Albert von Le Coq (1860 - 1930) was a German archaeologist and explorer of Central Asia. His account of the second and third German Turfan expeditions was published in English in 1928 as "Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan".

The expeditions found extensive networks of Buddhist and Manichaean cave temples in what is now north west China. Although many of the manuscripts found in the cave were destroyed during the excavation, Von Le Coq speculated that he had discovered a major Manichaean library. Some of the paintings also led him to believe that he had found evidence of an Aryan culture, related to the Franks.

Le Coq said that the depictions of figures with apparently blue eyes, red hair and cruciform swords resembled Frankish art.

External links and references

• Die buddhistische Spätantike in Mittelasien -- Die Plastik (Postancient Buddhist Culture in Central Asia -- Sculpture), Berlin 1922: digital version

• Hopkirk, Peter (1980). Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0-87023-435-8.