International attention was first drawn to Turfan by
Sven Hedin (1865-1952), to
European and
Japanese archaeologists, as a potential and promising site in Central Asia for field explorations for archaeological finds. He could follow up the work in later years during his last expeditions between 1928 and 1935. His collections of that period are in the
Stockholm Ethnographical Museum. After his first suggestion to the archeologist about the archaeological richness of the Turfan site, many
Russian expeditions were mounted from September 27 to November 21, 1879 right up to 1914–1915,
Finnish expeditions from 1906 to 1908, by
Japan between July 1908 and June 1914, and also other explorers from
Great Britain,
France and America; and from 1928 Chinese archaeological campaigns continued the work of the foreign expeditions. German expeditions from 1902 and 1914 not only to Turfan but also other sites such as Kucha, Qarashahr and Tumshuq [Tumšuq] were most fruitful. The four German expeditions covered Turfan but also Kucha, Qarashahr and Tumshuq [Tumšuq]. The expeditions were: and Bartus, as fellow participants; • Second Expedition: November 1904 – August 1905 led by Le Coq along with Bartus; • Third Expedition: united with the second Expedition, from December 1905 to April 1907 led by Grünwedel and Le Coq, H. Pohrt and Bartus as fellow participants; • Fourth Expedition: June 1913 – February 1914 led by Le Coq along with Bartus as a participant.
First Expedition The financing for the expedition involved 36,000 Marks which was provided by the Königliche Museum für Völkerkunde in
Berlin, by
James Simon (benefactor of museums), Krupp house, the Prussian Government and an “Ethnologisches Hilfskomitee.” In the middle of 1906 Le Coq had to return home due to illness. Grünwedel and Bartus continued the work and covered the oases to the west of Turfan, including Kizil and its widespread complexes of Buddhist caves. The route followed was initially from Kashgar to Tumshuk and then from Kizil to Kucha to Kumtura and further along Shorchuk—Turfan Oasis—Ürümqi—Hami—Toyuk and back. The collections packed in 118 crates were paintings of grottoes from temples and Buddhist texts. Reports of the second and third expeditions were published as "Gründwedel's Altbuddhistische Kultstätten in Chinesisch-Turkistan" (1912) and Le Coq's book of
Auf Hellas Spuren in Ostturkistan (1926). was also funded by the state (60,000 Marks given by the emperor and by private benefactors). It was again led by Le Coq along with Theodor Bartus. They followed the route from Kashgar to Kucha, then Kizil to Kirish, followed by Simsim to Kumtura and then from Tumshuk to Kashgar returned from there to Berlin and completed the expedition shortly before the outbreak of the
First World War. Finds included paintings and texts in Sakan and Sanskrit. The finds packed in 156 crates, was the largest collection in a single expedition. Le Coq published his report of his expedition in Von Land und Leuten in Ostturkistan, in 1928. ==Fate of the collections==