The age and origin of Karez systems of silk road oases around Turpan, Xinjiang, P.R. of China

Abstract

Age and origin of ancient famous Karez water systems in the oases of the Turpan Basin are open questions in geoarchaeological and historical research. Four hypotheses exist: (a) invention during Han dynasty more than 2000 years ago, (b) transfer of technology from Persian Qanat’s more than 3000 years ago, (c) independent invention of local Uyghur people in the 15th century, and (d) late invention during the Chinese Qing dynasty (19th century). Our study dates, for the first time, 8 Karez systems by 14 C from plants buried during the formation of Karez mounds, and interviews in order to record oral tradition.We found that the oldest investigated Karez systems originated in the Uyghurian Huihe dynasty (790–1755 AD), which coincides with the oral tradition. A second phase may have occurred during late Huihe/Qing dynasty (after 1755 AD), which may explain why information and the Uygurian term „Kan er jing“ went down in historic Chinese records. In conclusion, hypothesis (d) that oldest Karez systems were built during Qing dynasty has to be rejected because they are at least 600 years old. Instead, during the 3rd Chinese expansion in the 19th century AD the Karez system expanded and got maintenance. A review of regional palaeoclimatic proxies suggests that the origin and the maintenance of theKarez systems took place rather in more humid periods than in more arid ones. However, more research is needed on other Karez systems to test the pending hypotheses of a much older age.