The crumbling ruins of mud-built dwellings, constructed and arranged exactly as in the now inhabited villages of this tract and forming detached groups, seemed to extend, together with the interspersed orchards, cemeteries and fields, for about three miles from east to west.
The mud-walls, strengthened by the insertion of vertical bundles of Kumush, still rose often 4 to 5 ft. above the ground, and the massive fireplaces were intact even to a greater height […] The deserted homesteads had been stripped of all materials that could be of use, such as beams, wooden doorposts, &c. As scarcely any sand had accumulated about the crumbling ruins, their rapid and complete disappearance seemed inevitable as soon as erosion set in.
[3] The finds from Domoko appear to have consisted primarily of wooden panels, located in the ruins of a sanctuary near the oasis.
The most famous examples are the silk paintings and scrolls found at Dunhuang and given to the British Museum by Aurel Stein.
The oases positioned along the Silk Road were pivotal to its existence, providing fresh supplies and diverse markets to the trading caravans.