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[[underline]] Chapter XVI. [[/underline]] 351.

[[underline]] Presumptive Age of the Site.[[/underline]]
   When Mr. Tung first visited the spot, about a year and a half previously (see page 217), local antiquarians told him that in their opinion the existing remains were not actually those of the old capital of Ch'u, but were instead of Han date; though they could not---or at least did not---adduce any documentary evi^[[d]]ence in support of their assertion.
  Unfortunately the ancient records throw no definite light on the question.  Since my return to Washington, Dr. Hummel, of the Oriental Division of the Library of Congress, has informed me that in Han times the locality was called the Chiang Ling [[2 Chinese characters]], "Tombs by the River". [[superscript]] ([[strikethrough]] [ [[/strikethrough]] 317) [[/superscript]]
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[[superscript]] (317) [[/superscript]]  On the meaning of the word [[underline]] ling [[/underline]] in Han times, see footnote 73, on page 102.
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Mr. Tung and I saw no large mounds, however, sepulchral or other, anywhere hereabout; and in that flat and featureless country they could hardly have escaped our notice.  In any case the statement implies nothing either way as to the site having been inhabited at that time; although it perhaps hints that the Yangtze River flowed closer to it than it does [[strikethrough]] , [[/strikethrough]] today (see page 334).  Nor is there, as far as I have been able to learn, any mention in the historical literature of a later town on the same site.
      Hence in the absence of scientific excavation, the question of the date of the remains that we inspected must remain undetermined, within certain limits.  We can at least safely say that they are of fairly ancient date---not later than the Western Han Dynasty and perhaps somewhat earlier. [[superscript]] (318) [[/superscript]]  It is quite possible, indeed, so far as the available evi-
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[[superscript]] (318) [[/superscript]]   The [[underline]] cache [[/underline]] of Eastern Han coins in a jar (see page 347) is of little evidential value.
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dence goes, that the commonly held tradition is right in ascribing them

Transcription Notes:
Chinese characters needed