Focusing on the central and western parts of the region, this is the second of five volumes that comprehensively document rock art in Upper Tibet. It examines a panoply of graphic evidence found on stone surfaces, supplying an unprecedented view of the long-term development of culture and religion on a large swathe of the Tibetan Plateau.
Focusing on the eastern part of the region, this is the first in a series of five volumes that comprehensively document rock art in Upper Tibet. It examines a panoply of graphic evidence found on stone surfaces, supplying an unprecedented view of the long-term development of culture and religion on a large swathe of the Tibetan Plateau.
Focusing on the Eastern half of Stod, this is the third in a series of five volumes that comprehensively document rock art in Upper Tibet. It examines a panoply of graphic evidence found on stone surfaces, supplying an unprecedented view of the long-term development of culture and religion on a large swathe of the Tibetan Plateau.
Focusing on the Eastern half of Stod, this is the third in a series of five volumes that comprehensively document rock art in Upper Tibet. It examines a panoply of graphic evidence found on stone surfaces, supplying an unprecedented view of the long-term development of culture and religion on a large swathe of the Tibetan Plateau. The pictographs (rock paintings) and petroglyphs (rock carvings), host sites, and descriptions and analyses presented are the direct result of intensive fieldwork conducted by the author in Upper Tibet between 1995 and 2016. Information on rock art production techniques, subject identification, thematic class, mode of presentation, physical condition, estimated age, and relative location are supplied for each piece of rock art. In addition to the datasets, the book offers rock art site descriptions and assesses the cultural, religious and artistic development of these locations.
Focusing on the eastern part of the region, this is the first in a series of five volumes that comprehensively document rock art in Upper Tibet. It examines a panoply of graphic evidence found on stone surfaces, supplying an unprecedented view of the long-term development of culture and religion on a large swathe of the Tibetan Plateau. The pictographs (rock paintings) and petroglyphs (rock carvings), host sites, and descriptions and analyses presented are the direct result of intensive fieldwork conducted by the author in Upper Tibet between 1995 and 2016. Information on rock art production techniques, subject identification, thematic class, mode of presentation, physical condition, estimated age, and relative location are supplied for each piece of rock art. In addition to the datasets, the book offers rock art site descriptions and assesses the cultural, religious and artistic development of these locations.
Drawn and Written in Stone' explores the religious history of the highest part of the Tibetan Plateau through its rock art and inscriptions. It is focused on facsimiles of ritual and ceremonial monuments carved and painted on stone surfaces together with rock inscriptions in the Tibetan language, vital archaeological and historical materials for appraising the development of religion in Tibet, ca. 100 BCE to 1400 CE. By probing the complexion of figures and letters in stone, this work considers how early cult traditions contributed to the establishment of Tibetan Buddhism and a rival faith known as Yungdrung Bon. Outside of the Indian cultural context, relatively little has been written about the historical antecedents of these popular Tibetan religions for a want of sources. This monograph helps remedy this large gap in Tibetan studies by drawing upon the author?s surveys of rock art and rock inscriptions conducted in upmost Tibet between 1995 and 2013.
This unique book reveals the existence of an advanced civilization where none was known before, presenting an entirely new perspective on the culture and history of Tibet. In his groundbreaking study of an epic period in Tibet few people even knew existed, John Vincent Bellezza details the discovery of an ancient people on the most desolate reaches of the Tibetan plateau, revolutionizing our ideas about who Tibetans really are. While many associate Tibet with Buddhism, it was also once a land of warriors and chariots, whose burials included megalithic arrays and golden masks. This first Tibetan civilization, known as Zhang Zhung, was a cosmopolitan one with links extending across Eurasia, bringing it in line with many of the major cultural innovations of the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age. Based on decades of research, The Dawn of Tibet draws on a rich trove of archaeological, textual, and ethnographic materials collected and analyzed by the author. Bellezza describes the vast network of castles, temples, megaliths, necropolises, and rock art established on the highest and now depopulated part of the Tibetan plateau. He relates literary tales of priests and priestesses, horned deities, and the celestial afterlife to the actual archaeological evidence, providing a fascinating perspective on the origins and development of civilization. The story builds to the present by following the colorful culture of the herders of Upper Tibet, an ancient people whose way of life is endangered by modern development. Tracing Bellezza’s epic journeys across lands where few Westerners have ventured, this book provides a compelling window into the most inaccessible reaches of Tibet and a civilization that flourished long before Buddhism took root.
The Mogao Grottoes, a World Heritage Site in northwestern China, are located along the ancient caravan routes—collectively known as the Silk Road—that once linked China with the West. Founded by a Buddhist monk in the late fourth century, Mogao flourished over the following millennium, as monks, local rulers, and travelers commissioned hundreds of cave temples cut into a mile-long rock cliff and adorned them with vibrant murals. More than 490 decorated grottoes remain, containing thousands of sculptures and some 45,000 square meters of wall paintings, making Mogao one of the world’s most significant sites of Buddhist art. In 1997 the Getty Conservation Institute, which had been working with the Dunhuang Academy since 1989, began a case study using the Late–Tang dynasty Cave 85 to develop a methodology that would stabilize the deteriorating wall paintings. This abundantly illustrated volume is the definitive report on the project, which was completed in 2010.
Rock art is one of the most visible and geographically widespread of cultural expressions, and it spans much of the period of our species' existence. Rock art also provides rare and often unique insights into the minds and visually creative capacities of our ancestors and how selected rock outcrops with distinctive images were used to construct symbolic landscapes and shape worldviews. Equally important, rock art is often central to the expression of and engagement with spiritual entities and forces, and in all these dimensions it signals the diversity of cultural practices, across place and through time. Over the past 150 years, archaeologists have studied ancient arts on rock surfaces, both out in the open and within caves and rock shelters, and social anthropologists have revealed how people today use art in their daily lives. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art showcases examples of such research from around the world and across a broad range of cultural contexts, giving a sense of the art's regional variability, its antiquity, and how it is meaningful to people in the recent past and today - including how we have ourselves tended to make sense of the art of others, replete with our own preconceptions. It reviews past, present, and emerging theoretical approaches to rock art investigation and presents new, cutting-edge methods of rock art analysis for the student and professional researcher alike.
