A network of 492 Buddhist grottoes carved between the 4th and 14th centuries near Dunhuang on the Silk Road. The 'Library Cave' (
藏经洞) sealed around 1000 CE was rediscovered in 1900 and yielded tens of thousands of manuscripts — many removed by Aurel Stein and Paul Pelliot, founding the field of Dunhuang studies
敦煌学.
