In 1957, China's People's Liberation Army visited Tsaparang, giving us the first ever motion pictures of the abandoned city.
1957年人民解放军来到札布让带来这座古城有史以来的第一支动画影片。
Amongst the roaded ruins they discovered intricate religious objects, icons and murals, tale-tell signs of grandeur and opulence.
在受到严重侵蚀的遗址中,他们发现精致的宗教宝物图腾及壁画,述说着繁华及财富。
But it was inside the caves deep within the city that the soldiers found the most intriguing revelations: armour, shields and hundreds of arrows.
但更进入古城,他们发现最令人费解的洞窟,存放着兵器,盾牌及数以百计的箭。
And in one particular cave, the cave of the dead, they found the most grizzly ever evidence: the remains of hundreds of headless corpses.
他们还发现干尸洞,洞中堆着令人毛骨悚然的,几百具无头尸体。
Whose macabre remains of these and how did they get here?
这些尸骸是谁?他们为什么在这里?
Perhaps answers to these questions would shed some light on the mysterious disappearance of Guge.
这些问题的解答或许可以稍稍解开古格王朝神秘消失的谜团。
But we would have to wait another 20 years for that illumination.
但我们却又等了二十年才见到曙光。
In 1985, a team from Xi'an Archaeological Institute stumbled upon an intriguing clue:
1985年,一支西安考古队偶然发现一个令人困惑的线索:
an ancient paper mask probably used in the religious ceremony.
他们发现用于宗教仪式的一只古老纸糊面具。
It seemed quite ordinary first, but when they turned it over, they found traces of an unrecognizable western script.
乍看平常,但他们发现背面印着西方字体。
Months of research would reveal this to be a section of pages from a Bible written in an ancient former Portuguese used by early Jesuits.
经过了几个月后的研究显示面具背后的文字是用早期葡萄牙文写成的圣经,天主教圣经。
But how could the pages of an old Catholic Bible come to be part of a Tibetan shaman's mask in the far reaches of Guge?
如何飘洋过海来到古格王朝而被糊成西藏僧人的面具?
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