Ancient City of Yar Lake

Ancient City of Yar Lake

The Ancient City of Yar Lake is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and a cultural heritage site.

The Ancient City of Yar Lake is the ruins of the administrative center of Gaochang Commandery during China’s Gaochang Kingdom period. It is located in Yar Naizi Gully Village, Yar Township, approximately 10 kilometers west of Turpan City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Situated in an area embraced by the crossing of two riverbeds, it was historically also known as the Ancient City of Jiaohe. In the early 20th century, Germans such as A. von Le Coq, Japanese explorers like Tachibana Zuichō and Kiyonobu Fujita, British explorer A. Stein, and others successively conducted surveys and excavations at the site. In 1928, Chinese archaeologist Huang Wenbi investigated the ruins. In 1956, a training class for Xinjiang cultural relics officials carried out further archaeological surveys and mapping of the site. The ancient city holds significant value for the study of ancient urban construction and layout in Xinjiang. In 1961, it was designated by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.

The city is built against an earthen cliff, taking a rectangular shape without walls. It stretches 1,000 meters from north to south and is about 300 meters wide at its broadest east–west point. There is one city gate each on the eastern and southern sides. A distinct feature of the architectural remains is that most structures, including streets, were carved directly out of the living soil. Cave dwellings were hollowed out from the earth, while single-story buildings often had their walls formed by cutting into the soil, with wooden beams used to support the roof. From the remaining postholes on the walls, it is evident that many buildings had multiple stories. Some lower levels were made of natural soil or arched cave dwellings, while the upper floors were supported by rammed-earth walls and featured timber-framed roofs. Roofs were mostly covered with layers of earth, with very few using tiles.

Further reading:

· First Batch of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites