ceramic box which enclosed Buddha’s bones pointed out that Buddhism already existed in people’s daily life.