The Silk Road Digital Magazine 10 (2012)

The Silk Road digital magazine 10 for 2012 from Daniel Waugh is out (already for some time). So interesting that it's worth mentioning this again! Index of Issues View Last Issue Guidelines for contributors Home Dedication
The Images of the Wheeled Vehicle in the Mongolian Altai: Instability and Ambiguity 1 by Esther Jacobson-Tepfer Download Petroglyphs found in abundance in the Altai Mountains of Western Mongolia (and elsewhere in north Central Asia) often depict wheeled vehicles, whose interpretations have been controversial. This richly illustrated article proposes a new way to understand the possible meaning of this imagery.
Vehicles of the Steppe Elite: Chariots and Carts in Xiongnu Tombs	29
by Bryan K. Miller	Download
Tombs of the Xiongnu nomads from 2000 years ago often contain wooden remains which this article identifies as possible parts of carts that may have been used to transport the deceased. If this was part of Inner Asian nomad traditions, then the presence in elite Xiongnu tombs of dismantled chariots made in China is in keeping with nomad traditions and not merely an indication of prestige borrowings.
Yuezhi on Bactrian Embroidery from Textiles Found at Noyon uul, Mongolia 39 by Sergey A. Yatsenko Download Textiles excavated from Xiongnu tombs at Noyon uul in north central Mongolia include embroideries depicting individuals in ritual scenes. The article analyzes details of their attire and physical appearance to argue that these textiles likely depict Yuezhei/Bactrians and came to Mongolia as a result of diplomatic exchange.
Production Sites in Karakorum and Its Environment: A New Archaeological Project in the Orkhon Valley, Mongolia	49
by Ernst Pohl, Lkhagvadorj Mönkhbayar, Birte Ahrens et al.	Download
Results of the latest Mongolian-German archaeological survey project, aimed at locating production sites adjoining and in the wider region around the Mongol Empire capital of Karakorum. Geomagnetic survey helped identify possible locations, where excavations have turned up kilns and the first evidence of where metal smelting was done.
Preliminary Report on the Ceramics of Chinese Origin Found East of the Old Mongolian Capital Karakorum 66 by Anne Heussner Download The recent surveys described in the preceding article turned up a good many ceramic sherds, whose preliminary classification is laid out in this article.
Bactrian Historical Inscriptions of the Kushan Period	76
by Nicholas Sims-Williams	Download
The article provides basic historical context, references to previous publications of the texts, and translations of the most important Bactrian historical inscriptions from Kushan Empire times (early centuries CE). One of them is the long Rabatak inscription, a facsimile of which is included.
The Bibi Khanum Mosque in Samarqand: Its Mongol and Timurid Architecture 81 by Elena Paskaleva Download The huge Bibi Khanum Mosque in Samarqand was Tamerlane's most ambitious architectural project. This article explores the possible sources of inspiration for it, looking not only at the architecture but also at the inscriptions, which provide important evidence regarding the image which Tamerlane wished to project. The key models for the building are to be found in the Ilkhanid monuments of Iran.
Featured Museum. Arts of the Islamic World in the Louvre: Experiencing the New Galleries	104
by Daniel C. Waugh	Download
The magnificent new galleries displaying the important collection of Islamic Art in the Louvre in Paris opened in September 2012. This review provides a first glimpse of them and introduces as well the catalogue published to mark the occasion.
Töwkhön, the Retreat of Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar as a Pilgrimage Site 107 by Zsuzsa Majer Download One of the most important Buddhist pilgrimate sites in Mongolia is the small monastery originally built by the key figure in the development of Mongolian Buddhism in the 17th century, Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar. This article, based on site visits, introduces the monastery's history and provides a guide to its shrines.
Cultural Thieves or Political Liabilities? How Chinese Officials Viewed Foreign Archaeologists in Xinjiang, 1893-1914	117
by Justin M. Jacobs	Download
While the relations between Chinese and the foreign archaeologists who began to explore (and cart away) the relics of the Silk Roads is often portrayed as antagonistic, as this article suggests, to a considerable degree the obligation the local officals felt to ensure the visitors' safety and provide them with appropriate support was often the source of the greatest concern to those burdened with the task. There was a strong desire to avoid confrontations which might then create embarrassing international incidents.
Agriculture on the Mongolian Steppe	123
by Doeke Eisma	Download
Despite difficult natural conditions for growing crops, historically agriculture was practiced in Mongolia and was important for the stability and prosperity of nomadic polities. This article explores the changes in the long durée which can be connected with evidence about climate change.
Water Wealth and Energy in the Indian Himalayas	136
by Kelly D. Alley	Download
The Ganga river basin in northern India is of huge economic and cultural importance but is incresingly under threat from the pressures of modern development. Major projects are underway to dam tributary rivers, in the face of growing resistance from local populations which see this to be a threat to their way of life.
Review Essays
Eurasian Steppe Bronzes (Re)discovered	146
by Catrin Kost	Download
A review of recent books by John Boardman and by Ulf Jäger and Sascha Kansteiner.
(the following essays all by Daniel C. Waugh:)
XiongNews: Fourscore Years since the First Excavations at Noyon uul,	151
Nataliia Polos'mak's excavation of Noyon uul Tomb No. 20 and the catalogue celebrating 2220 years since the founding of the Xiongnu state.	Download
Archaeology and Landscape in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia: Celebrating Two Decades of Achievement	154
The Atlas and website publishing results of the important survey project in the Mongolian Altai initiated by Esther Jacobson-Tepfer.	Download
Farewell to the Marauding Nomad	158
Two recent exhibitions which advance our understanding of the complexities of early pastoral societies in Inner Asia.	Download
"...destroyed, [The Silk Road] is no more."	164
Valerie Hansen's long-anticipated and stimulating new book on the Silk Roads.	Download
Epilogue to the Silk Roads?	167
Stephen Dale's survey of Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal history, and Giancarlo Casale's argument for the significance of the "Ottoman Age of Exploration."	Download
Revisiting Borderlands of Empires in Western Asia: Reviews and a Photo Essay 171 Recent books on Dura Europos, Zeugma and Qusayr 'Amra, and a selection of on-site photographs. Download
Book Reviews
Chinese Scholars on Inner Asia, ed. by Luo Xin and Roger Covey.	187
rev. by Valerie Hansen	Download
Samuel N. C. Lieu et al. Medieval Christian and Manichaean Remains from Quanzzhou (Zayton)	188
rev. by Joel Walker	Download
(the following reviews all by Daniel C. Waugh:)	Download all these reviews.
Tjalling H. F. Halbertsma. Early Christian Remains of Inner Mongolia ,
	191
The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures from Han China, ed. James C. S. Lin,
	193
Shipwrecked. Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds. Ed. Regina Krahl et al.,
	194
Jonathan Karam Skaff. Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors,
	195
Rashmita Jadav. Understanding the Morphology of Leh Town	196

Book notices (written/compiled by Daniel C. Waugh)	Download all these book notices.	198
L. R. Kontsevich. Khronologiia stran Vostochnoi i Tsentral’noi Azii. Addenda [Chronology of Far Eastern and Central Asian Countries. Addenda]. A. V. Simonenko. Rimskii import u sarmatov Severnogo Prichernomor’ia [Roman Imports among the Sarmatians of the Northern Black Sea Littoral] N. I. Kuz’min. Pogrebal’nye pamiatniki khunno-sian’biiskogo vremeni [Mortuary Monuments of the Xiongnu-Xianbei Period]. E. B. Barinova. Vliianie kul’tury Kitaia na protsessy inkul’turatsii Srednei Azii i Iuzhnoi Sibiri v do-mongol’skoe vremia[The Influence of the Culture of China on the Processes of Inculturation of Central Asia and Southern Siberia in the pre-Mongol Period] Jason Neelis. Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks. E. B. Smagina. Manikheistvo po rannim istochnikam [Manichaeism according to the Early Sources] Hajj. Journey to the Heart of Islam, ed. Venetia Porter. Dan Gibson. Qur’anic Geography. Richard W. Bulliet. Cotton, Climate, and Camels in Early Islamic Iran. A Moment in World History. al-Iakubi. Kniga stran (Kitab al-buldan). Intr., tr., commentaries, indexes by L. A. Semenova. V. D. Goriacheva. Gorodskaia kul’tura tiurkskikh kaganatov na Tian’-Shane Iseredina VI-nachalo XIII v.) [Urban Culture of the Turkic Kaghanates in the Tian-Shan (mid-6th-beginning of the 13th centuries)] E. D. Zilivinskaia. Ocherki kul’tovogo i grazhdanskogo zodchestva Zolotoi Ordy [Essays on the Religious and Civil Architecture of the Golden Horde] I. K. Fomenko. Obraz mira na starinnykh portolanakh. Prichernomor’e konets XIII-XVIII v. [The Image of the World on Old Portolans. The Black Sea Littoral from the End of the 13th-the 17th Centuries]. Shakh-Makhmud ibn Mirza Fazil Churas. Khronika. Ed. and tr. O. F. Akimushkin. Art, Architecture and Religion Along the Silk Roads, ed. Ken Parry (Silk Road Studies, XII). The “Silk Roads” in Time and Space: Migrations, Motifs, and Materials, ed. Victor H. Mair (Sino-Platonic Papers no. 228). Bulletin of the Asia Institute, Vol. 21 (2007/2012). Literature and History of the Western Regions, 6 (2012). Ed. Zhu Yuqi. For the full pdf text of The Silk Road, Vol. 10 (2012), click here.