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[[underline]] Chapter XV. [[/underline]]  320.

opportunity to put into execution a plan that I^[[|]]had long meditated---of exploring the archaeological possibilities of the region in the vicinity of the capital.  For I knew that ever since the Chou Dynasty (and quite possibly from even earlier Shang times also) a town---more properly, a succession of towns---had existed somewhere hereabout, within a few miles from the entrance to the famous Nankow (Nan K'ou) Pass, the gateway to Mongolia (on the influence of such locations on town-building, see page 75).  Examples are the ancient "Shang Tu" of the feudal state of Yen^[[;]] [[strikethrough]]([[underline]] cf. [[/underline]] page 57); [[/strikethrough]] the capitals of the (Tartar) Liao and Chin Dynasties; and the present city of Peking.  I hoped also to find traces of "Painted Pottery" sites belonging to times more remote still; for that the latter culture had extended thus far to the north and east, and even farther, we already knew, both from Dr. J. G. Andersson's finds in extreme southern Manchuria [[superscript]] (281) [[/superscript]]
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[[superscript]] (281) [[/superscript]]   [[underline]] Pal. Sin. [[/underline]], ser. D, vol. I, fasc 1 (Peking, 1923); Dr. J. G. Andersson, "The Cave-Deposit at Sha Kuo T'un in Fengtien"; pp. 1-43.
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and from our own discovery of painted potsherds in northern Shansi (see pp. 264 [[underline]] sq. [[/underline]]).
  I accordingly examined the country to the southwest, west, and north-west of Peking somewhat closely, by motor-car, on horseback, and afoot, for sites worth excavating.  I was thus enabled to locate abundant ancient remains---principally tombs, grave-mounds, aggregations of potsherds (indicative of former habitation-sites), and traces of what had evidently been earthen town-walls; but none of them seemed of any really great antiquity.  Everything of the latter sort appeared either to have been completely destroyed or else covered from sight, by intensive and long-continued cultivation and the constant, though slow, deposition of additional soil through various agencies, both natural and human.
[[underline]] Progress of the Civil War [[/underline]].
  On March 28th Mr. Tung and I motored out to Tungchow ([[underline]] cf. [[/underline]] page 314)