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For the full pdf text of The Silk Road, Vol. 13 (2015), click here.
Individual articles may be downloaded from the links below in the Table of Contents.
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CONTENTS

 
In Memoriam: Khaled al-Asaad 1932-2015 [v]
Download
 
Safe Journey! A Very Short History of Shoes from Korean Tombs 1 + Plate I
by Youngsook Pak Download
The significance of the burial of shoes and facsimiles of shoes to accompany the deceased in the afterlife, highlighting a poignant example from a Korean tomb dated 1586.
 
The Emergence of Light: A Re-interpretation of the Painting of Mani's Birth in a Japanese Collection 17
by Wang Yuanyuan Download
A unique depiction of Mani's birth in a Yuan-era painting which apparently is based on textual sources incorporating different religious traditions, among them Mingjiao of southeastern China.
 
When Herakles Followed the Buddha: Power, Protection and Patronage in Gandharan Art 26
by Jonathan Homrighausen Download
Herakles as emblematic of power and courtly entertainments transformed into Vajrapani, the protector of the Buddha in the context of royal patronage of Buddhism in Gandhara.
 
Ancient Iranian Decorative Textiles: New Evidence from Archaeological Investigations and Private Collections 36 + Plate II
by Matteo Compareti Download
The argument for a Central Asian early Islamic origin of two newly discovered textile fragments, and re-consideration of the image traditionally termed that of a simurgh
 
Nomads and Oasis Cities: Central Asia from the 9th to the 13th Century45 + Plate III
by Xinru Liu Download
The complex cultural interactions of nomadic and sedentary peoples, especially in the realm of ritual dance and music which was an integral part of religious festivals.
 
Maes Titianus, Ptolemy, and the "Stone Tower" on the Great Silk Road60
by Igor' Vasil'evich P'iankov Download
A re-interpretation of Ptolemy's data about the location of the "stone Tower" that marked the mid-point in the overland Eurasian trade routes some 2000 years ago.
 
The Location of Ptolemy's Stone Tower: the Case for Sulaiman-Too in Osh75
by Riaz Dean Download
Leaving Ptolemy's unreliable evidence aside, the logical case for identifying Sulaiman-Too, "Solomon's Throne", in Osh as the location of the "Stone Tower".
 
The Test Excavation of the Nanhai No. 1 Shipwreck in 2011: a Detail Leading to the Whole84
by Xu Yongjie Download
The application of normal archaeological excavation techniques for studying one of the most important recenly discovered shipwrecks in southeast China.
 
The Archaeological Assessment of Pajadagh Fortress (Qal'a-e Tashvir), Tashvir Village, Tarom County, Zanjan Province88
by Ali Nourallahi Download
Archaeological survey of an as yet unexcavated fortress site in northwestern Iran dating probably from the Parthain or early Sasanian period.
 
Khermen Denzh Town in Mongolia95
by Nikolai N. Kradin, Aleksandr L. Ivliev, Ayudai Ochir, Lkhagvasüren Erdenebold, Sergei Vasiutin, Svetlana Satantseva, and Evgenii V. Kovychev Download
Joint Russo-Mongolian excavations at an important Khitan period settlement site on the Tuul River in Mongolia.
 
The Chinese Inscription on the Lacquerware Unearthed from Tomb 20, Gol Mod I Site, Mongolia 104
by Chimiddorj Yeruul-Erdene and Ikue Otani Download
A careful reading of the inscription on one of the rare dated lacquerwares so far found in Xiongnu elite burials, this vessel made in the Imperial Workshop in Chang'an in 16 BCE.
 
The Ancient Tamga-Signs of Southeast Kazakhstan and Their Owners: The Route from East to West in the 2nd Century BCE-2nd Century CE109
by Alexei E. Rogozhinskii and Sergey A. Yatsenko Download
A newly discovered complex of tamga-signs in petroglyphs of a little-known valley of southeastern Kazakhstan, the signs having interesting connections with ones found more widely dispersed around the beginning of the Common Era.
 
Museum Collections:Assyrian-style Seals of the Silk Road and Their Relationship to Ties between Iran and Mesopotamia126
by Amir Saed Mucheshi Download
Descriptive catalog of a group of cylinder seals collected in Qazvin which show similarities to ones produced in Mesopotamia, thus suggesting long-distance interaction in the period of Iron Age III (800-600 BCE).
 
"I was born a dervish and a Flying Dutchman." Sven Hedin and Ferdinand von Richthofen: Introduction and Presentation of Unpublished Letters 135
by Felix de Montety Download
Newly discovered letters from Sven Hedin to Ferdniand von Richthofen shed light on the close relationship between the "Meister" and his student.
 
Museum Collections, II:Berlin's "Turfan Collection" Moves to the Center153 + Plates V, VI
by Lilla Russell-Smith Download
The Turfan Collection in the Museum of Asian Art in Dahlem is now closed in preparation for its move to the Humboldt Forum in the center of Berlin, where it will re-open in 2019.
 
The Mezquita: A Photo Essay 158 + Plates VII, VIII
by Daniel C. Waugh Download
A visual introduction to the famous 10th-century Umayyad mosque in Cordoba, Spain, with its many layers of construction and re=construction.
 
Reviews
 
Belezza, The Dawn of Tibet169
by Sam van Schaik Download
 
The following by Daniel C. Waugh: Download all these reviews.171
 
Rossabi, From Yuan to Modern China and Mongolia171
 
Kreutzmann, Pamirian Crossroads: Kirghiz and Wakhi of High Asia, with a photo supplement "Glimpses of the Pamirian Crossroads"173
 
Akademicheskaia arkheologiia na beregakh Nevy,178
 
Walter and Ito-Adler, eds. The Silk Road: Interwoven History. Vol. 1 179
 
Whitfield Life along the Silk Road, 2nd ed.180
 
 
Book notices (written/compiled by Daniel C. Waugh) Download all these book notices.182
 
  • Shelach-Lavi, The Archaeology of Early China.
  • Vadetskaia et al., Svod pamiatnikov Afanas'evskoi kul'tury.
  • Selegin and Shelepova, Tiurkskie ritual'nye kompleksy Altaia.
  • Zhuravliev et al., Iuvelirnye izdeliia iz kurgana Kul-Oba v sobranii Istoricheskogo Muzeia.
  • Minasian, Metalloobrabotka v drevnosti i srednevekov'e.
  • Jacobs, Reorienting the East. Jewish Travelers to the Medieval Muslim World.
  • Kradin, Nomads of Inner Asia in Transition.
  • Kradin and Ivliev, Istoriia Kidan'skoi imperii Liao (907-1125).
  • Antonov, Srednevekovye bashkiry.
  • Rossiiskie ekspeditsii v Tsentral'nuiu Aziiu. Organizatsiia, polevye issledovaniia, kollektsii 1870-1920-e gg.
  • Lin, Building a Sacred Mountain: The Buddhist Architecture of China's Mount Wutai.
  • Elikhina, "Obitel' miloserdiia". Iskusstvo tibetskogo buddizma: katalog vystavki.
  • Bemmann and Schmauder, eds., Complexity of Interaction along the Eurasian Steppe Zone in the First Millennium CE.
  • Amitai and Biran, eds., Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change. The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors.
  • Journal of Asian History, 49 (2015), 1/2. Special Edition, ed. Kauz: Chinese and Asian Geographical and Cartographical Views on Central Asia and Its Adjacent Regions .
  • Bulletin of the Asia Institute. N. S., Vol. 24 (2010) [2014].
  • Bulletin of the Asia Institute. N. S., Vol. 25 (2011) [2015].
  • Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology, Vol. 6 (2011) [2015].
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    Color Plates I-VIII following p. 192
     

    For the full pdf text of The Silk Road, Vol. 13 (2015), click here.