ANCIENT TIBETAN SEALS

In Tibetan,the name for a seal is Thangka.According to records,the word originates from Turkish,initially borrowing from Mongolian and finally absorbed into Tibetan.Various names were given to seals in Tibetan.Official seals are generally named Thangka,or Kathang in honorific dialect;personal seals referred to as Gyithang;general seals are called Dathang or Sethang.     

ANCIENT TIBETAN SEALS

In Tibetan,the name for a seal is Thangka.According to records,the word originates from Turkish,initially borrowing from Mongolian and finally absorbed into Tibetan.Various names were given to seals in Tibetan.Official seals are generally named Thangka,or Kathang in honorific dialect;personal seals referred to as Gyithang;general seals are called Dathang or Sethang.     

TIBETAN TREASURES REBUILD THE MEMORY OF ANCIENT TIBETAN SHANGSHUNG CIVILIZATION

正Ngari Prefecture of Tibet,the so-called"Roof of the World",where the mountains and waters originate,is known for bringing out the ancient secret Shangshung civilization."Shangshung"is a word from the ancient Shangshung language."Shang"is the name of an ancient tribe,and"Shung"stands for"place"or"valley".According to historical records,the Kingdom of Shangshung came into being as early as     

一座古城 以弗所 从两千年前粲然而来

以弗所,又译艾菲斯,位于爱琴海东岸的土耳其境内,从罗马共和国开始,以弗所就是亚细亚省(小亚细亚西部)的省会,被誉为"亚洲第一个和最大的大都会"。许多人相信赫梯文献的记载,以弗所就是Arzawa王国的首都Apasa。根据保萨尼阿斯和世界七大奇迹之说,阿尔忒弥斯神庙是古代世界最大的建筑,神庙里供奉着被希腊人称作阿耳忒弥斯的"以弗所女神"。这座2000年前的古城遗址,留给了人们太多的惊奇:可容纳25000观众的剧场、两层楼高的图书馆、127根石柱支撑的神殿、大理石街道、还有世界上最早出现的空调、冲水卫生间、户外广告……     

吐蕃系统金银器研究

The Tibetan Kingdom rose in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the 7th century as a mighty minority regime under the Tang Dynasty of China.Tibetan gold and silver wares were recorded in Tang literal documents and enjoyed a great fame throughout the world for their distinctive and exquisite form.But their samples were seldom discovered for a long time.Based on a study of the Tibetan gold and silver articles recently unearthed from Tibetan tombs in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and known from collections abroad,the...     

ZOU GUIFEN,AN INHERITOR OF TIBETAN FOLK CULTURE

Zou Guifen is a 46-year-old Tibetan lady. She lives in Meixing Town, Xiaojin County in Siehuan Province. For several decades, she has carried on the art of embroidery and knitting, and set her heart on preserving these handierafts. She has successfully taught manyfriends the technique. The embroidery and knitting works in her collection, including 50 insoles, 30 belts, and over 10 cross-stitch works, are all deemed classics of local folk culture.     

日本古钱“阿州通宝”

一位成都泉友 ,珍藏一枚造型奇特的钱币 ,钱文为“阿州通宝” ,呈长椭圆形。此钱生坑绿锈 ,品相完好 ,钱长 42 ,宽 2 8,厚 3毫米 ,重 2 0 2克 ,青铜质 ,钱厚字深 ,制作精美。阿州通宝的书写 ,楷书略带行草。背文记面值“拾钱银札”。钱文上“拾钱”的钱字 ,简写成“” ,书法文体落笔神韵 ,刚劲有力。文中通字为一点通。在硬币里称“银札” ,是少见的 ,只有在纸币中称为官札的钞票。这枚阿州通宝 ,经过钱币学会行家鉴定 :属于官炉原铸 ,并非臆造或后铸。但是阿州的地名 ,应该属于什么地区 ,是值得探讨的。我国没有这种形状古钱的记载。但…     

INVESTIGATION OF THE CONTENT OF ANCIENT TIBETAN METALLIC BUDDHA STATUES BY MEANS OF NEUTRON IMAGING METHODS

Many important cultural and religious objects from Asia consist of outer metallic shapes, usually bronze, which fully enclose inner contents made of organic materials such as wood, bark, paper, textile, plants and others. Bronze and other metallic materials, such as copper and silver, are generally more transparent to neutrons than to X‐rays. However, organic materials are less transparent to neutrons than to X‐rays and therefore organic materials, enclosed by metallic materials, can be made visible with neutrons. Therefore, neutron imaging (radiography and tomography) was found to be an ideal tool for the inspection of objects that consist of metal outside and organic materials inside. This has been successfully demonstrated here with four metallic Tibetan Buddha statues, providing archaeometry with a powerful new tool. The first successful applications of this novel technique are described in this article. Further possible and useful applications of neutron imaging of cultural objects are outlined.     

ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF AN ANCIENT BOAT—THE HASHOLME LOGBOAT

Summary. Several methods of assessing the performance of ancient boats are briefly described, including the experimental building and trials of replicas. It is considered that the method of using hydrostatic curves and speed-related coefficients is often the most cost-effective and this is used to assess the logboat from Hasholme, North Humberside of c 300 BC.     

中国古代地缘政治空间结构过程及模式研究

中国古代地缘政治的发展过程具有一种长周期内的重复态势。地理环境是空间结构存在的大尺度控制和自然基础。空间结构的动态过程包括秦以前结构的发生、发展和演变,秦以后结构的融合、扩散和模式化,反映中国古代地理政治化和政治地理化的两个阶段。结构模式的静态分析,初步揭示了结构的一些重要功能特性,主要有强大的整体功能,独特的边缘效应和通过圈层同构,结构复制所展现出来的稳定性的复杂表现。对中国古代地缘政治空间结构的分析,是大尺度的整体轮廓研究,随着空间结构研究尺度的细化,可进一步对中国古代政治过程的诸多特性做出结构主义的揭示,从而推动中国古代政治历史研究的深化。     

ANCIENT WORKSHOPS AND ANCIENT 'ART'

Summary.   There is a tension between the understanding of the term 'workshop' in art historical scholarship and the actual locations of production unearthed by archaeology. Yet countless ancient works of art bear traces of their own production, and many working sites have produced unfinished products. The differing approaches can be combined, to a greater extent than they have been, to attain a more comprehensive understanding of ancient art production. A first step is an exhaustive analysis of the interactions between the provenance, processing, inherent quality, logistics, presentation and preservation of any material used in art production. But the products themselves also have much to reveal about their conditions of production.     

TIBETAN SNOOKER-KYIRAM

When summer comes to Lhasa, men like to gather together outside tea bars to watch a pair of Tibetans play at a table with a square-shaped piece of wood placed on it. Two players are sitting crosslegged and sipping sweet tea while their fingers continually toy with round wooden discs, referred to as ＂pieces＂. Whenever the wooden piece hits any of the four comers of the squareshaped wood plank where there is a hole,     

西藏邮驿：西藏地方邮政简史

邮政史是西藏地方历史的一个重要组成部分。从大清邮政在拉萨开办邮局的1910年起,到西藏地方邮政“扎康”（藏语邮政的称谓）正式撤消的1959年止,这一大段历史,长达半个世纪。在这段期间,英印邮政和西藏地方邮政共存的史实,早已为人所知。更奇特的是,五十年代初期,西藏和平解放,军邮与人民邮政也参与过渡,各自独立而又相互交叉,形成了罕见的四种邮政系统同时在西藏运行的奇观。     

AN ANCIENT NINE-STOREY TOWER IN THE SAMKHAR GUTHOK MONASTERY——An Archeological Study in Lhozhag

Samkhar Guthok, a famous and historic monastery, is situated in a mountain valley in Sai Town of Lhozhag County where it is an isolated paradise surrounded by thick forest and a splendid landscape. In order to take a panoramic picture of the sunrise over the Samkhar Guthok Monastery, the archeological team got up very early, accompanied by Lozang, the director of the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs for Lhozhag County, and climbed to the top of a mountain where the ancient monastery could be easily seen from above. The view before us was unique and magnificent.