Missive that went missing for centuries

Treasure trove of texts in languages dead and alive tells story of thriving communications

It's a letter that slumbered in the desert for 1,000 years undelivered and unanswered, having been lost in transit somehow as it was on its way to a place far off in the West.

In the ninth-century scribbling, unearthed in Hotan prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, a Jewish merchant reels off a greeting to the expected recipient before cutting to the chase: he wants his contact to obtain some sheep from his landlord no matter the cost.