BALLCOURT REPRESENTATIONS IN QUIECHAPA, OAXACA, MEXICO: RITUAL OFFERING, FERTILITY, AND LIFE

During an archaeological survey in the municipality of San Pedro Mártir Quiechapa, Oaxaca, Mexico, archaeologists from the Proyecto Arqueológico de Quiechapa (PAQuie) encountered and documented a number of carved stone elements. Of particular interest are the 30 representations of ballcourts carved into natural rock outcrops at two sites in the region. This is the highest density in which this type of ballcourt representation occurs throughout Mesoamerica. After their initial discovery, members of PAQuie documented the carved stone ballcourts using structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry, a quick and affordable technique to collect 3D spatial, quantitative, and visual data of stone carvings. In this article, I report on the carved stone ballcourt representations documented in the Quiechapa region and offer some preliminary interpretations. I first provide some description of the broader archaeological context in which the carvings were found. Then I describe the methods used to record the stone carvings, followed by a presentation of the data. Finally, in dialogue with extant literature, I explore some possibilities as to why these carved stone ballcourt representations were created, how they may have been used, and what they may symbolize.

Ethnographic Studies of Bakor Stone Monolith and Their Implication to Tourism Development

Monoliths in the Cross River State of Nigerian are found in a circular form, they are commonly known as Bakor or Ikom monoliths, because of the universality in conceptualisation and the configuration of the stones, they are sometimes referred to in this research as stone circles. Bakor speaking communities hold a large number of magnificent stone carvings called Bakor monoliths which exhibit a high level of artistic, qualities, and creative awareness by the ancient civilisation that creates them. The study is aimed at examining monoliths in Bakor LGA, to ascertain the socio-cultural and religious beliefs associated with these monoliths and their contributions to tourism development in Cross River State. A mixed-method of qualitative and quantitative research was employed. The result reveals that Cross River State monoliths have the potentials of attracting tourists, and are valued by host communities. However, the monoliths are under human and natural threats. The paper advocates that if Bakor monoliths are developed for cultural tourism, it will create job opportunities, improve the living standard of the host community, generate revenue, and guaranty their preservation, among others.

The grand platform of Huangchengtai at Shimao site in Shenmu, Shaanxi

Remains of the grand platform in the locus of Huangchengtai at Shimao site in Shenmu, Shaanxi was discovered and excavated during the 2018–2019 season. The south-eastern corner and southern buttress of the platform were revealed. The locations of the other three sides of the buttresses were also preliminarily confirmed. As many as 70 stone carvings were discovered from multiple contexts, including the surface of the southern buttress, the floor of the corridor, as well as the debris of the southern buttress inside the corridor. The relative chronology of this platform and stone carvings cannot be later than the late Longshan period. The absolute date ranges from 2000 BCE to 1800 BCE. Fieldwork performed at the grand platform encourages multiple archaeological discussions, including the settlement layout within the Huangchengtai area, the nature of the settlement, and its role as the core of the Shimao site.

DISEASE INVESTIGATION OF STONE CARVING BY SPATIAL ANALYSIS: A CASE STUDY ON THE STONE CARVING OF DAZU THOUSAND-HAND BODHISATTVA

Cultural relics are often threatened by nature and human, especially stone carving relics which have immovable characteristics. Compared with other cultural relics, the diseases of stone carving relics are more complex, and they can affect carvings’ cultural and artistic value to a great extent. This article selects Dazu thousand-hand bodhisattva as a case, not only because it has a strong representation in Chinese stone carving art, but also considering that there are many complex diseases in the whole range after a long history, therefore the Dazu thousand-hand bodhisattva has high research value, and scientific investigation methods are essential for the protection and research of cultural relics. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the arm diseases of Dazu thousand-hand bodhisattva by using the two methods of GIS spatial analysis: kernel density analysis and trend analysis. The past investigation methods are difficult to achieve the expected results because of their strong subjectivity and narrow range, and the use of spatial analysis to investigate the diseases of stone carvings can study the spatial characteristics and coupling relationship of stone carvings from the macro level.

Architectural Elements of a Royal Residence : 15th-century Stone Carvings in Tata Castle

Being an important historical monument and a popular tourist destination, Tata Castle in Komárom-Esztergom County is well-known for many people. The medieval castle rising on the shore of the picturesque Old Lake offers outstanding scenery for its visitors. Although the castle had an important representative role during late medieval times and its archaeological excavation was conducted half a century ago, historians have made few efforts to research the building history and representative function of the castle more thoroughly. In its current state, the castle reveals little of its original 15th century appearance. However, a detailed examination of the remaining walls and stone carvings can help us to better understand the castle’s history.

Геометрическая и зооморфные каменные скульптуры из фондов Национального музея Республики Калмыкия

Introduction. Each and every stone carving discovered in barrows is of great interest. And essentially rare zoomorphic / anthropomorphic stone sculptures from Kalmykia’s excavated sites are academically important for regional studies in general. Goals. The paper aims to examine a number of non-anthropomorphic stone carvings spotted in the territory of present-day Kalmykia. The zoomorphic sculptures depict a sheep’s head and an ox; special attention is paid to a compound construct. The samples under consideration are stored at the Palmov National Museum of Kalmykia. All of them have been introduced into scientific discourse already, while the article provides detailed descriptions thereto supplementing the latter with reviews of morphological peculiarities. Results. The animal depictions are unique materials for the research of antiquities of Eastern European steppe, and some of the sculptures have no analogues registered. All the sculptures were spotted within barrow borders but the barrows themselves — except for one dated to the period of ‘late nomads’ — were never duly excavated. The fact stone zoomorphic sculptures and other depictions (along with Polovtsian balbals) got that widespread makes it possible to conclude western areas of present-day Kalmykia used to be inhabited by representatives of different cultures dated to different historical eras. The introduced materials provide additional data on material reflection of religious pantheons of Old Turks to have inhabited Eastern European steppe in chronologically different periods.

Labours of Love: Gender, Work and Devotion in Medieval Chartres

The medieval cathedral of Notre-Dame of Chartres is famous for the depictions of artisans in its thirteenth-century stained-glass windows. Using gender as a lens through which to view these images makes clear that the work they depict is overwhelmingly undertaken by men. In contrast, women’s work, in the form of preparing textile fibres, is depicted in a series of stone carvings on the exterior northern portal of the cathedral. Here physical labour is juxtaposed with acts of reading and prayerful contemplation. Miracle tales from Chartres emphasise connections between gendered work and devotion to the Virgin Mary. This article considers these visual and literary depictions of labour at Chartres in the contexts of historical gendering of work, medieval ideas of divine cosmic order, and the role of work as religious devotional practice within a prevailing emotional regime.

建構婦女道德空間：《列女傳》圖像在東亞漢文化圈的傳衍

<p>由漢代儒家學者劉向（前77&ndash;前6）開創的《列女傳》文體，其始便圖文並置。故本文所謂傳衍，便具圖文兩重意義，兩者均經歷了時間上的傳承與空間上的播延，其間因與不同時空語境的交纏互動，而有相應形式、載體、內涵等變遷。本文擬對劉向《列女傳》傳世兩千餘年間在東亞漢文化圈的傳衍過程，作一初步勾勒。首先概括漢唐之間、印刷術發明之前，《列女傳》圖像經由圍屏、壁畫、石刻和卷軸的形式流傳；次論宋明印刷術普及後，圖像如何進入《列女傳》木刻版本。而明代大量《列女傳》及仿作的刻印發行，又影響激發了朝鮮與日本仿作的出現。因卷帙浩繁，斷難求全，惟冀能就目前筆者所蒐集的有限資料，考察比勘，以期理解不同社會、政治、文化、經濟等語境對於婦女道德空間建構及其圖文表述所生影響。</p> <p>&nbsp;</p><p>The genre of the Biographies of Exemplary Women, initiated by the Han Confucian Scholar Liu Xiang （77&ndash;6 BCE）, consisted of the texts and illustrations from the very beginning. Thus, a study of its transmission and transformation in the Sinosphere requires examination of both. Throughout the two thousand years, this genre has gone through constant changes of forms, media, and connotations in its interactions with different spatial and temporal contexts. This article intends to summarize this process, first on its evolution through painting screens, murals, stone carvings, and hand scrolls from the Han to the Tang, and then its woodblock versions after the invention of the printing technique in the Song. The spread of the illustrated Ming editions of the Biographies of Exemplary Women into Korea and Japan further inspired its imitative works in these areas. Through a comparative study of excavated materials, this article expects to understand how the sociopolitical, cultural, and economic environments influenced the textual and imagery construction of women’s moral space in the Sinosphere.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

The Carving of Kṛṣṇa’s Legend: North and South, Back and Forth

This paper emphasizes the role played by the sculptural tradition in the elaboration of religious narratives that today are mostly studied through texts. It aims to demonstrate that according to the documents we know, the legend of Kṛṣṇa has been built through one continuous dialogue between different media, namely texts and carvings, and different linguistic areas, Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. Taking the motif of the butter theft as a basis, we stress the role played by the sculptural tradition and Tamil poetry, two elements less studied than others, at the foundation of a pan-Indian Kṛṣṇa-oriented heritage. We posit that the iconographic formula of the cowherds’ station as the significant background of the infancy of Kṛṣṇa led to the motif of the young god stealing butter in the texts, through the isolation of one significant element of the early sculpted images. The survey of the available documents leads to the conclusion that, in the southern part of the peninsula, patterns according to which stone carvings were done have been a source of inspiration in Tamil literature. Poets writing in Tamil authors knew texts transmitted in Sanskrit, Prākrit, and Pāli, and they certainly had listened to some others to which we have no access today. But we give reasons to assume that the authors of the said texts were also aware of the traditional ways of representing a child Kṛṣṇa in the visual domain. With these various traditions, poets of the Tamil country in the later stage of Tamil Caṅkam literature featured a character they may not have consciously created, as he was already existent in the visual tradition and nurtured by the importance of one landscape animated by cowherds in the legend of Kṛṣṇa.