Carved in Stone - Analysing the Zoomorphic Silk Roads Rock Art Motifs from the South Asian Karakoram Mountain Range

During the first centuries BCE and CE, China became one of the larger power-blocks within the ancient early Silk Roads trade network. Extensive trade connections began to form between the Indian Subcontinent and China, allowing for the creation of trade routes passing through the mountains. The physical manifestation of the travellers along these routes is left behind in the shape of rock art, with anthropomorphic Buddhist, zoomorphic, and inscriptional carvings. The focus of this research is placed on the study of the zoomorphic rock art assemblage from the Karakoram mountain range. An international team composed of archaeologists from the Pakistani Department of Archaeology of Gilgit and the German Heidelberg Academy cooperated to document the rock art assemblage present at significant conglomerations of rock art locations, known as field stations, in the Karakoram mountain range, from 1983 until 2013. This documentation, consisting of eleven catalogues known as the Materialien...Show moreDuring the first centuries BCE and CE, China became one of the larger power-blocks within the ancient early Silk Roads trade network. Extensive trade connections began to form between the Indian Subcontinent and China, allowing for the creation of trade routes passing through the mountains. The physical manifestation of the travellers along these routes is left behind in the shape of rock art, with anthropomorphic Buddhist, zoomorphic, and inscriptional carvings. The focus of this research is placed on the study of the zoomorphic rock art assemblage from the Karakoram mountain range. An international team composed of archaeologists from the Pakistani Department of Archaeology of Gilgit and the German Heidelberg Academy cooperated to document the rock art assemblage present at significant conglomerations of rock art locations, known as field stations, in the Karakoram mountain range, from 1983 until 2013. This documentation, consisting of eleven catalogues known as the Materialien zur Archäologie der Nordgebiete Pakistans, is the basis for the current research. Three aspects of zoomorphic rock art are discussed in this thesis. Firstly, the identification of the faunal depictions. Through the correlation of morphological characteristics ofextant fauna and zoomorphic carvings, it becomes possible to identify the depicted fauna. Three main Classes have been identified, Reptilia, Aves, and Mammalia. The majority of the carvings, over 95 percent, consists of Mammalia carvings, in particular Bovidae. Secondly, a spatial distribution of the location and composition of rock art locations was created to study potential clustering. The presence of clustering appeared to enrich the variety of depicted zoomorphic motifs. Furthermore, a dichotomy could be seen between field stations which were present alongside the Indus River, showing a larger diversity than locations more inland. Thirdly, the dataset was interpreted, by carrying out a more detailed analysis into the riverside-inland dichotomy and correlating the presence of the zoomorphic motifs with the Buddhist motifs, strengthening past hypotheses and introducing new areas of interest for future archaeological research. The results of this thesis are laying the foundations for research into the available zoomorphic motifs, and the broader rock art assemblage of the Karakoram mountain range.Show less

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Carved in Stone - Analysing the Zoomorphic Silk Roads Rock Art Motifs from the South Asian Karakoram Mountain Range