Kizil Caves in the context of "Spitzer Manuscript"

Palm-leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves. Palm leaves were used as writing material in the Indian subcontinent, dating back to as early as the 5th century BCE. Their use began in India and spread to other regions, such as Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, in the form of dried and smoke-treated Palmyra or talipot palm leaves.Their use continued until the 19th century when the printing press replaced hand-written manuscripts.

One of the oldest surviving complete palm leaf manuscripts is a Sanskrit Shaivism text from the 9th century, discovered in Nepal, and now preserved at the Cambridge University Library. The Spitzer Manuscript is a collection of palm leaf fragments found in Kizil Caves, China. They are dated to around the 2nd century CE and is in Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit.

The Eastern Turkic Khaganate (Chinese: 東突厥; pinyin: Dōng Tūjué or Dōng Tújué) was formed as a result of the destructive wars in the beginning of the 7th century (AD 581–603) after the First Turkic Khaganate (founded in the 6th century in the Mongolian Plateau by the Ashina clan) had splintered into two polities – one in the east, one in the west. The Eastern Turkic Khaganate was defeated and absorbed by the Tang dynasty, and Xueyantuo occupied the territory of the former Turkic Khaganate.