Astana Cemetery

The Astana Cemetery spreads across a vast burial ground roughly 30 km east of Turpan, at the edge of the Taklamakan desert, and ranks among the most significant necropoles along the ancient Silk Road. From the 3rd to the 8th century, Han Chinese alongside Sogdian and other Central Asian communities buried their dead in underground chambers; the extreme aridity of the Turpan Basin has preserved mummies, silk textiles, painted clay figurines, and paper documents in remarkable condition. Excavations uncovered thousands of artifacts — including multilingual manuscripts that illuminate daily commerce and governance along the trade route during the Tang dynasty. Today three tomb chambers are open to visitors, while the bulk of the finds are held at the Turpan Museum. The site is protected as a national monument of the People's Republic of China and sits in the desert landscape of the Gaochang district.