Tocharian Timeline

200 BCE – 1400 CE · 2 sites

All sites in this period

Cliff face and cave openings of the Kizil Buddhist grottoes, Xinjiang

Kizil Caves

300 CE – 800 CE

The earliest large complex of Buddhist rock-cut cave temples on the northern Silk Road, carved into cliffs above the Muzart River near Kucha — murals of Indo-Iranian and Central Asian style that predate and influenced later Chinese grotto art.

ClassicalLate AntiqueImperial China

Wind-eroded mud-brick and loess ruins of the ancient city of Jiaohe near Turpan

New

Continent Record

Northernmost Known Site in Asia

Jiaohe

200 BCE – 1400 CE

A spectacular cliff-top ruined city carved and built on a loess plateau between two river channels near Turpan — capital of the Nearer Jushi kingdom and later a key Silk Road garrison town, abandoned to the desert winds but retaining streets, Buddhist temples, and housing cut into yellow earth.

ClassicalImperial ChinaMedieval