64 km west of the city Dunhuang, there is a ruin that is located in the desert and called Xuanquanzhi, 悬泉置 in Chinese. It used to be, a postal station on the Silk Roads, dated to 2nd-1st centuries BCE. Its discovery was voted one of the 50 most important archaeological discoveries in China in 1991. An early form of paper inscribed with Chinese characters and dating to about 8 BC was discovered at the site in August 2006 .
When the latrines were excavated, the archaeologists found sticks with cloth wrapped around one end. These have been described in ancient Chinese texts of the period as a personal hygiene tool for wiping the anus after going to the toilet. Some of the cloth had a dark solid material still adhered to it after all this time.
