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| From the editor’s desktop: The Future of The Silk Road
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Reconstruction of a Scythian Saddle from Pazyryk Barrow No. 3 |
1 + Plate I |
| Elena V. Stepanova |
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| The Pazyryk collection of excavated Scythian saddles in the Hermitage Museum provides abundant information about the details of their construction and has made possible the creation and testing of a replica which has revealed new insights into the horse harness of the early Eurasian steppes.
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| An Image of Nighttime Music and Dance in Tang Chang’an: Notes on the Lighting
Devices in the Medicine Buddha Transformation Tableau in Mogao Cave 220, Dunhuang
| 19 + Plates II, III |
| by Sha Wutian |
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| The unusually detailed depiction of lighting devices in the Medicine Buddha tableau of Mogao Cave 220 reflects a knowledge of the popular nighttime entertainmsnts of the Tang Dynasty capital, Chang’an, as documented from a great many contemporary texts.
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The Results of the Excavation of the Yihe-Nur Cemetery in Zhengxiangbai Banner (2012-2014)
| 42 + Plates IV-VI |
| by Chen Yongzhi, Song Guodong, and Ma Yan |
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| The Yihe-Nur Cemetery in Inner Mongolia is the northernmost one yet discovered for the Northern Wei period. Its excavation has yielded an array of interesting artifacts attesting to the multi-ethnic nature of the northern frontiers of China in the early centuries of the Common Era.
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| Art and Religious Beliefs of Kangju: Evidence from an Anthropomorphic Image Found
in the Ugam Valley (Southern Kazakhstan)
| 58 |
| by Aleksandr Podushkin |
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| A striking anthropomorphic image inscribed on a ceramic vessel excavated at Ushbastobe in southern Kazakhstan provides interesting evidence about possible ritual and religious beliefs of the local population in the Kangju period. |
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Observations on the Rock Reliefs at Taq-i Bustan: A Late Sasanian Monument
along the “Silk Road” | 71 |
| by Matteo Compareti |
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| Analysis of the deer hunt scene in the large grotto at the Sasanian site of Taq-i Bustan in Iran offers new possibilities for explaining the history and dating of this otherwise well-known complex. |
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| Sino-Iranian Textile Patterns in Trans-Himalayan Areas
| 84 |
| by Mariachiara Gasparini |
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| An examination of silks from Qinghai and in the collections of the National Silk Museum in China, along with evidence from murals, documents the popularity and spread of textiles produced in Central Asia into the Trans-Himalayan regions in the second half of the first millennium CE. |
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| Some Notes on Dayuezhi, Daxia, Guishuang, and Dumi in Chinese Sources
| 97 |
| by Yang Juping |
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| A close examination of the Chinese texts about Central Asia reveals new possibilities for understanding political organization in Bactria in the wake of the Yuezhi invasion. |
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| The Place Names of Euro-Africa in the Kangnido
| 106 + Plate VII |
| by Nurlan Kenzheakhmet |
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| The earliest Korean world map, the Kangnido, contains a rich store of geographic and cartographic data. This article is one of a series devoted to identifying all its place names for Central Asia, Africa and Europe.
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| Technology Transfer from Ancient Egypt to the Far East? | 126 + Plate VIII |
| by Alessandra R. Giumlía-Mair |
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A technically sophisticated patination technique developed first in ancient Egypt spread through the Middle East, and, as argued here, may well have influenced the adoption of similar technology in East and Southeast Asia.
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Production of Bronze Wares among the Xiongnu
| 147 |
| by Sergei S. Miniaev, with a Preface by William Honeychurch |
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| This classic study pioneered in the metallurgical analysis of Xiongnu and related bronze wares, opening new avenues to understanding the nature of the Xiongnu society and economy and its relationship to other cultures.
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| Orgoiton—A Xiongnu Cemetery in Transbaikalia | 166 |
| by Nikolai N. Nikolaev and Sergei S. Miniaev |
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A brief report on the results of a new excavation of an elite Xiongnu cemetery in Transbaikalia.
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| Newly Discovered Petroglyphs of Hurand County
| 168 |
| by Reza Salmanpoor, Zahra Abtahi, and Mina Ranjbar |
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Recent discoveries of petroglyphs in northewestern Iran, an area previously little studied for its rock art.
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Museum Collections, I: A Gift of Steppe Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation
to the Miami University Art Museum | 175 |
| by Trudy S. Kawami, Daniel Prior, and Robert S. Wicks |
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| A major gift of steppe bronzes from the Sackler Foundation to the Miami (O.) University Art Museum, in support of its teaching mission.
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| Fastening the Buckle: A Strand of Xiongnu-Era Narrative in a Recent Kirghiz Epic Poem
| 186 |
| by Daniel Prior |
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| The intriguing connections between the scene depicted on a 2000-year-old buckle plaque and the events recorded in a 19th century in a Kirgiz oral epic.
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| Women’s Status in the Iron Age Based on Ethno-archaeological Studies of the West
Central Zagros Nomads
| 196 + Plate IX |
| by Ali Nourallahi |
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| Iron Age burials in the West Central Zagros Mountains of Iran contain mute evidence about the roles of women in those societies. Recent ethnographic study of semi-nomads in the same region may shed some light on the status of women in that much earlier period.
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Game Pieces of Knucklebones: Evidence about the Continuation of Local Games
in Khorasan, Iran
| 209 |
| by Hadi Sabori, Hasan Basafa, Esmaeil Hejininezhad, Reza Bolandi,
and Mina Norouzi Khorasani |
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| Astragali, small leg bones from sheep, have been used through the centuries as game pieces and for divination. The game of “knucklebones” can still be documented in northeastern Iran today. |
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| “Zandaniji Silks”: The Story of a Myth
| 213 |
| by Zvezdana Dode |
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| By tracing carefully how the myth of “Zandaniji” silks, allegedly produced by Sogdian weavers in Central Asia, came into being and spread, this essay suggests it is high time that the use of this classification be abandoned. Proper technical analysis of the silks in question remains to be done.
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| Museum Collections, II:Discoveries from the Sinan Shipwreck
| 223 |
| by Lee Myong Ok |
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The 14th-century Sinan Shipwreck, with its large cargo of Chinese ceramics and other items, is still one of the most significant finds from underwater archaeology and was the subject of a major exhibition in the National Museum of Korea in 2016.
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The Silk Roads at the National Museum of Korea: A Visual Introduction | 226 + Plates X-XIV |
| by Daniel C. Waugh |
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| One of the great museums in the world, the National Museum of Korea houses, inter alia, an interesting collection of artifacts from along the silk roads, many illustrated in this photo essay. |
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| Book Reviews
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| Dreyer, Abenteuer Seidenstraße | 236 |
| by Jan Bemmann | Download |
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| Jacobson-Tepfer, The Hunter, the Stag and the Mother of Animals | 237 |
| by Bryan K. Miller | Download |
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| Exhibitions in Retrospect: Meyer and Wandel., Shahnama;
Zhao, ed., Silks from the Silk Road; Agnew, Reed,
and Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang
| 241 |
| by Daniel C. Waugh | Download |
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, Vol. 14 (2016),
