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China: Sino-Kharosthi, Indo-Scythian and Chinese coins from Loulan and Turfan, Xinjiang

China: Sino-Kharosthi, Indo-Scythian and Chinese coins from Loulan and Turfan, Xinjiang

The Kharoṣṭhī script was an ancient abugida used by Gandhara culture to write the Gāndhārī and Sanskrit languages. It was in use from the middle of the 3rd century BCE until it died out in its homeland around the 3rd century CE. It was also in use in Kushan, Sogdiana and along the Silk Road where there is some evidence it may have survived until the 7th century in the remote way stations of Khotan and Niya. Indo-Scythians is a term used to refer to Sakas (or Scythians), who migrated into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE.

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