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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3188
Fax: (401) 863-9423
[email protected]
Visualizing the Lost Silk Road: A New Interpretation of Some Paintings from Xinjiang
Hsin-Mei Agnes Hsu, Brown University
'''This study focuses on a set of wall paintings found in a Buddhist grotto in northwestern Xinjiang, modern Chinese Central Asia. This region was part of an oasis kingdom, known as Kucha, at the peak of the continental Silk Road. These paintings depict a vibrant native culture at the junction of east-west traffic. By treating these images as ethnographic documents, it becomes possible for the modern researcher to “visualize” a lost culture that once flourished along the Silk Road.