Restoration-Conservation and Research Project: “The Timber Wood Constructions of Liao – Structure, History, Preservation”

August 6, 2014, 7:20 am

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At present a building research project under the direction of Prof. Thekla Schulz-Brize (OTH/  University of applied Science Regensburg) and in cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage (CACH) is being prepared. Its aim is to profoundly examine the Liao-time architecture in North-eastern China and to do research on new aspects.

A group of four scientists and experts (‘Bauforscher’, surveyors and conservators) visited China from the 23rd of October to the 1st of November. The purpose of the visit was to carefully plan the costly procedure on site together with the Chinese colleagues, and to apply to a German investor for financial resources.

The tight schedule of the visit led the party in particularly to the Fengguo-Temple in Yixian (Province Liaoning) and to the Guanyin Pavilion of the Dule Temple in Jixian (Province Tianjin). The about one-thousand-year-old buildings will be the centre of the investigation. With their complex and refined structures they can be regarded as Chinese Architecture at it’s cultural height.

The décors of the buildings, especially the mural paintings and sculptures, show grave damages and require immediate attention. The restoration and conservation measures should by all means include a close examination of the entire buildings.

Based on the latest surveying techniques, issues of historical architecture research will be discussed regarding the methods, which are, as of yet, not commonly used in China. Hereby we expect to be able to draw conclusions as to the skilful architectural constructions, the set up of the Bracketing system as well as to the issues of design and standardization of individual construction elements. By comparing the properties of the buildings and associating them with others of the same period of time, we hope to acquire more knowledge on the special und unique features of the Liao-time architecture.

The planned project is to start in mid-2014.

Source: Bridging Eurasia

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18th Century Chinese coin found in Arnhem Land Australia

August 8, 2014, 7:03 am

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This Chinese coin, thought to be minted around 1735 in Beijing, was found on a remote beach on Elcho Island, off the coast of Arnhem Land. IMAGE CREDIT: Ian McIntosh

An 18th Century Chinese coin found in the remote Wessel Islands off the coast the NT adds another piece to the puzzle of Australia's early trade routes

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THE MYSTERY OF EARLY foreign trade with Australia has gained another intriguing piece of evidence: the discovery, on a Top End beach, of a Chinese coin that may have been minted in Beijing as early as 1735.

The coin was found on a beach on Elcho Island, part of the Wessel Islands off the coast of Arnhem Land, NT, during an exploratory expedition of scientists from the Past Masters (a multidisciplinary team who explores historic mysteries), in consultation with the local traditional owners. Australian Geographic recently sponsored one of these expeditions.

The location of the find is in the vicinity of a known Macassan trepanger (sea cucumber fishing) site. The Macassans from Sulawesi, Indonesia, are known to have fished in northern Australian waters for trepang from about the mid-1700s until 1907, when the Commonwealth Government stopped the trade.

Dutch coins minted in the 18th century have been found previously on Macassan sites but this is the first time a Chinese coin from the same period has been found.

• Mystery of Arnhem Land's ancient African coins
• Video: Exploring Australia's ancient trading past
• Map: Wessel Islands

Source: AustralianGeographic.com

Rare pieces of Chinese classical books shown to public

August 9, 2014, 6:03 am

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For a video, Click HERE

The National Museum of Classic Books in Beijing begins its group tour with an exhibition of 800 precious works. They are organized into nine categories, which include ancient rare books, metal and stone rubbings, Dunhuang documents, and much more. Each section represents a different part of Chinese literary history, and form a record of a five thousand year-old Chinese culture.

"This exhibition is one of our largest  to date. With it, we can journey into the earliest Chinese traditional culture. Through every single book we can learn about our ancestors and their way of thinking. Our job is to pass their legacy to the next generation of Chinese people," said Lin Shitian, director of exhibition of National Liberary of China.

Rare pieces of Chinese classical books shown to public

The museum, established by the National Library of China, is the country's first public institution to focus on exhibitions of ancient books. It houses more than 2 and half million copies of ancient classics.

The Dunhuang documents were unearthed in 1900 in Northwest China's Gansu province. There are about 60 thousand manuscripts, printed materials and rubbings in several languages. These documents are some of the most important cultural heritages of China.

"This is our oldest Buddhism sutra and has been preserved very well. Our archeologists found this untouched in a Dunhuang cave. After two years of preparation, we are finally able to display it to the public," Lin said.

Rare pieces of Chinese classical books shown to public

"As a historian myself, I'm very excited to participate in this tour group. My favorite section is the rare books sections, where I was able to see and understand how our ancestors composed poems. Being able to get so close to these works has been magnificent," visitor Li Dan said.

The exhibition will officially open to the public on September 9th, which will also be the the library's 105th anniversary.

Discovery of mural tombs of Song Dynasty in Shandong, E China

August 9, 2014, 9:08 am

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Two mural tombs were excavated in Laizhou, Shandong province, East China, April 2014. Mural tombs though have been discovered in this region before, most of them are poorly preserved. These two tombs dating back to the Song dynasty provide rich information about the history of mural tomb in this region.
 
Tomb M1, heading towards south, has a brick-chamber whose style is a mimic of wooden structure. The plane of M1 is a square with length of 2.5m. The tomb is about 3m in height including a pavilion roof. Due to the destruction, merely the passage corridor, the west and the north walls of the chamber and part of the roof are preserved. The bricks were built into bracket-set pattern. Brick-structured pillars are found at the corner with red background and black-stroked diamond pattern. Murals were painted upon a white ash layer, depicting a set of elaborated tables and chairs on the west wall. The mural on the north wall pictures a red door guided by a green dragon on the east and a white tiger on the west. Burial goods and skeleton were not discovered due to the destruction.

 
The description of the tomb was carved on the west wall in the passage corridor which is identified as ‘buried at the 8^th of August, the 2^nd year of Xuanhe’.
 
Tomb M2 is also a brick-chambered tomb in a wooden-like style. The tomb is facing to the south (orientation 190°). The tomb is consisted of the passage corridor, tomb gate, sealed gate and chamber. As the chamber roof is not preserved well, only the tomb gate, the passage corridor and part of the chamber were excavated.
 
The passage corridor stretches from the south wall of the chamber. The tomb gate is located at the south side of the corridor. The ground is paved with sands and the walls are spread with a layer of white ash.

 
The sealed gate, tomb gate and the chamber gate are all built with bricks. The sealed gate is vault shaped which is made of 23 layers of bricks.
 
The plane shape of the chamber is round with diameter of 2.56m. The height of the chamber now is 2.35m. The coffin base is situated against the north wall with height of 0.3m and width of 1.55m. The base is built into a Sumeru shape with three layers of decorations. The top decoration includes engraved lotus. The middle part depicts three windows through which three dancing lions can be seen. The bottom is the foundation which carved several fruits symbolizing good fortune. 

 
The chamber can be divided into three sections horizontally. The bottom part is straight walls on which a set of relief mural including windows, tables and chairs are carved. In the middle section, bricks are constructed to show the design of bracket systems while the upper section is the roof in vaulted style.

 
Although the tomb is heavily disturbed, two skeletons were discovered. One skull is well preserved. The rest of the skeletons however, cannot be further identified. The coffin is not preserved either. In terms of burial goods, only a pair of grey clay jars is recovered in fairly good condition.

 Murals are painted upon a layer of white ash in the straight walls. The tables, chairs, doors and windows in the mural were engraved on bricks, standing out from the wall surface. Brown, red, black, yellow and white colours are used. The mural includes two parts with the top part depicting bracket systems in colour and the lower part painting a living scene with lamps, tables and windows. It is interesting that a ‘hockey stick’ was painted lying against a chair in the west wall mural. It seems a stick for a kind of sports called ‘Chui Wan’ (strick the ball) in ancient China.
 
The written record shows that M1 was buried in 1121 A.D. (the 2^nd year of Xuanhe), which is the end of the north Song dynasty. According to the pottery style displayed in the tomb, M2 can date to the Song dynasty as well. A complicated technology was adopted to build the coffin base in M1 which involves moulding, pasting and firing. Such technology has been rarely seen in other burials. It is the first discovery of ‘Chui Wan’ sports stick in the Jiaodong region, providing new evidence on the development of sports in ancient China.  (Translator: Dong Ningning)

From: Chinese Archaeology

Silk Road Vice Versa research project

August 10, 2014, 5:16 am

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Six students of archaeology and history at Leiden University and the University of Amsterdam especially interested in the Silk Road, made a trip for the special Silk Road Vice Versa research project. This project is an initiative of the Hermitage Amsterdam in close cooperation with KLM and Leiden University, within the framework of the Expedition Silk Road exhibition, still running at the Hermitage Amsterdam until 5 September 2014. This blog presents the students’ experiences in that region, focusing on the ancient Silk Road and on the colour blue of the KLM logo ;) We hope it inspires you to visit these fantastic countries!

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Almaty features tall modern buildings contrasted by green parks. You can see White Mountains in the background. We visited the Central State Museum, full of significant Silk Road objects.

In the Central Bazaar, we gravitated towards the food stalls full of Kazakh delicacies. Try horse milk and kumis, or nibble on a horse cheese ball!

Train ride to Chymkent, Kazakhstan

The railroad follows an old Silk Road track through vast grassy slopes with mountains towering in the background. The locals must be the luckiest people on Earth, having such beautiful views at their doorstep!

Chymkent

In Chymkent we found ourselves in a very cool open-air restaurant, lined with large couches around tables. We shared a bowl of kumis, sipping in turns. Stretching our legs, enjoying the soft breeze on our feet, we felt this place was magic.

Chymkent Bazaar

Our best bazaar experience was trying on various regional costumes in Chymkent. We tried on vests, kaftans and fur hats imagining how we would look at an important function or had we lived here in the past.

Kafir-Kala, Uzbekistan

Kafir-Kala, near Samarkand, is still being excavated. It consists of a city, a necropolis and a citadel. It was, amongst other things, a Sogdian and an Arab city. During the Silk Road period Kafir-Kala most likely served as an administrative centre as evidenced by the many seals found.

Samarkand, Uzbekistan

In the narrow dusty streets of Samarkand, people come out of their homes to wave to you. There are numerous spectacular monuments with large turquoise domes. The walls are decorated with small mosaic tiles, mostly blue, showing abstract patterns, symbols, Arabic inscriptions and animals.

Afrasiyab, Samarkand

Afrasiyab is the site of ancient Samarkand. A museum boasts famous Silk Road frescoes with wonderful pigments. The paintings were found in caves; the pigments preserved in the cold air.

Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Bukhara, located at an oasis, was a thriving Silk Road city. However, most of it was destroyed by Genghis Khan. The famous Kalyan Minaret was preserved, famously because his helmet fell down here. He picked it up and from then on revered the monument.

Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan

We were surprised at the vastness of the great Lake Issyk-Kul, surrounded by mountains in a great range of colours. A horse ride to a yurt in the middle of the valley was like a fairy tale. We were also lucky to see an eagle hunter.

A night in a yurt

A trip to Kyrgyzstan must include a night in a yurt, a round hut covered with felt, cool during the day and warm during the cold nights. It has a small hole at the top, through which you can watch the stars at night.

Interested in finding out more about the Silk Road Vice Versa project? Check out the Facebook page, the website or the video below.

Credit blog: Nadia Hamid
Credit photos: Mike de Booij

Series of workshops Silk Road Studies at Georgetown university this fall

August 10, 2014, 7:18 am

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Critical Silk Road Studies organizes a series of workshops to be held at Georgetown University in 2014-2015. 
Funded by the John E. Sawyer Seminars on the Comparative Study of Cultures program of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Georgetown faculty organizers are James A. Millward (Department of History, School of Foreign Service) and Michelle C. Wang (Department of Art and Art History).




From Excavation to Explication: New Approaches to the Silk Road 
September 11, 2014 

Presenters:
Valerie Hansen
Professor, Department of History, Yale University
“Whose Silk Road: When and Where Exactly?”

 Eugene Y. Wang
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
"How Would Marco Polo Have Been Painted in Yuan China?"

 Discussant:
James Millward
Professor, Department of History, Georgetown University


Ancient Eurasian Steppe Networks
October 9, 2014

Presenters:
Michael Frachetti
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis
“Complexity, Interaction, and Social Participation along Prehistoric 'Silk Roads' (2500-250 BC)”

Sören Stark
Assistant Professor, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University “Nomads, Traders, and a Veiled Prophet: Recent Archaeological Research on the Long Wall of Bukhara”

Discussant:
Chris Thornton
Lead Program Officer, Research, Conservation and Exploration, National Geographic Society


The Iranian Connection
October 30, 2014

Presenters:
Matteo Compareti
Ca' Foscari, University of Venice
“Fantastic Creatures on the Sino-Sogdian Funerary Monuments: On Teratological Syncretism along the Silk Road”

Albert E. Dien
Professor Emeritus, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Stanford University
“The Sogdian Diaspora along the Silk Road: A Review and Reflections”

Discussant:
Michelle C. Wang
Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Art History, Georgetown University


Case Study of an Oasis City: Dunhuang
November 13, 2014

Presenters:
Paul Copp
Associate Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
“Ritual Handbooks and Vernacular Buddhism at Dunhuang”

Stephen F. Teiser
D. T. Suzuki Professor in Buddhist Studies and Professor of Religion, Department of Religion, Princeton University
“Institutions of Literacy and the Dunhuang Corpus”

Discussant:
Francisca Cho
Associate Professor, Department of Theology, Georgetown University


Silk Road Manuscripts and Antiquities: Collecting and Transmission 
 December 11, 2014

Presenters:
Tamara Chin
Associate Professor, department of Comparative Literature, Brown University
“On Silk Road ‘Re-Discovery’: Constructing the Antiquarian Silk Road, 1900-1980”

Sam van Schaik
Project Manager, International Dunhuang Project, British Library
 “The Silk Road and the Transmission of Buddhism: Evidence from Sanskrit Manuscripts”

Discussant:
Robert DeCaroli
Associate Professor, Department of History and Art History, George Mason University


Please visit the main Schedule of Events page for information regarding the time and location of each seminar.

Buddha and the Book

August 11, 2014, 11:45 am

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Some of the world’s oldest Sanskrit and Buddhist manuscripts – and a gift from the 13th Dalai Lama – go on display from today at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA).

A lot of these artefacts have never been seen on display before.

Mark Elliott

Buddha’s Word: The Life of Books in Tibet and Beyond puts on display for the first time the museum's astonishing Buddhist artefacts and brings together collections and research from MAA, the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, and the Fitzwilliam Museum – as well as the University Library, the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and Emmanuel and Pembroke Colleges.

Historians, anthropologists, linguists, art historians, chemists and material scientists have all contributed to this unique view into the complex world of the book in Buddhism. Exhibits of particular note include some of the oldest illuminated Buddhist manuscripts from the first decades of the eleventh century, specimens of skilfully illuminated wooden covers and a quartet of scroll paintings brought back from the controversial Younghusband Expedition.

Dr Hildegard Diemberger, Co-Curator, describes the exhibition as “telling the story of the incredible journeys that the words of the Buddha have taken – crossing mountains and oceans and taking different material forms in different places.”

This story is told through the curation of three distinct spaces within the Li Ka Shing gallery at the museum. First to greet visitors will be a Himalayan Buddhist Altar which demonstrates an exploration of the text as sacred object, as a relic of the Buddha.

Secondly, the Laboratory shows how Tibetan books are made and analysed, investigating the long history of printing in Tibet and the recent discoveries made by Cambridge scientists and scholars about the pigments used in illuminations. The final section, the Library, traces the journeys taken by Buddha’s word from India, across Asia, to places as far apart as Sri Lanka and Japan, Mongolia and Taiwan. 

“It’s a real first,” said Dr Mark Elliott, Senior Curator in Anthropology at MAA. “A lot of these artefacts have never been seen on display before, and certainly not together. But we’re also looking at Tibetan books, and Tibetan Buddhist art, in a completely new way. There have been some real surprises during the development of the exhibition and we’re looking forward to sharing some of those with visitors.”

This exhibition is one outcome of a series of Cambridge-based, linked projects carried out over the past decade. These projects include Tibetan and Mongolian Rare Books and Manuscripts; Transforming Technology and Buddhist Book Culture: The Introduction of Printing and Digital Text Reproduction in Tibetan Societies; and the Sanskrit Manuscript Project, all funded by the British Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and Tibetan Books Evolution and Technology (TiBET), supported by the Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship.

Thanks to exchange schemes run by the Mongolia & Inner Asia Studies Unit, Tibetan scholars have been able to engage with these materials providing new insights and understandings of their cultural significance.

Professor Nicholas Thomas, Director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, said: “This is a truly collaborative project that exemplifies the research strengths of the University of Cambridge and the extraordinary potential of the Arts Council-funded Connecting Collections programme, that brings together the collections and expertise of all the University of Cambridge Museums. This particular project has also been generously supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

"From the Buddhist Altar, to the Library, to the Laboratory, this exhibition promises to be an inspiration for scholars, Buddhists and curious people of all ages and backgrounds. It is the story of the transformation of Buddha’s words, from palm leaves, to paper, to digital dharma."

Source: Cambridge university News

Buddha’s Word: The Life of Books in Tibet and Beyond

28 May 2014 – 17 January 2015
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology- Cambridge                 Li Ka Shing Gallery

Buddha’s Word is the first museum exhibition of Tibetan material in Cambridge. It is also the first time in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology’s history that its Buddhist collections will be showcased in an exhibition.

Developed in partnership with the Mongolia and Inner Asia Research Unit and with support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Frederick Williamson Memorial Fund, Buddha’s Word brings together collections and research from three of the University of Cambridge Museums – the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences and the Fitzwilliam Museum – as well as the University Library and Emmanuel and Pembroke Colleges.

Many of the artefacts, prints and manuscripts in the exhibition have never been on public display before. Exhibits include some of the oldest illuminated Buddhist manuscripts from the first decades of the eleventh century as well as specimens of skilfully illuminated wooden covers; a quartet of scroll paintings brought back from the infamous Younghusband Expedition; and a gift from the 13th Dalai Lama.

The exhibition charts some of the incredible journeys that the words of the Buddha have taken: crossing mountains and oceans and taking different material forms in different places. This is the story of the transformation of Buddha’s words, from palmleaf, to paper, to digital dharma. It focuses on books, not just as objects of learning and study, but as relics of the Buddha, and sacred objects in their own right.

You will never look at a book in the same way again.

China and Beyond in the Mediaeval Period: Cultural Crossings and Inter-Regional Connections

August 14, 2014, 4:56 am

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China and Beyond in the Mediaeval Period: Cultural Crossings and Inter-Regional Connections

by 

Dorothy C. Wong 

and Gustav Heldt

DescriptionContentsReviewsDetailed infoAuthor bio

Description

*This book is in the Cambria World Sinophone Series
(General editor: Victor H. Mair)

*Oversized and includes 157 images, many of which are in color.

This volume examines China’s contacts with neighboring cultures in Central, South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia, as well as contacts among those cultures from the beginning of the Common Era to the tenth century and beyond. During this period, transregional and crosscultural exchanges were fostered by both peaceful and aggressive activities and movements of peoples across Eurasia along land and maritime routes. Such movements played an important role in world history in the medieval period, and yet many aspects of cultural exchanges across Eurasia remain understudied. The lack of knowledge is particularly evident in treatments of Chinese history between the Han and Tang empires. Examining relations with neighboring cultures during this period calls into question notions of China as a monolithic cultural entity.

During the period covered in this volume, cultural contacts and exchanges were fostered by both peaceful and aggressive activities and movements of peoples along land and maritime routes of the so-called Silk Road. From the earliest recorded times, the Silk Road was a channel for the transmission of ideas, technologies, and artistic forms and styles across Eurasia, with far-reaching impact from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

Despite the centrality of exchange and hybridization to the history of medieval East Asia, many aspects of its connections beyond China cultures and history remain understudied. Similar, there is a lack of comprehensive knowledge of the period between the Han and Tang empires in Chinese history. In examining China’s relations with neighboring cultures during this period in particular, this book does not begin with the usual monolithic and stereotypical notion of China being an enduring and coherent cultural entity. Rather, through the close analysis presented in each chapter, this study expands the scope of inquiry to examine the mechanisms and contents of cultural exchanges, and the fertile byproducts of these exchanges.

Perhaps one of the most notable mediaeval phenomena that created shared cultural spheres across linguistic and political boundaries was the transmission of such religious faiths as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Manichaenism and Nestorianism. Buddhism’s spread eastward from India to finally become a religion adopted in all of Asia had an especially significant impact on many countries. In this sense, the Eurasian interactions can be considered common to a medieval world interwoven by religion.

The twenty-one chapters reveal transmissions, transgressions, syntheses, accommodations, and transformations that occurred when peoples and cultures came into contact with one another. They explore the motivations for the movements of peoples and goods—trade, war, diplomacy, acquisition of culture and knowledge (and sometimes of talent), and evangelical Buddhism. They also analyze the impacts of these exchanges through study of the artefacts, concepts, technologies, and practices associated with these interactions from a multidisciplinary perspective.

The focused study of the individual authors, each from her or his disciplinary training (art history, cultural studies, history, literary studies, religious studies, history of science, etc.), sheds light on the crossing of boundaries of geographic, cultural, linguistic, and sometimes temporal distance. Whether it is Tang China, Yamato Japan, Viking Sweden, or Zoroastrian Central Asia, however, each chapter highlights the prominent place of cultural crossings as both inter-regional movements and the fertile products they produced.

Given that the expertise from a breadth of disciplines, this unique interdisciplinary book will enjoy an equally broad readership of students, teachers, and researchers engaged comparative approaches to the history and culture of Medieaval Eurasia at large.

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Ancient instrument found in Turkic warrior burial in Kazakhstan

August 16, 2014, 1:24 am

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At the site ©Press service of the Turkic Academy

At the site ©Press service of the Turkic Academy

At the site ©Press service of the Turkic Academy

For a video about this subject, click HERE

In a string of archeological discoveries, Kazakhstani scientists have now found what looks like an ancient musical instrument.

The discovery was made in Altai in East Kazakhstan Oblast, Tengrinews reports citing the press service of the Turkic Academy.

“The Kazakhstani scientists under the supervision of archaeologist Zeinolly Samashev, PhD in History, have found a burial of a Turkic warrior in Altai. The archaeologist suggests that the warrior lived in the 7th century AD. The scientists found weapons belonging to this epoch next to the warrior: a helmet, a quiver, an arrow, a sword, sabers, as well as a horse with a golden harness and a bridle. The most important discovery of the excavation was a musical instrument, similar to (Kazakh) kobyz,” the press service said.

The kobyz is an ancient Kazakh instrument that has two strings made of horsehair. It was believed to be a sacred instruments that could drive away evil spirits. It was often used by spiritual medics and shamans.

The human and horse bones are well preserved. Samashev believes the man held a high position. First examination led to the conclusion that the warrior was about 40 years old.

The exact age of the archaeological find will be determined later by the Turkic Academy. This burial was excavated under the auspices of the project “Statehood system of Western Turkic Khaganate”. Two types of musical instruments have been found in the area over the past year.

This year, another important Turkic warrior burial was discovered in Akmola Oblast in the end July. It belongs to around the same historical era.

And an even older site was excavated in South Kazakhstan Oblast this year. It contained remains of a noble woman and precious artefacts originating from the mysterious nation of Kangju.

By Dinara Urazova

For more information see:http://en.tengrinews.kz/science/Ancient-instrument-found-in-Turkic-warrior-burial-in-Kazakhstan-255242/
Use of the Tengrinews English materials must be accompanied by a hyperlink to en.Tengrinews.kz

Reconstruction shows how ancient Scythian 'Princess' discovered in Kazakhstan looked like

August 18, 2014, 8:48 am

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From:  Tengrinews.kz  18 August 2014

Western Kazakhstani archaeologists have finally displayed the exclusive artifacts found in the ancient burial discovered in 2012, Tengrinews reports citing Moi Gorod and West Kazakhstan Oblast Center for History and Archaeology.

The ancient burial containing remains of a noble woman was discovered in Terekty district in Western Kazakhstan Oblast two years ago and was declared the oldest "golden" burial at the territory of Kazakhstan.


Taksay-1, Mound 6, Female burial

This is one of the burials in the "golden series", meaning a mound containing golden fragments along with a skeleton. One such mound, discovered in south-eastern Kazakhstan in 1969, had warrior's equipment and assorted funerary goods that included 4,000 golden fragments and was dubbed the Golden Man.


Krym Altynbekov's recreation of the Golden Man. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov
The archeological find made 2 years ago in West Kazakhstan contained the skeleton of a noble woman in the burial mound called Taksay-1. Next to the body there were all sorts of gold and silver vessels, makeup kits, remnants of richly decorated headdress and many pieces of golden jewelry. A horse bridle and household items that were believed to be necessary in the afterlife were also found.

The noble woman was covered with a blanket embroidered with golden plaques and there were more than 500 different golden fragments, which earned the woman her name - theGolden Woman or the Golden Princess.

The artifact of particular importance was a wooden comb depicting a battle scene in the war of the Saks against the Persians.

Prominent scientists and research centers of Japan, Germany and Russia were attracted to the uniqueness of the burial and studied the findings along with their Kazakhstani colleagues.

The latest breakthrough in the work allowed Murat Sdykov, head of West Kazakhstan Oblast Center for History and Archaeology, to identify the age of the burial. “The results of laboratory studies showed that the burial dates back to 4-5 centuries BC,” Sdykov said. The age of the woman was hard to identify due to heavy decomposition of bones. Nevertheless, it is clear that the burial is characteristic of Zoroastrianism. In addition, Sdykov informed that two female guards were buried along with the Golden Princess.

“The richness of the burial speaks about the status of the buried woman. It points that there were few rich people in that period and that the society was already stratified. There are two other kurgans [mounds] next to Taksay, which we will excavate next year. It is noteworthy that this mound had not been damaged or looted,” Sdykov said.

The burial mound was made around a wooden structure that sagged a long time ago. At some point tomb robbers attempted to raid the burial but, fortunately, failed to reach the burial chamber itself.

Reconstruction of the garment was entrusted to the famous restorer Krym Altynbekov. Thanks to his work, one can now see what Golden Princess might have looked like 2500 years ago. Gold plaques of four types were sewn on the upper part of the garment: differently shaped geometric pieces depicted ram griffins, rams, griffins and swastikas. Scientists call them solar, implying worship of the sun characteristic for the nomads of the time, which is also supported by the "Avesta", the core collection of sacred Zoroastrianism texts.


Full garment reconstruction made by Krym Altynbekov. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov


Headdress. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov


The pommel of the headdress. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov



Temple pendants. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov

Oval shaped plaques depicting two opposing ram-griffins. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov


Square shaped plaques depicting two opposing heads of rams. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov




Svastika shaped plaques depicting four griffin heads arranged in a circular composition. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov


The sleeves of the garment were adorned with wolf fangs in gold rim. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov


Gold beads of biconical shape. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov







Golden bracelets. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov

Mirror. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov

Bronze cauldron. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov

Brazier. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov


The unique Taksay comb. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov



Comb. Reconstruction of the plot by Krym Altynbekov. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov
Composition depicting a battle scene between two soldiers in a chariot and their enemy, a single foot soldier, is inscribed in the rectangular space in the center of the crest/comb. The depiction is a relief, a realistic one.


Reconstruction of the comb by Krym Altynbekov. Photo courtesy of Krym Altynbekov

Golden Woman is one of the most astonishing archeological findings of the recent years. It sheds some light on the wealth and power of the ancient Scythians [Saks]. The Saka were a group of nomadic warrior tribes of Iranian origin, who inhabited the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan in 1 thousand BC to first centuries AD.

By Dinara Urazova

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Zoroastrian tombs in the Xinjiang region and the origin of this religion

August 19, 2014, 1:39 am

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CCTV.com  12 August 2014                         For a video about this subject, click HERE

Zoroastrianism was the state religion of the ancient Persian Empire. Its founder, Zoroaster, or Zarathustra, is thought to have been born in what is now Northeast Iran or Southwest Afghanistan. A 2004 survey by the Zoroastrian Associations of North America put the estimated number of believers worldwide at between 124,000 and 190,000.

Now, archaeologists in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have discovered major Zoroastrian tombs, dated to over 2,500 years ago. This unravelling is leading to startling controversial speculation about the religion’s origin. 

Archaeologists in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have
discovered major Zoroastrian tombs, dated to over 2,500 years ago.

On China’s sparsely populated Pamir Plateau, ancient people lived and battled, and created a marvelous civilization. These massive tombs, now being excavated, are the world’s earliest traces of the religion of Zoroastrianism found so far.

Zoroastrianism took form even before the rise of Persian Empire, which later adopted it as the state religion. The sun and fire are central to the religion, and the signs are found everywhere in the tombs.

"This is a typical wooden brazier found in the tombs. Zoroastrians would bury a burning brazier with the dead to show their worship of fire. The culture is unique to Zoroastrianism."

Today, most of the ancient glories lie in ruins. But the dig now offers a glimpse of what life here looked like over 25 centuries ago.

"This polished stoneware found in the tombs is an eyebrow pencil used by ordinary ladies. It does not just show the sophistication of craftsmanship here over 2,500 years ago, but also demonstrates the ancestors’ pursuit of beauty, creativity and better life, not just survival. It shows this place used to be highly civilized."

This is the biggest excavation of the tombs of Zoroastrianism here in Xinjiang’s history. Some archaeologists say the excavation is likely to prove that this religion is originated from the Pamir Plateau, right here beneath of our feet.

"All the evidence leads to one conclusion: Zoroastrianism originated in the east on China’s Pamir Plateau. To this day, archaeologists are still arguing over where the religion originated, but here, we have found the earliest and the largest scale of Zoroastrian ruins, with all the typical symbols of this religion. Of course, there’s the possibility that there are other undiscovered ruins elsewhere in the world. But at this moment, it’s a logical conclusion that the origin of the religion is here, not in Persia." said Wu Xinhua, Xinjiang Director, Archaeological Inst., Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Logical, perhaps. Startling and controversial, certainly. And as the excavation continues, the Pamir Plateau is bound to yield more amazing discoveries.

Archaeologists in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have discovered
major Zoroastrian tombs, dated to over 2,500 years ago.

European man's remains found in ancient Chinese tomb (Tang Dynasty)

August 19, 2014, 11:51 am

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The remains of a human skull found in a 1,400-year-old tomb in China possibly belonged to a man of European origin, an initial investigation by scientists revealed on Sunday.

 

The skull was found in the M1401 tomb in Guyuan City in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

 

"The man had a protruding nasal bone and a sunk nasion, which are typical features of Europeans," said Zhang Quanchao, professor with the Research Center for Chinese Frontier Archaeology of Jilin University.

 

Zhang believes the skull belonged to a 40-year-old man of European origin.

 

Further excavation is needed for a firm conclusion, he said.

 

"If we can find his teeth and more bones, we will have a more precise judgement about his age," he said.

 

The tomb was first discovered in the 1980s. Illegal excavation was reported this year, and archaeologists began to unearth the tomb in June for protection.

 

More than 40 clay figures, copper coins and a number of murals were found in the tomb, according to Zhu Cunshi, head of the archaeological team.

 

Zhu said the tomb was built in the early Tang Dynasty (618-907).

 

Ningxia is along the ancient Silk Road that connected China with Europe through commerce.

Source: Chinese Archaeology/ Kaogu.cn     19 August 2014

Expedition Uncovers Secrets about Ancient Kangyui

August 20, 2014, 3:41 am

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The Astana Times  15 August 2014  by Lyubov Dobrota

SHYMKENT – The expedition of the Kazakhstan Central State Museum, led for two months on the Kultobe site by Professor Alexander Podushkin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, collected rich material about the ancient state of Kangyui (Kantszyuy) recently.

The archaeologists worked on the scientific programme “Archaeological and written records of the Kangyui state” that existed from the second century B.C. to the fourth century A.D. within the boundaries of the Arys and middle Syr Darya rivers between the Karatau and Karzhantau mountains.

The history of this state is still considered the most enigmatic and little-known. Even the slightest archaeological information is very valuable, because it allows researchers to gather information about those who lived there in ancient times and shed light on the early stages of ethno-genesis of the Kazakhs as a nation.

Podushkin is inclined to believe that the centre of the Kangyui state was in the Arys area. Moreover, the scientist feels the Karaspantobe settlement, located in close proximity to the ancient settlement and burial site of Kultobe, is the city of Bityan, which is mentioned in the Chinese written sources as the capital of the Kangyui state.

The Kultobe mound was discovered and initially explored in 1964 by the archaeological team of the Shymkent Pedagogical Institute under the direction of Nikolai Podushkin. Since 1991, his son has led excavations on the eastern group of mounds.

The settlement is located a kilometre from the village of Sary-aryk in the Ordabasy district. Here the archaeologists found more than 100 mounds. Each season brings dozens of archaeological artifacts – catacomb burials, pottery and a variety of jewelry and household items, which the scientists and historians can use to reconstruct the burial rites and lifestyle of our ancestors. Any finding, regardless of whether it is a ceramic jar or a precious ruby set in gold, is equally important for scientists.

This time, researchers also collected rich material about the life of the ancient state. For two months they excavated three burial constructions, two of which were collective tombs. All of them were catacomb-type family vaults traditional for this area.

It is a complex structure, which includes an underground chamber, a small hole and a corridor (dromos) where the burial procedure took place. All three uncovered catacombs demonstrated a certain level of social development. Historians were interested in the fact that one of the collective burials was at a depth of five metres. Its size, the method and depth of burial and more diverse set of artifacts indicated high social status of the deceased; the deeper catacombs and more powerful the mound over the grave, the higher their social status. The burial chambers fully preserved all the ceremonial paraphernalia and a few hundred artifacts, in particular beads, inlaid bracelets, knives, a fibula in the form of a crossbow, a lot of ceramics, a mirror, a bronze bell, gold jewelry and many other things related to the life of the people of that time.

“We have a very interesting cross-section, which shows the stage of development of the Kangyui society,” Podushkin commented on the results of the expedition. “For example, we are sure that it was multiethnic.

The single female burial clearly leads us to the Sarmatians of the northern Black Sea region. They used such bronze mirrors, inflicting ritual damage on them after the death of the owner. The Sarmatians used gold to decorate clothing, wearing bracelets on their arms and legs. This means that the area of living space of the Sarmatians at that time had already expanded to the current southern regions of Kazakhstan.”

In two collective graves, the archeologists also found remains of representatives of a settled population, which means that nomads and farmers lived and got along with each other.

After description and study, all artifacts will be passed to the Kazakhstan Central State Museum, which already has a special fund for Podushkin’s most significant findings.

The Commerce between the Roman Empire and India

August 21, 2014, 5:45 am

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• The Commerce between the Roman Empire and India

  Paperback – September 25, 2014

  by E. H. Warmington
• 
  
• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (September 25, 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1107432146

Originally published in 1928, this detailed book examines the beginnings, progress and substance of the trade between India and the Roman Empire from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius. Warmington presents this history from a western point of view, and uses a wide range of ancient literary sources to explore what goods were traded between the two regions and the mechanisms of that trade. This thoroughly researched book will be of value to anyone with an interest in ancient trade and connections between the Roman Empire and its neighbours.

Prospects for the Study of Dunhuang Manuscripts: The Next 20 Years

August 22, 2014, 2:05 am

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Prospects for the Study of Dunhuang Manuscripts:
The Next 20 Years 

Conference at Princeton UniversitySeptember 6-8, 2014

The conference is free and open to the public, though advance registration is required.
Click Here To Register by August 15, 2014

Or. 8210/S. 6983, a Chinese manuscript booklet of chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra, held in the British Library

Co-sponsored by:Princeton University Buddhist Studies Workshop, International Liaison Committee for Dunhuang Studies, with Major Funding from The Henry Luce Foundation

Co-organizers: Stephen F. Teiser (Princeton Univ.), TAKATA Tokio (Kyoto Univ.)

The roughly 60,000 texts uncovered in the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang (Gansu Province, northwestern China) in the year 1900 constitute one of the greatest historical discoveries of the modern age. Most are handwritten on paper, although the corpus also includes the world’s oldest dated printed text, a copy of the Diamond Sutra produced by xylography in 868. Most of the texts are Buddhist scriptures written in Chinese or Tibetan, but a wide range of languages from the ancient Silk Road are also represented, including Uyghur, Sanskrit, Sogdian, Khotanese, and Hebrew. In addition to Buddhist canonical texts the hoard includes liturgies, early Chan (Zen) compositions, Daoist scriptures, Nestorian texts, Manichaean hymns, vernacular poems, Chinese classics, performance literature, schoolbook primers, writing exercises, census registers, local government documents, divorce decrees, loan agreements, and wills.

The conference features research in all disciplines of Dunhuang manuscript studies, including religious studies, literature, history, linguistics, and paleography. 29 papers will be presented by  scholars involved in the International Liaison Committee for Dunhuang Studies from greater China, Japan, Europe, and the US.

Two keynote addresses (by FANG Guangchang, Shanghai Normal University, and Susan Whitfield, International Dunhuang Project) are also planned, one on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 9:00 am, and one on Monday, Sept. 8, at 4:30 pm, the latter followed by a public reception.

The languages of the conference will be Chinese and English, and papers will be written in either language. Brief abstracts will be available in both Chinese and English. At the conference, simultaneous interpretation/translation will not be provided, but local students will assist in discussion.

Conference Program

(Draft) Program

日程安排(稿)

International Conference at Princeton University, September 6-8, 2014

Theme: Prospects for the Study of Dunhuang Manuscripts: The Next 20 Years

普林斯頓大學學術國際研討會, 2014 年9月6-8日

主題: 展望未來20年的敦煌寫本學

Co-sponsors: Princeton University Buddhist Studies Workshop

International Liaison Committee for Dunhuang Studies

Major Funding from the Henry Luce Foundation

會議聯合主辦者: 普林斯頓大學佛學研討班

敦煌學國際聯絡委員會

路思基金會

Co-organizers: Stephen F. Teiser (Princeton University), Takata Tokio (Kyoto University)

會議組織者: 太史文 (普林斯頓大學), 高田時雄 (京都大學)

Panels and lectures held in Jones Hall 202, unless noted otherwise. All panels and lectures are free and open to the public.

會議和分組討論的地點: Jones Hall, 202室. 如安排在不同的地點, 請注意會議的具體提示. 所有的發言和討論組是公開免費的.

The languages of the conference are Chinese and English. Papers and discussion will take place in either Chinese or English. Brief bilingual abstracts will be distributed at the conference, but simultaneous interpretation/translation will not be provided. In the program below, the language used in presenting each paper is listed first.

本次會議的工作語言是漢語和英語. 論文和討論使用中文或英文.會議期間將有發言的雙語摘要,可是不會設置同聲傳譯.在以下的日程安排裏, 每篇發言所使用的語言即雙語篇名中首先列出的語言.

Advance registration before September 1, 2014, is required at the conference website:

參加者必須在9 月1 日以前在會議的網站上註冊:  http://csr.princeton.edu/dunhuangmanuscripts/.

* Indicates meals provided for pre-registered participants.

*表示向註冊的參加者提供餐飲.

Due to space limitations, the Rare Books Excursion on September 8 is limited to foreign speakers not residing in the US.

由於空間的局限, 9 月 8 日的善本書的參觀僅限於來自美國以外的發言人.

Friday, September 5 (9 月 5 日)

Afternoon        Arrival and Hotel registration. 下午: 賓客抵達, 賓館登記入注

7:00-8:30 pm    Dinner.Nassau Inn, Conference Room.晚餐

Saturday, September 6 (9 月 6 日)

8:00-8:50             Breakfast* and Registration. Jones 203早餐, 會議注冊 

9:00-9:30             Welcoming Remarks. 歡迎致辭.

Stephen F. Teiser (Princeton University), 高田時雄 (京都大學), Wei Wu (Princeton University)

9:30-10:30          Opening Keynote Lecture. 大會發言

主持人: 郝春文 (首都師範大學). Moderator: Hao Chunwen (Capital Normal University)

方廣錩 (上海師範大學), 敦煌遺書數字化的現狀, 基本思路, 目前實踐及設想. Fang Guangchang (Shanghai Normal University), The Status, Basic Concepts, Current Practice and Plan of the Digitization of Dunhuang Manuscripts

10:45-12:15       Panel 1: Religious Interchange. 第一組: 宗教互動

Moderator: Victor H. Mair (University of Pennsylvania).主持人: 梅維恆 (賓夕法尼亞大學)

Individual papers: 20 min. Individual discussion: 5 min. Concluding discussion: 15 min.

                  發言時間: 二十分鐘. 論文討論: 五分鐘. 集中討論: 十五分鐘

Huaiyu Chen (Arizona State University), The Benji jing and the Anle jing: Reflections on Two Daoist and Christian Manuscripts from Turfan and Dunhuang. 陳懷宇 (亞利桑那州立大學),《本際經》與《安樂經》: 略論兩種西域出土文獻之聯係

汪娟(台灣銘傳大學), 敦煌景教文獻對佛教儀文的吸收與轉化. Wang Chuan (Taiwan Ming Chuan University), 0n some Dunhuang Nestorian manuscripts bearing certain resemblances to the type of Buddhist rituals

杨秀清(中国敦煌研究院), 道教的大众化与唐宋时期敦煌大众的道教思想——以敦煌文献中为心的研究 . Yang Xiuqing (China Dunhuang Research Academy), The Popularization of Daoism and the Daoist Thoughts of the Publics in Dunhuang during the T’ang-Song Period——A Dunhuang-Manuscripts-centered Study

12:15                       Group Photograph. 會議代表集體合影

12:30-2:00          Lunch*. Frist Multi-Purpose Room A. 午餐

2:00-4:00             Panel 2: Education, Literacy. 第二組: 教育, 讀寫

Moderator: Valerie Hansen (Yale University). 主持人: 韓森 (耶魯大學)

Individual papers: 20 min. Individual discussion: 5 min. Concluding discussion: 20 min.

                  發言時間: 二十分鐘. 論文討論: 五分鐘. 集中討論: 二十分鐘

Rebecca Shuang Fu (University of Pennsylvania), Writing via Scribes, Signing with Marks: A Study of the Literacy Practices of Commoners in Medieval Turfan and Dunhuang. 傅爽 (賓夕法尼亞賓州大學), 以人代筆、以符為名：中古時期吐魯番和敦煌的平民讀寫實踐管窺

Imre Galambos (University of Cambridge), A Chinese primer beyond the frontier: Medieval copies of the Mengqiu. 高奕睿 (劍橋大學), 作為唐宋寫本與刻本的《蒙求》

Irina POPOVA (Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences), A Fragment of Political Treatise in Dunhuang School Manual. 波波娃 (俄羅斯藏科學院東方文獻研究所), 敦煌教育文獻中的政論殘片

游自勇 (首都师范大学), 敦煌写本S.2078V“史大奈碑”习字之研究. You Ziyong (Capital Normal University), A Study of the Student Writing Practice “Stele for Shi Danai” on Dunhuang Manuscript S.2078v

4:30-6:00             Panel 3: Tantra. 第三組: 密教

Moderator: Stephen F. Teiser (Princeton University). 主持人: 太史文 (普林斯頓大學)

Individual papers: 20 min. Individual discussion: 5 min. Concluding discussion: 15 min.

                  發言時間: 二十分鐘. 論文討論: 五分鐘. 集中討論: 十五分鐘

鄭阿財 (南華大學), 《佛頂心大陀羅尼經》在漢字文化圈的傳布. Cheng A-tsai (Nan Hua University), The Spread of the Sūtra of Great Dhāraṇī of the Uṣṇīṣa-cittā in the Sinosphere

Amanda Goodman (University of Toronto), Codicological Considerations in the Dating of the Dunhuang Manuscript Copies of the Tanfa yize. 葛玫 (加拿大多伦多大学), 從手稿學的角度考量敦煌遗書中《壇法儀則》曆史年代的測定

Zhaohua Yang (Columbia University), Skull Rituals in Dunhuang: Reconsidering Tantric Transgression in Middle Period China (618-1276). 楊朝華 (哥倫比亞大學), 敦煌的骷髏儀式–關於中世(618-1276)漢傳密教逸脫儀軌的反思

6:00-7:30             Dinner*. Schultz Dining Room, Woodrow Wilson School. 晚餐

Sunday, September 7 (9 月 7 日)

8:15                          Breakfast*.Jones 203.早餐

9:00-11:00          Panel 4: Poetry. 第四組: 詩學

主持人: 王三慶 (國立成功大學). Moderator: Wang San-ching (National Cheng Kung University)

Individual papers: 20 min. Individual discussion: 5 min. Concluding discussion: 20 min.

                  發言時間: 二十分鐘. 論文討論: 五分鐘. 集中討論: 二十分鐘

Mary Anne Cartelli (Hunter College of the City University of New York), The Mount Wutai Poems and Painting of Dunhuang. 高德麗 (紐約市立大學亨特學院), 敦煌的五台山詩歌和壁畫

Thomas J. Mazanec (Princeton University), Putting Tang Poetry to Work: Another Look at Guanxiu’s Poem Found in P.2104 and S.4037.  馬泰明 (普林斯頓大學), 為如來服務——再探P.2104, S.4037中貫休的詩

永田知之 (京都大学), 王梵志詩與敦煌寺學的教材―以《敦煌秘笈》羽30號文書為材料.NAGATA Tomoyuki (Kyoto University), The Poems of Wang Fanzhi and the Educational Materials in Dunhuang Temples: An Analysis of Dunhuang Manuscript Hane 30

Christopher Nugent (Williams College), Putting his Materials to Use: Experiencing a Li Bai Yuefu in Manuscript and Early Print Documents. 倪健 (威廉大學), 任用其材: 以敦煌抄本與早期刊本體會李白之一首樂府詩

11:15-12:45       Panel 5: Networks and Communication. 第五組: 聯繫與交流

Moderator: Irina Popova (Institute of Oriental Manuscripts). 主持人: 波波娃 (俄羅斯藏科學院東方文獻研究所)

Individual papers: 20 min. Individual discussion: 5 min. Concluding discussion: 15 min.

                  發言時間: 二十分鐘. 論文討論: 五分鐘. 集中討論: 十五分鐘

Valerie Hansen (Yale University), Dunhuang in the World of the Year 1000. 韓森 (耶魯大學), 敦煌在公元一千年的世界的意義

高田時雄 (京都大學), 唐宋時代譯語人的一側面. Takata Tokio (Kyoto University), The Occupation of an Interpreter in Tang-Song Period in China

郑炳林, 俄玉楠 (兰州大学), 瓜沙地区疏勒河原名黑水考        . Zheng Binglin, E Yunan (Lanzhou University), Investigation of Shule River’s original name as Heishui in Gua and Sha area

12:45-2:15          Lunch*. Frist Multi-Purpose Room. 午餐

2:15-3:45             Panel 6: Cosmology and Religion. 第六組: 宇宙觀和宗教

主持人: 郝春文 (首都師範大學). Moderator: Hao Chunwen (Capital Normal University).

Individual papers: 20 min. Individual discussion: 5 min. Concluding discussion: 15 min.

                  發言時間: 二十分鐘. 論文討論: 五分鐘. 集中討論: 十五分鐘

Donald Harper (The University of Chicago), The Other Baize tu from Dunhuang and Tang Popular Culture. 夏德安 (芝加哥大學), 敦煌第二種《白澤圖》和唐代大衆文化

April D. Hughes (Gonzaga University), Chinese Visions of the End: An Examination of Three Dunhuang Scriptures. 尤春桃 (公撒格大學), 中國想像的世界末日:三部敦煌經文的研读

余欣 (復旦大學), 中古時代瑞應圖書的源流: 敦煌文獻與日本寫本的綜合考察. Yu Xin (Fudan University), The Origin and Development of Books on Ruiying (omen) in Medieval China: Integrated Studies on the Basis of Dunhuang and Japanese Manuscripts

4:15-5:15             Panel 7: Tibetan Manuscripts. 第七組: 藏文文書

主持人: 高田時雄 (京都大學). Moderator: Takata Tokio (Kyoto University)

Individual papers: 20 min. Individual discussion: 5 min. Concluding discussion: 15 min.

                  發言時間: 二十分鐘. 論文討論: 五分鐘. 集中討論: 十分鐘

Iwao Kazushi (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies), Official Seals of governments in the Old Tibetan Empire.岩尾一史 (神戶市外國語大學), 在新疆和敦煌古藏文文书中发现的古藏文官印(phyag rgya)

Alexander Zorin (Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences), Fragments of Tibetan Texts Found at the Dunhuang Collection Kept at the IOM RAS: Eight Identified Fragments of Buddhist Canonical Texts. 亚历山大・佐林 (俄羅斯藏科學院東方文獻研究所), 俄罗斯科学院东方文献研究所敦煌藏品中发现的藏文文献残片研究: 以8份识别出的佛经残片为例

6:00-7:30             Dinner*.Palmer House. 晚餐

Monday, September 8 (9 月 8 日)

8:15                          Breakfast*.Jones 203. 早餐

9:00-11:00          Panel 8: Paleography, Codicology, Digitization. 第八組: 古文字學, 文書形制, 數字化

Moderator: Imre Galambos (University of Cambridge). 主持人: 高奕睿 (劍橋大學)

Individual papers: 20 min. Individual discussion: 5 min. Concluding discussion: 20 min.

                  發言時間: 二十分鐘. 論文討論: 五分鐘. 集中討論: 二十分鐘.

Marcus Bingenheimer (Temple University), What should a High-end Digital Edition of Dunhuang Documents look like?Exploring best practices in the digital edition of Dunhuang texts. 馬德偉 (坦普爾大學), 高端敦煌文献数码化版本的样貌？——探索数码化敦煌文本的最佳方式

郝春文, 王曉燕(首都師範大學), 敦煌寫本中形近字同形手書舉例. Hao Chunwen and Wang Xiaoyan(Capital Normal University), A Study on different characters with similar graphic forms in Dunhuang manuscripts

Iwamoto Atsushi (Rissho University), Studies on the Seals of Private Owners Impressed on Dunhuang Manuscripts－focus on Japanese collection. 岩本篤志 (立正大學) , 敦煌文獻藏書印研究——以日本所藏品為中心

张涌泉 (浙江大学), 敦博本《注心经》抄写时间考. Zhang Yongquan (Zhejiang University), The Writing Time of the Annotation of the Heart Sūtra from Dunhuang Museum Collection

11:30-1:00          Rare Books Excursion.Mudd Library (foreign scholars only).善本書的參觀.

            Martin Heijdra (Princeton University).

1:00-2:30             Lunch*. Frist Multi-Purpose Room. 午餐

2:30-4:00             Panel 9: Buddhist Ritual. 第九組: 佛教儀禮

            主持人:鄭阿財 (南華大學). Moderator: Cheng A-tsai (Nan Hua University)

Individual papers: 20 min. Individual discussion: 5 min. Concluding discussion: 15 min.

                  發言時間: 二十分鐘. 論文討論: 五分鐘. 集中討論: 十五分鐘

Paul Copp (University of Chicago), Adaptation in the Construction of Ritual Vernaculars: Notes on Three Manuscripts.柏岗 (芝加哥大学), 文本改编与乡土仪式之创作: 初步研究

Stephen F. Teiser (Princeton University), Diction and Metaphor in Dunhuang Healing Liturgies. 太史文 (普林斯頓大學), 敦煌患文中的措辭和譬喻

王三慶 (國立成功大學), 敦煌文獻齋願文體的源流與結構. Wang San-ching (National Cheng Kung University), On study of the origin and structure of Zhai Yuan Wen style in Dun-Huang manuscripts

4:30-6:00             Concluding Keynote Lecture. McCormick 101.大會發言

            Moderator: Irina Popova (Institute of Oriental Manuscripts). 主持人: 波波娃 (俄羅斯藏科學院東方文獻研究所)

Susan Whitfield (British Library, International Dunhuang Project), Bringing Manuscripts to All: Digitisation, the Internet and the Internationalisation of Dunhuang Studies. 魏泓 (大英圖書館, 國際敦煌項目), 走近文書: 數字化, 互聯網絡, 和敦煌學的國際化

6:00-6:45             Reception*.McCormick Lobby. 晚宴

7:00-8:30             Dinner*. Presidential Dining Room, Prospect House. 晚餐

Tuesday, September 9 (9 月 9 日)

7:00-11:30          Breakfast. Nassau Inn, Yankee Doodle Tap Room.早餐

---

National Geographic Silk Road Exhibition Returns to Kazakhstan

August 23, 2014, 2:55 am

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The Astana Times

BY JULIA RUTZ in TOURISM on 19 AUGUST

Along Shokan Ualikhanov’s Caravan Track, an educational expedition organised by the National Geographic Society and dedicated to the 180th anniversary of the scholar’s birth,  came back to Kazakhstan on Aug. 6. National Geographic Society representatives, as well as Ordenbek Mazbayev, a professor at Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Smailzhan Iminov, a researcher of Ualikhanov’s expeditions, a Tengrinews.kz reporter and CTB TV channel cameraman, flew to Urumqi, China on July 24 to start the expedition.

The route included the cities of the Great Silk Road Ualikhanov visited 155 years ago while traveling to Kashgaria, China. During 12 days, the expeditionists went by vehicle to territories in China and Kyrgyzstan, visiting Urumqi, Karashahar, Korla, Kuchar, Aksu, Kashgar, Artush, Yangisar, Yarkend, Kagalyk, Hotan, Kashgar, Turagat, Naryn, Tash-Rabar and Bishkek.

The expedition participants collected materials about the history, geography, etnography, and linguistics of Kashgaria and learned the routes of Ualikhanov, Marco Polo, Nikolay Przhevalsky, Karl Mannerheim, Gunnar Jarring and Yuri Rerikh.

According to Director of the Kazakh Institute of Geography Akhmetkala Medeu, the expedition gave the opportunity to inquire about changes that took place in population composition, natural conditions and lifestyle throughout the centuries.

“The expedition to Kashgaria is a very interesting project. We have to learn the territory of our neighbours in order to understand them better,” explained Medeu.

The head of the expedition Smailzhan Iminov said that despite the fact that Ualikhanov finished his expedition more that 150 years ago, this region still remains unknown and less explored and a lot of secrets have to be exposed.

“Kashgaria was always a mysterious land. A lot of researchers of that time wanted to discover it. Ualikhanov spent five months there and despite the fact he wrote a book about his journey, a lot of facts remain to be unveiled. We will visit the cities that were poorly decribed,” said Iminov.

Candidate of geographical sciences Kadyr Musa said that he collected a lot of useful data about landscape changes.

“This is a unique route. We passed through ridges, intermontane valleys and gorges. The landscape has changed dramatically, I should say. Some of the rivers dried out or changed their streamway,” said Musa.

Biologist and regional ethnographer of the Eurasian National University Zhashayir Karagoizhin noted that plants described by Ualikhanov can still be found. However, the climate has changed in some parts of the region, so we can assume that Ualikhanov saw another kind of nature concerning flora and fauna. New types of plants have emerged. For instance, expeditionists noticed dog roses in the Kyzyl Yar canyon, which are not typical for the region.  

“I think it was a successful trip. I could only imagine how challenging it was for Ualikhanov to complete the expedition. It was snowing heavily when we were climbing up the mountains and as we know, the Ualikhanov expedition took place in the fall and the return trip was organised in March. Moreover, he was only 22 years old. Despite the young age he created a great treatise which is highly valued in the history of orientalism,” explained Iminov.

The expedition also had a tourism purpose. Researchers noted that Central Asia has a lot of interesting places for discoverers. Collected materials will be used in the project called Central Asian Golden Ring, which is aimed to unite touristic opportunities of the Central Asian states together with China.

Ualikhanov, who decided to participate in the expedition in 1858, passed the route as part of the merchant’s caravan. He traveled in a mask as a merchant named Alimbay. After 11 months, he came back to Verny (now Almaty) and wrote a report, “About Altynshar condition or about six oriental cities of the Chineese province Nan Loo (1858-1859)”. The treatise was highly appreciated by Russian orientalists and soon after was republished in English. 

Researchers come across trove of Buddhist artifacts

August 23, 2014, 3:17 am

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The Korea Herald, 21 August 2014

South Korean researchers said Thursday they have uncovered dozens of artifacts used in Buddhist ceremonies nearly a millennium ago, as they begin to unravel the mystery behind an ancient shrine where they were discovered.

The 77 artifacts include a vajra, a type of club with ribbed spherical heads, bells and censers thought to be from the Joseon era (1392-1910), or possibly even earlier.

Researchers at the Seoul Institute of Cultural Heritage were wrapping up an archaeological field survey on Dobong Seowon, a tiny shrine for two Joseon-era scholars in northern Seoul, when they came upon a pot containing the objects.

This photo provided by the Seoul Institute of Cultural Heritage shows a Buddhist ritual bell from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) uncovered at the site of Dobong Seowon, a Joseon-era (1392-1910) shrine in northern Seoul. (Yonhap)

Scientists said the artifacts could even be from the earlier Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), as the site of their discovery matches the location of a Goryeo temple ― one of the utensils even bears its name, the Dobong Temple.

Joo Kyeong-mi, a professor specializing in metalcraft, said the artifacts seem to be from the 11th century “at the latest,” as some of them exhibit traits unique to those found from the eighth and ninth centuries.

The fact that the pot was wrapped in a straw mat also suggests it may have been buried intentionally, she added.

Although the field survey was conducted in 2012, researchers said it took them two years to ensure that the artifacts would not decompose.

They were put on display at Seoul’s National Palace Museum of Korea on Thursday in an exhibit cohosted by the South Korean government. (Yonhap)

Gold hoard more than 800 years old from Chinese origin found In Thailand

August 23, 2014, 9:24 am

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Ancient trade routes suggest the journey of the discovered treasure. Graphic: Gunawan Kartapranata

PHUKET: In May of this year an unbelievable discovery was made in a palm plantation in Khao Chaison, a district within Phatthalung province. Wee Thapsaeng, the owner of a 7-rai plot of land was using his tractor to plow the land, in order to prepare it for growing palm trees. What emerged, however, was not just mud and earthworms, as one would expect. To his surprise, Wee also found several gold plates emerging from the disturbed ground (story here).

A visit to the local goldsmith quickly confirmed that the objects were indeed solid gold. News of the discovery soon spread among the villagers sparking a frenzied rush to look for more gold. Hundreds of villagers started digging in Wee’s plot of land and true to their expectations, more gold was discovered. By the time the Fine Arts Department had heard of the news and arrived to investigate the site, villagers had dug up hundreds of gold plates, bracelets, nuggets and animal pendants.

Initial investigation of the artifacts confirmed that the gold was indeed ancient. In fact, the hoard found in Khao Chaison turned out to be more than 800 years old, according to experts from the Fine Arts Department.

Villagers who lived nearby said that the site of the discovery used to be an old canal bed, which had long since dried up. They also said that an old Chinese vessel had been uncovered there several years ago. One of the villagers who managed to dig up a gold plate from the plot of land, said that her find was buried only 20 centimeters underground. When she uncovered the plate, it resembled a piece of paper that had been folded many times. The plate had Chinese characters inscribed into it. According to her daughter, the characters translated as ‘Powerful Being’.

So how did Chinese-inscribed treasure, or for that matter, any treasure end up in the middle of a field in Phatthalung province?

Assuming the experts at the Fine Arts Department have correctly dated the treasure hoard, the gold must have originated from an era that preceded the Sukhothai Kingdom. In fact, around 800 years ago when the treasure was lost, the boat carrying it must have been sailing along an ancient canal that ran through, what was then, the Srivijaya Empire. 

Srivijaya was a regional power from around the 8th to the 12th century AD. The boundaries of the empire stretched from what is now modern-day Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula and the south of Thailand, up to Surat Thani province. The empire prospered from maritime trade and fostered its commercial relationship with the ruling Tang Dynasty, and then later with the Song Dynasty of China. 

Srivijaya was also an important center for Mahayana Buddhism. In fact, the earliest mention of Srivijaya was made in the 7th century AD. A Chinese monk called Yijing, who travelled to the empire in the year 671 AD, wrote about Srivijaya in his travel accounts. 

Srivijaya was a maritime empire. During its heyday, the rulers of Srivijaya controlled the most important sea routes and allowed it to foster trade between China and the various kingdoms in India. Its location made it a maritime trading center and propelled it into one of the wealthiest and most populous kingdoms in the region during that period. Back then, the rulers of Srivijaya understood that their regional dominance was owed to the fact that they controlled the most important trade routes. 

The kings of Srivijaya ordered the building of canals throughout their empire, in order to make it easier for merchant ships to sail within the territory. Aerial photographs, which were taken in 1984 show remnants of impressive canal networks, moats and ponds in Palembang, in southern Sumatra, which were built during the Srivijaya Empire. 

The city of Ligor, modern day Nakhon Sri Thammarat, was an important trading center within the Srivijaya kingdom. The ancient canal network, which runs through Phatthalung may have connected Ligor with the sea and the various towns in the region. 

Although many trading vessels would have voyaged along the canals during the Srivijaya period, maritime journeys during that time were fraught with danger. Several ships were sunk due to storms and other catastrophes. The hoard of gold discovered in Phatthalung may have been in transit through Srivijaya territory, but for some reason the vessel carrying it must have sunk in the canal along with its precious cargo. The invaluable treasure would not resurface again for another 800 years. 

Anek Sihamart, chief of the Fine Arts Department is worried, however, that if the gold rush is not stopped, villagers could seriously damage the ancient site and the historical artifacts. The fact is, discoveries dating from the Srivijaya period have been very rare and this find, if confirmed to be from that period, could reveal some intriguing information about the empire’s history that has never come to light before. The Fine Arts Department has now offered to buy the ancient gold back from villagers who may have taken those pieces home, at prices higher than the market value. They have also asked the military for help in fencing off the area so that a proper excavation of the site can be done in due course.

Source: Phuket Gazette August 23, 2014

The Ming empire strikes back

August 24, 2014, 11:07 am

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The Guardian, 24 August 2014

Once deemed 'decadent' evidence of its imperial past, China's cultural riches are now a national priority. 

Our critic previews a historic exhibition at the British Museum next month

Ming treasures at the British Museum – in pictures

• • Tim Adams
  • The Observer, Sunday 24 August 2014
  • Jump to comments (6)

‘The emperor watches a version of football keepy-uppy among the beardless palace eunuchs…’ A detail from Amusements in the Xuande Emperor’s Palace, 1426-35. Click to see full image Photograph © Palace Museum, Beijing

Last month, in a small party led by British Museum curator Jessica Harrison-Hall, I went in search of Chinese treasure 600 years old. The quest was made in advance of the forthcoming British Museum exhibition,Ming: 50 years that changed China, which is devoted to the beginning of the 1400s, a crucially formative half century in the nation's enduring idea of itself.

The tour took in museums and temples and historic sites in Beijing and Shanghai, Nanjing and Jinan; the treasures included dragon-embroidered silks and the finest gold jewellery; nine-masted ships and intricate, princely tomb relics – doll's house artefacts for the afterlife; scrolled calligraphy and – naturally – the peerless porcelain vases and vessels that are the headline acts of the early Ming era. Many of these objects will be leaving China for the first time for the London show, which opens next month. Collectively they represent a unique insight into the establishment of power and government in Beijing and beyond; they also, inevitably, cast light on the power and government of China's extraordinary present moment.

Having spent a good part of the past century attempting to erase "decadent" evidence of China's imperial history – some of the irreplaceable exhibits in the Ming show were rescued from the scrapheaps and landfill of the Cultural Revolution – the party leadership in Beijing has lately made the celebration of that history a national priority. In the five-year plan of 2011 the Central Committee announced that culture is the "spirit and soul of the nation", and would become a "pillar industry"– representing 5% of GDP. The plan dictated that China was to build up to a thousand new museums by 2015, a target already achieved.

Existing national and regional collections have been rehoused in vast marble halls. Private museums have been created to showcase the trappings of the newly minted elite. Liu Yiqian, for example, a cab driver before he discovered Shanghai's stock market and became a billionaire, bought the world's most expensive wine goblet – a Ming porcelain cup decorated with chickens – with his Amex card for £19.6m at Sotheby's in April and, having scandalised the curatorial community by drinking tea from it, will put it on display in his new £22m Long Museum. The repatriation of such items, as well as the industrial-scale excavation and recovery of Chinese history, represents a resurgence of national pride, but also a kind of national necessity – all the empty new museums need things to fill them.

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This surreal expansion provides another perspective on the epic scale of China's ongoing reinvention (the five-year plan also legislated, for example, for the creation of 45,000km of new high-speed rail track to link the nation's major cities, much of which is already being constructed – HS2 might eventually provide about 400km). It was by high-speed rail that we travelled south from Beijing to Nanjing, on the Yangzte. The colossal rebuilt Nanjing Museum contains 100,000 items from the former imperial collection. Nanjing was the ancient capital of China, and it was there that the Ming dynasty was established in 1368. In those days the journey between capitals old and new took 20 days. It now takes under four hours.

That particular journey was emblematic of the changes of the early Ming (literally "brilliant" or "shining") period. Having overthrown the Mongol dynasty of the Yuan, the new ethnic Chinese emperor sought to live up to his own adopted name Hongwu, meaning "vast military power". To this end he created a society that supported an army of one million troops and established the navy's dockyards in Nanjing as the largest in the world. Those dockyards are in the process of a multimillion-pound excavation, and one huge pot-bellied Ming ship – then the cutting edge of naval technology – has been reconstructed, but little of the original remains.

To get a real sense of the power of the Hongwu emperor – who began adult life as a wandering beggar – you have to travel outside the city to his mausoleum. We visited near dusk; a light rain was falling on the newly recreated pavilion roof that houses a monumental stone stele erected and inscribed in his honour. The stele marks the entrance to the 2km Sacred Way, a wide road to the emperor's tomb guarded by pairs of enormous carved animals (including camels, lions, elephants then native to China) to ward off grave-robbers. A hundred thousand men built the mausoleum site and its walls over two decades. Jungly vegetation has encroached around the great tomb itself, a closely guarded secret for centuries, and you can now get a golf buggy along the Sacred Way, but the original sense of granitic and autocratic power remains intact.

Hongwu sought to spread that power to the four corners of his vast nation state by establishing the most capable of his 36 sons in regional power bases. He armed them with a set of written dynastic instructions concerning responsibility and filial duty. Some adhered to these tenets better than others. Zhu Tan, Prince Huang of Lu died aged 19 from the overdose of a drug he believed to be an elixir of eternal life. His tomb, excavated in recent decades with exquisite items preserved in the (new) Shandong regional museum and loaned to the London exhibition, gives a flavour of the life he briefly enjoyed – his best imperial primrose silk coat was laid across his body; his favourite zither, already an antique from the Tang dynasty by the time he came to use its jade tuning mechanism, was buried beside him.

Neither did Hongwu's edicts survive his death. His chosen teenage heir, his nephew, the Jianwen emperor, was quickly overthrown by another son, Zhu Di, who became the Yongle (or "perpetual happiness") emperor in 1402. One of the seismic changes introduced by Zhu Di was to develop his own fiefdom, Yan, as a secondary capital and to rename it Beijing. Many thousand of artisans and slaves were press-ganged to work on the construction of the palace complex that became the Forbidden City. Zhu Di dispatched fleets of ships on voyages of discovery and trade and created a multicultural imperial court, with artists absorbing influences from wider Asia and the Middle East, to create work of enduring beauty.

By the time of the accession of Zhu Di's grandson the Xuande "propagating virtue" emperor in 1426, much of the Forbidden City was complete (it has since been razed and rebuilt). The political heart of the imperial nation was not without its pleasures, as recorded in remarkable scrolls. One of these, six metres long, memorably unfurled for us at thePalace Museum of the Forbidden City, and which will be loaned to the London exhibition, depicts a kind of mini Olympiad. The emperor spectates at a version of football keepy-uppy among the beardless palace eunuchs, while other ink-on-silk panels depict archery competitions and see the emperor participating enthusiastically in a throw-the-arrow-in-the-jar challenge. The final panel shows the larger than life Xuande, with his wispy beard, borne away at the end of the day in a sedan chair, contemplating his idea of fun.

The Xuande emperor “participating enthusiastically in a throw-the-arrow-in-the-jar challenge’. Photograph: © The Palace Museum, Beijing

The ideal of the early Ming emperors was to be "complete in the arts of both peace and war"– until the sixth emperor failed disastrously in the latter and was captured by the Mongol armies in 1449 to bring a relatively harmonious era abruptly to a halt. Prior to that, in pursuit of "wen", the arts of peace, the emperors were all devotees of porcelain, and the new techniques introduced into the dozen imperial kilns produced ever more delicate pots and ever more brilliant glazes. It is a heart-in-mouth moment to watch curators blithely handling an imperial Ming vase (the trick, Harrison-Hall observed, before expertly manipulating a wonderful large blue-and-white wine jar decorated with ladies of the court at play, is just to hold it as you would any other object of similar heft – and never once give a thought to its priceless price tag).

The Yongle emperor, by necessity, and to propagandise his legitimacy, sought to spread his particular cultural revolution in different ways. When he appeared in public, a 2,000-strong choir sang and drums, cornets, cymbals and bells sounded (echoes of which we heard in the free-form harmonies of the 27th generation of imperial palace musicians, five of whom, trained in Ming notation, and playing authentic instruments, will travel to London to accompany the show).

In an effort to extend his influence still further, the emperor enlisted a comrade from his original march to power, the eunuch Zheng He, to make seven great voyages to the Middle East and East Africa, and to establish a "maritime silk route". Zheng He, a Muslim, was Marco Polo in reverse, taking the idea of China to the world in a fleet of treasure ships, some reputedly 140 metres long, and spreading the word of the great wealth and power of the Ming empire.

It is no surprise that Zheng He, virtually forgotten for centuries, has lately been reclaimed as a pioneering hero of an outward-looking and technologically advanced nation. The kinds of treasures he carried to foreign courts will once again be in transit this week, en route to the British Museum, generous loans from one gilded age of China's history that echo to the present.

Ming: 50 years that changed China (supported by BP) runs at the British Museum, London from 18 September to 5 January.

Siberian elders vote to bury 2,500yo mummy to stop quakes, floods

August 24, 2014, 11:43 am

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RT. com     August 19, 2014 

Mummy of a woman with a tattoo on her hand who died approximately 2500 years ago. (RIA Novosti / Yuriy Zaritovskiy)

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Religion, Russia, Thrills&Spills

A council of elders in Russia’s Altay Region voted to bury the mummy of a woman who lived in the region in the 5th century BC. Altay locals believe that her excavation from her tomb back in 1993 angered her spirit and causes natural disasters.

The mummy, dubbed the Siberian Ice Maiden in English-language sources and the Princess of Ukok, the Altay Princess or Ochi-Bala domestically, was unearthed from a subterranean tomb at the Ukok Plateau, close to borders with Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia. The remains have spent most of the time thereafter at a research facility in Novosibirsk, as scientists conducted facial reconstruction, DNA tests and other research projects on the Maiden.

The staff of the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences Siberian Branch pack the mummy of Princess Ukoka for delivery to the National A.Anokhin Museum in the Republic of Altai. (RIA Novosti / Alexandr Kryazhev)

But in 2012, the unique specimen was returned to the Altay Region to be placed at a special mausoleum at a local national museum. Many people in Altay believe that the remains to belong to a legendary ancestor and a powerful princess.

Some even say that her tomb was placed to keep a gate to the underworld closed and that the absence of the guardian has led to natural disasters in Altay, including the 2003 earthquake and this year’s record floods.

A bust re-creating the lifetime appearance of a woman died 2,500 years ago. (RIA Novosti / Yuriy Zaritovskiy)

The council of elders, which includes elders of major Altay clans and spiritual leaders, voted Monday to have the Ice Maiden buried again. The decision comes after years of campaigning by activists, who believe that the relic’s proper place is in its original tomb.

“The council of elders has taken its decision, so the mummy of the revered woman will finally be buried,” said councilman Akay Kine.

The planned burial however may not prove to be simple. For starters, local legislation would have to be changed to allow the archeological find to be treated as simple human remains. Regional authorities reportedly are not going to oppose this.

The scientists may not be thrilled to lose the remains, considering that new research techniques may allow them get new scientific data in the future. Latest checks on the mummy in 2011 showed that it is well preserved and shows no sign of deterioration.

And proponents of the burial are yet to agree on a ceremony which would satisfy their mystically-minded supporters.

Ironically, DNA tests on the Ice Maiden, and other remains of people who belonged to the nomadic Pazyryk culture that inhabited the Ukok Plateau, proved that she cannot be an ancestor of the people living in the Altay Region now. The Pazyryk are genetically closest to Siberian Ket and Selkup peoples, but are further from the Altay people than from, for example, Germans, Basques or Russians.