Dandan Oilik monastic cluster, (near) Minfeng, Xinjiang, CN

Raw data

"Dandan Oilik is a deserted historical town and desert oasis in the Taklamakan Desert of China. Dandan Oilik was an important (though small) centre of local Buddhism and trade on the Silk Road. It's name means 'Houses of / with Ivory' and has been the site of a small number of significant archeological finds.
Having been many abandoned hundreds of years ago, the oasis was found and lost to shifting desert sands several times. Most recently, a German expedition led by Christoph Baumer found the city based on the accounts of previous explorers such as Sir Aurel Stein, and uncovered relics dating to the 7th and 8th Century. They also marked its GPS position, and the city is now being studied by Chinese archeologists."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandan_Oilik
Input by: tmciolek, 24 Jan 2009.

It comes from Dandan-Uiliq aka Dandan Oilik, a Khotanese site, and while I don't know the date, Dandan-Uiliq was permanently abandoned (probably due to reduced water supply and invading Muslims) at the end of the eighth century,[…]
http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2006_11_19_paleojudaica_archive.html

a temple site in Dandan Oilik, near Niya in Xinjiang. …
http://www.chinaheritagenewsletter.org/briefs.php?searchterm=007_arch_cons_her.inc&issue=007

Niya Ancient City www.media.tsinghua.edu.cn/zhuzuo/europe.html
(same as) Jingjue - Long: 83.60000 Lat:38.274510
Coords Est. from Anonymous-4 1991 & Geeland & Twitchett 1974:102

"The entire Dandan Oilik oasis, where he found a total of eighteen sites, […] extended over approximately 22 sq. km. […] Formerlly, Dandan Oilik must have prided itself on having a large community of Buddhist monks, for of the sixteen ruins within the city at least ten may be identified as shrines or monasteries." Baumer (2003: 76,78).

Final data (and their sources)

Last updated: 09 Apr 2013

Lat/Long coordinates' accuracy:
The monastery in question is assumed to be situated actually no farther than 20 km from the point defined by the coordinates below.

Location of Dandan Oilik monastery, CN.

General location of the Dandan Oilik monastery, CN.
lat=37.0667 long=82.7667
Mapping & images: Falling Rain Genomics (http://maps.fallingrain.com), 2009.


Google Map link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.0667+82.7667+(Approx.%20loc.%20of%20the%20Dandan%20Oilik%20monastery,%20CN)&ll=37.0667,82.7667&spn=05.0,05.0&t=k&hl=en

Final data - explanatory notes

1. Monastery's name

  • Dandan Oilik monastic cluster - Baumer (2003)

2. Monastery's modern country & province

  • China:Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu

3. Monastery's alternative/historical names

4. Monastery's lat/long coordinates

5. Other known nearby Buddhist monasteries

  • [missing data]

6. Modern name of the known nearest city, town, or village

7. The settlement's alternative/historical names

8. The settlement's coordinates

9. Monastery's major Buddhist tradition

  • Mahayana - Baumer (2003:46-47)

10. Monastery's Buddhist sub-tradition

  • [missing data]

11. Date-early

  • [missing data]

12. Date-intermediate

  • MBM chrono-tag 0600-32p 0633-66p 0667-99p 0700-32p 0733-66p 0767-99p - tmciolek 9 Apr 2013
  • 0600-32p 0633-66p 0667-99p 0700-32p 0733-66p 0767-99p dated-el

13. Date-late

  • MBM chrono-tag 0767-99p - tmciolek 9 Apr 2013

14. Details of contacts with other monasteries

  • [missing data]

15. Type of evidence regarding the monastery

  • archaeological, art historical

16. Additional notes

  • [missing data] (incl. details of the size of the monastic population)….

17. Corrections & addenda to this page were kindly provided by

  • [missing data]

end of page

0600-32p0633-66p0667-99p0700-32p0733-66p0767-99p20kmcentral-asiachinaclusterddated-elplacetrad.mahayana(?)western-china
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