Rock Art as a Source of History in Central Asia

Bibliographic Data

ID20074322
AuthorsAndrzej Rozwadowski (0000-0002-3982-1258, University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author)
Year2020
Pages1520-1535
Publication date2020-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueHistoire de la monnaie en Asie orientale (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPresses de l’Inalco (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/books.pressesinalco.29472
OpenAlexW3021234802
ISBN9782858313457
LanguageEN
Citations received2

This entry is an introduction to the issue how rock art is linked to historical contexts of Central Asia. The earliest such context is related to the Indo‐Iranians, who lived in the region in the 2nd millennium BC, hence the possible links of petroglyphs to Aryan culture and their mythology are discussed. Images of animals executed in the Scythian style (1st millennium BC) demonstrate that rock art making was also an important cultural practice for the early nomads throughout the whole region reaching as far east as the Mongolian steppe. At the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, rock imagery started to signify the spread of Buddhism, and since the Arab conquest, sites with rock art have been incorporated into folk Islamic ritual practices. Executing images onto stone surfaces has also been practiced in ethno‐historic times. In the Altai, there are depictions of shamans and shamanic rituals while in Uzbekistan there are rock paintings most possibly associated with Nowruz festivals. Contemporary social and artistic re‐uses of prehistoric rock images are also noted

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Buddhism · Central asia · Geography · Islam · Mythology · Painting · Prehistory · Rock art · Visual arts · Classics · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History

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